Come Forth

Bethany was a small village. There lived people that were quite close to Jesus: Mary, her sister Martha, along with their brother Lazurus. Their brother spent all day working the fields, even on extremely hot days. He pushed himself every day for the sake of his sisters because, even with all of them working all day, they still could hardly keep food on the table.

One day, as Lazurus was coming back from work, he suddenly felt a wave of chills come over him. He slowed down a bit as his friends hurried along down the path home to their families. After a minute, they noticed he was following at a slower pace and went back to rejoin him.

“Friend, are you alright? You look like a ghost.” one of them said.

“Yeah, you’re quite pale. Are you feeling alright?” the other said.

“I’m not feeling well. Go ahead. I’ll catch up.” he said, another wave of chills coming onto him. He hugged his arms in an attempt to calm the chills.

The two looked back undecidedly, but decided to lead him the way home before returning to their own homes. When they got to Lazarus’s home, Mary greeted them at the door, frightened at the way Lazurus appeared. He was shaking and he was a horrid pale. That along with being led in by two other people was a sure sign that something was very wrong.

“He was fine all day. I don’t know what came over him.” One of the men said to Mary.

“Lazarus.. Come inside quickly. Lie down and I’ll get you something to drink.” she rushed inside, the panic inside of her growing every second.

They lead Lazarus inside and he lay down. They were then met by Martha who acted slightly more calm then Mary. They both gave him lots of water and made sure that he was covered at all times. However, even with both of them taking care of him constantly as the day ended, his condition worsened. 

“He has blotches on his skin.. Oh Martha. It must be sepsis.” Mary told her sister.

Martha looked at her brother, tears forming in her eyes. Not wanting to show weakness around Mary, she quickly wiped them away. ”I’ll call in someone who might be able to help tomorrow. We will let Adonai handle it. We just have to pray and have faith.”

“But Martha-”

“No. Everything is going to be okay.”

“But Martha..mother, she had sepsis and died after only two days. Oh! Lazarus!” Mary dropped to the floor and began to sob uncontrollably. Martha held her until Martha couldn’t help but cry as well.

“If only Jesus would never have left..” Mary sobbed.

Lazarus felt worse than he’d ever felt in his life. He kept getting a sharp pain in his stomach which kept him from being able to get any real rest. He was sweating profusely and felt he couldn’t stand it. He suddenly heard Martha comforting Mary as she began to remind her about their mother and how she had died of sepsis. Sepsis. That must be what was wrong with him. Lazarus turned his head in their direction and attempted to move or stand, but couldn’t. Suddenly, they began to weep. He couldn’t take it anymore. With all his strength, he stood up and began to walk towards them. Martha and Mary gaped at him as he made his way to the door. Then, Martha stood up and marched to the door, standing in front of it.

“Lazarus! Back to bed! I’m the eldest! Do as I tell you.”

“I have to find Jesus.. He’s..the only one who can heal me..”Lazarus began to collapse but held himself against the wall.

“Please..go back to bed. We can work until you’re all better. Please rest.”

“But..what about food? We will surely die-” he arched over and held his stomach in pain. 

“Do I seriously need to drag you back? You’re such a baby sometimes!”

Martha grabbed his arm and dragged him back into bed. She put a thinner blanket over him and wiped his forehead with cool water.

“Mary! Come over and tend to him. I will go to bed, then you wake me and I will tend to him”

Mary simply nodded. 

Lazarus lay there, aching and sweating the whole night through. The next morning, he could hardly keep his eyes open. He didn’t get a wink of sleep since the night before, yet felt so tired. He knew that he was dying, and he would not get to see his friend Jesus again. Suddenly, he felt nauseous. Mary, tending to him on her shift, managed to grab a bucket. 

His condition continued to worsen. Martha worked the entire day but only managed to make enough money to buy some flour and other supplies to make bread, which they all ate, save Lazarus. Lazarus could not keep anything down, even water.

That night, as Lazarus was lying down, sticky from sweat and drained from lack of sleep, he began to see things such as a bright tunnel that seemed to go forever. He knew that he was half dead, and if Mary or Martha asked him something, he could not conjure the strength to speak so he simply looked at them, trying desperately to talk, but never could.

