Jesus Is Lord

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.

Psalm 62:5-6

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were close friends of Jesus. He often spent time in their home. They knew him as well as anyone on earth knew him. They had seen him respond to needs over and over again. They knew what they could expect of him—or so they thought.

When Lazarus became ill, Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus. It was simple and represented their absolute faith in Jesus to respond to their needs: “Lord, your dear friend is very sick” (John 11:3).

John, as he tells the story, sets the stage with these words: “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5, NASB). Why do you think he put that sentence in? I think it was because of what comes next:

“When He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was” (John 11:6, NASB). John wanted to make it clear that when Jesus built a delay into the process, when he stayed where he was for two days more, it was in the context of his love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. His delay was loving, purposeful, profitable, and deliberate. It was necessary for accomplishing a bigger agenda.

How did the delay benefit Mary, Martha, and Lazarus? If Jesus had come to Bethany and healed Lazarus before he died, Mary’s and Martha’s prayers would have been answered. Their faith in Jesus would have been affirmed. They would have been more certain than ever that Jesus is Lord over illness. But they would never have learned that Jesus is Lord over death. The Father is always teaching us the lordship of Jesus in deeper, more experiential ways. “Jesus is Lord” is the truth that anchors everything.

Father, I believe that which I cannot see. I know that you are working. As I wait quietly for your work to be revealed on earth, I celebrate the work now in progress.

In Him the great clarification took place. When [the disciples] said, “Jesus is Lord,” then everything in heaven and earth fell into place.

E. Stanley Jones(1884–1973), American missionary and theologian