A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; NEW TESTAMENT STORIES 

                                            A FAVOURED HOME PART XV

"I, Martha, am living in Bethany with my sister Mary and my brother Lazarus who had been dead for four days.... Our best Friend Jesus had come to see us... He had twelve disciples with Him.... We were glad to see all of them.... But we were very sad as well.... For our brother Lazarus had died.... And he had been in the tomb for four days already... Jesus had wanted to go to the tomb... Se we went with Him.... While there He told us to remove the stone in front of the tomb.... I told Him that was not a good idea.... But He took no notice of my words.... So we removed the stone.... We then waited.... Jesus next prayed to His heavenly Father.... We then heard him call out to Lazarus....We did not know what to make of His statement.... Initially we did not see anything.... But we did then begin to hear something as if someone was moving around.... We looked at each other... Who could that be?.... We all knew there was only one person inside that tomb... But he was dead... We all knew that to be so... We had lain him there four days ago.... We knew too that a dead body could not move around... But we could hear noises coming from inside the tomb.... After a short while a figure appeared at the entrance to the tomb... He was wrapped up in grave clothes... Walking was, therefore, difficult to do... We could not believe our eyes.... But it was true!!.... Lazarus stood before us.... Alive!!".... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that Jesus tells Lazarus to come out of the tomb...

                       ATTACHMENT A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; NEW TESTAMENT STORIES

                                                 A FAVOURED HOME PART XV

The situation with Lazarus is very different from the other situations for Lazarus has not been dead for a few hours only or even for just one or two days. No, he has been dead for four days. Jesus will not have realised that for He was not with them while Lazarus was dying. He only arrived on the scene an hour or so ago. However, it seems Jesus completely ignores Martha's practical advice for He continues to tell them that they are to remove the stone as you can read in John 11:40-44

Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me." When He had said this, Jesus called out in a loud voice, "Lazarus come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

The two sisters are, of course, overjoyed that their brother Lazarus has come back to life. All they have to do is to remove the grave clothes for he no longer needs them.