(FMF Friday) News

Well, it’s the last day to do a writing on last Friday’s word prompt. It won’t be big news to any of my peeps that I am running drastically late in writing. I did sit down last Friday and try to write, but I just kept coming up with sad stuff related to bad news I’ve gotten over the years. I decided to scrap it and try again later, but later never seemed to come along. I’ve got a few extra minutes before getting ready for work so I’m all set to try again.

The news Jesus received from Mary and Martha wasn’t good. His good friend (their brother) Lazarus was sick. They wanted him to come to them. He stated right away that Lazarus’ sickness would bring glory to God, and then Jesus stayed right where he was for two whole days before informing his disciples He was heading back to Judea. To be quite blunt they thought he was nuts for wanting to go back there…as the last time He was there they had tried to stone Him. He let them know that Lazarus was ‘sleeping’ and He needed to wake him up. They tried to reason with Him, saying that sleep was what Lazarus needed – if he slept he would feel better. That’s when Jesus let them know that Lazarus had died. The book of John (it’s in chapter 11 if you wanna check it out) doesn’t record their response to what He told them, but I can imagine they didn’t know what in the world what to think.

Anyways…they headed to Mary & Martha’s place to find that Lazarus had been buried four days before they arrived. Martha was understandably upset that Jesus hadn’t come sooner. She even said to Him, “If you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” We all are familiar with the story from there. Jesus had them take Him to the place where Lazarus was buried and had them roll the stone covering it back. He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” Lazarus came right out of there – still wrapped in his graveclothes.

I once heard an evangelist speak of this miracle of Jesus. He alluded to the fact that if Jesus had walked up to that cave and only yelled, “Come forth!!” everyone in that whole cemetery would have sashayed out – resurrected from the dead!!! Wow! Wow! Wow! I don’t know about y’all, but that just makes me want to do a happy dance.

Here’s the great news I have for you today. There is going to come a day when Jesus comes back to this earth and is going to call out, “Y’all come on home!” and all the dead in Christ will rise up and go to meet Him. I don’t know about you, but that just gives me such a good feeling. It turns that bad news that I’ve gotten into hope…all the heartache and grief and sadness into joy.

I pray that everyone who is reading this knows our Savior and has asked for and received forgiveness for their sins. I pray that they are in good standing with Him and ready for that coming day. If not, it’s just a matter of asking Him. He is faithful and will take us into His family without hesitation. Be blessed!