Text: John 11:39, 41; John 20:1b
One thing that both Jesus’ and Lazarus’ resurrections had in common was the rolling away of the stones blocking the entrances to their tombs. Jesus, in John 11, specifically gave instructions to Martha to have the stone at her brother’s tomb removed. When Mary Magdalene ran to the tomb early that wonderful morning, John and the other writers of the Gospels tell us that she found the stone rolled away.
Why did these details have to be mentioned, I wonder? Jesus could have just prayed for Lazarus to rise and then told them afterwards “He’s awake now, open the tomb and let him out”, but he didn’t. The writers could have simply stated “And the tomb was found empty”, knowing we would all assume one way or the other what happened to the stone, but they didn’t.
Why? Because of the significance of that singular action of rolling the stone away.
Those stones were placed over the entrances to keep people out, keep the stench of decay and rot inside, and to separate the dead corpse from the living world. In my opinion the stone also served as a final reminder of the loss of their brother that Mary and Martha had suffered, and the loss of their Friend/Teacher that Jesus’ disciples experienced.
We all have at least an area in our lives that we’ve suffered loss or death of something like a relationship or an opportunity or a dream, and so on. Consciously, a lot of us may be still be praying and trusting God to quicken that dead area of our lives but unknowingly we’ve laid it to rest in a tomb and sealed it away with a large stone.
The figurative stone in this case is most likely an unconscious discouraged mindset of “I’m done with this” or “I give up”. You probably have never noticed it but most of the time when someone asks you about that friendship that ended or that business endeavor that failed, you reflexively think in the back of your head “No, that’s over”.
Unfortunately for us, that mindset most often translates into our prayer closet.
Many times, we have asked God to intervene and breathe life back into a situation and He’s willing – just like always – to do it, but we don’t give Him a chance because we refuse to roll away the stone. Just like Martha, we’re afraid of the ‘stench’ or bad odor which serves as a reminder that this opportunity burned up and this dream died, so we’d rather keep that tomb closed.
We’ll never know exactly at what points Lazarus and Jesus actually came back to life, but what we do know is that their resurrections would never have become a reality to everybody else if the stones hadn’t been rolled away and the exits made clear for them to step out.
Rolling away the stone, in relation to us today, is more of a spiritual and mental exercise than it is physical. It is consciously and intentionally deciding not to succumb to the pains and disappointments caused by losses.
We can achieve this by deliberately reminding ourselves as often as possible of God’s life-giving Spirit which dwells in us. Next time Satan tries to attack your mind with thoughts of “Remember when you lost this”, don’t just stay quiet; declare boldly to him, “The same Spirit which raised Jesus from death is at work in me, and so I know my situation (whatever it is) will be quickened by God’s power!” Glory!!
Child of God, Your Father is always willing to breathe His life into you and everything concerning you. He sees your disappointment and your reluctance to revisit old heartbreaks but at the same time He wants you to take that leap of faith. All Martha had to do was give the go ahead for the stone to be rolled away; the rest was up to Jesus.
The same thing applies to us today. You don’t have to worry about how or when the quickening will be happening, all you need to do is roll the stone away and be waiting at the entrance with a heart full of expectation to receive your newly resurrected dream, ambition and destiny.
YOU HAVE JUST ONE JOB; GET RID OF THAT STONE.