Show Notes
Having served for years as a medical missionary in Central America, Molly lay alone on the floor of her hut having just been raped by a group of armed men. As she lay there weeping, all she could think was “Where were you, Jesus? And . . . Why?”
I’ve known and prayed with many who have experienced what Molly experienced, or worse. They are all haunted by the same question: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Last week we heard our Lord’s words in John 10, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I say that you are gods?’” What god every prayed, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Christ’s friends suffer horrible abuse: stoning, beheading, flogging. Both Peter and Paul were flogged but then, miraculously delivered from prison by an angel and an earthquake. But the miracles only make it worse. If I were Peter or Paul, I’d be thinking, “Thanks for the angel and the earthquake, but maybe next time you could show up a wee bit earlier — like before the flogging!”
It’s Christmas time — when we remember the miracle of our Lord’s birth and the miraculous flight of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus into Egypt at the prompting of a dream. But if I was a young parent in Bethlehem, having just witnessed the slaughter of my baby boy at the hands of Herod’s henchmen, I’d be asking “Why? Why didn’t everyone get a dream?” All we’re told is that it had something to do with weeping: “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah... Rachel is weeping for her children.”
In John 11, Jesus receives word from Mary and Martha that his friend Lazarus is deathly ill, and Jesus responds, “This illness is not unto death [thanatos].” Weird, considering what we read next.
John 11:5-21, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he [rushed to his side? No.] He stayed two days longer in the place where he was... He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.’ ...Then Jesus told them plainly ‘Lazarus has died [apothnesko]. ...But let us go to him.’ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days. ...Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’”
Isn’t this our question: “Why? Why didn’t you come earlier?”
John 11:25, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me [or ‘everyone, living and believing in me’] shall never die.”
Confusing? We struggle with the Biblical concept of death for several reasons: 1) We are already dead or, at least, were dead (John 5:24). 2) Physical death is an expression of — or metaphor for — spiritual death. We’re each like a cut flower in a vase. A body part severed and bleeding out. Separation is death. 3) Death is not real... at least not the way Life is real. Jesus is “the Life,” Eternal Life. So, death can only be experienced on the timeline — where we believe the lie that we are each our own cause — and in space —where we believe that we are separated from God. 4) The death of death, the second death, is Eternal Life, infinite communion, and Divine Fire.
When you lose your old psyche — the lie that you are man making himself God — and believe the Truth that God is making himself you, you lose your life (psyche) and find it in Christ. You begin to live the life (zoe) of Christ, Eternal Life... even here, even now.
And when you die (apothnesko), you have no dealings with Thanatos (the Greek god) and Hades (who ruled the underworld, according to the Greeks). Like the thief on the cross, you say “Hello, Jesus!” and enter paradise (Eden) — no longer just a garden, but a city, a body, a bride... and a mother. Martha now goes and gets Mary....
John 11:32, “Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’”
There’s the question again: “Why didn’t you come earlier? Where were you?” And Jo
More from The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
“The mere idea of you, the longing here for you. You'll never know how slow the moments go till I'm near to you. I see your face in every flower, your eyes in stars above. It's just the thought of you, the very thought of you, my love.” My wife and I have spent a lot of time on romantic vacations listening to those words sung by Billie Holiday or Nat King Cole.
Sometime around 1968, I learned about germs in school. They can be found in dirt and most of all, in the very pinnacle of depravity: poop. So, I began to wash my hands... a lot. I washed and washed, but I am a producer of human excreta, and so is everyone I know. So, it felt as if I was never finished. I was driven to cleanliness and then to the doctor, for my hands were red, raw, cracked and bleeding — open wounds susceptible to germs! I had been better off with no knowledge of “germs” and “not germs.” The doctor looked at my hands and said, “Stop (Shabat in Hebrew)! Stop washing your hands.” They hurt like hell, but it was hard as hell to stop.
John 18:38-40: “Pilate said to [Jesus], ‘What is truth?’ After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ They cried out again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber [lestes: a taker].”