Martha had brought over a physician but said that there was nothing that could be done.

“Sepsis can only be treated by removing the infected areas with surgery, but the infection has spread too viciously over the last couple of days. I’m so sorry. There’s nothing I can do to help” 

That night, as Martha and Mary knelt by Lazarus, he finally managed to say,”At least you will not have to wash my clothes anymore in your spare time.”

This made Mary and Martha laugh a bit, but soon sadness overcame them as Lazarus took his last breath, a grin on his face seeing them finally smile for the first time since he got sick.

The next day, Martha sent a request, stating that Lazarus had passed. The word soon came to Jesus later that day, Who was about two miles away from Judea, where Bethany was. When He got word of Lazarus’ death, Jesus became sorrowful. He decided to stay where He was another two days before heading there. After two days, Jesus said to His disciples,”Pack up your things, we’re headed back to Judea. I must go visit somebody.”

“But, Master,” said Simon Peter,”What about the Jews? We barely escaped them.”

“Yes,” agreed Matthew,”Those Jews tried to stone you to death, yet you wish to go back? I don’t agree.”

Jesus looked at them, a hint of sadness in His eyes instead of the hint of joy,”Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there so that I can wake him up.”

“But, Lord, if he’s only asleep, then he’ll wake up on his own.” replied Peter.

Jesus told them straightforwardly,”Lazarus is dead, but I’m glad we left, for your sakes, because it will feed your faith to see what happens next. However, let us go to him.”

Then Thomas spoke up and said,”Let’s go and follow, so that we may die along with Lazarus.”

The disciples finally agreed and followed.

Martha was giving back some laundry that she had washed and dried when she saw a group of people in the distance. When she realized it was Jesus, she dropped everything and ran to Him.

“Oh! You are here at last! Come! See Mary. She is so stricken and sad that she cannot come out of the house.”

He hugged her for a while as the disciples contemplated about themselves, excited to witness Jesus’s biggest miracle yet.

“Oh, Rabbi, I wish that you would have stayed because I know that, if You had, Lazarus would not be dead.” she said, then looked Him in the eyes,”But I know that, even now, El Shaddai will give You whatever You ask of Him”

Jesus then put His hand on her and said,”Your brother has risen again.”

Martha felt a wave of joy flow over her as she said to Him,”Yes! I believe You are the Messiah, the Lamb of God come into the world! Blessed be Yahweh!”

Martha then ran back to the house and called for Mary.”Mary! Mary, the Master has arrived and wishes to speak with you!”

Mary then, being surrounded by many people who were comforting her, shot up from where she was sitting and ran out of the house. The others surrounding her were puzzled, so they decided to get up and follow her, thinking that she was going to Lazarus’s tomb to grieve over her brother’s body.

As Mary approached Jesus, she stumbled as she ran and finally got to Him, landing at His feet sobbing,”If You had been here,” she said,”My brother, he would never have died such a painful death.”

Jesus looked down at Mary and then at all of the jews who had followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb. He became downcast in His spirit. He then asked them,a bit choked up,”Where have you laid him?”

They replied,”Come and see, then”

Jesus then landed on His knees and began to cry bitterly. 

“Look how much the Lord loved Lazarus! He Himself weeps for His friend!”  said one of the jews behind Mary. 

“Ha! If He loved him so much, why doesn’t He just go and raise Him from the dead?” said one of the more skeptical jews.

“Exactly,” another agreed,”He’s healed others! Why doesn't He heal Him instead of weeping?”

A bunch of them began to murmur amongst themselves. They started to yell over each other, disagreeing and getting violent. Then, Jesus got up and headed toward the tomb where Lazarus was laid. He became sorrowful again as He approached it. The grave was a tomb which had a stone rolled over it. He pointed at the stone and said loudly,”Remove the stone.”

Martha then walked up to Jesus and told Him that Lazarus was long dead, and that he would stink a terrible stench if they unrolled the stone, but Jesus replied with;

“Didn’t I tell you that if you had faith in Me that you would see the glory of God?” He replied.

Martha was slightly ashamed but did as He commanded. She looked back at the jews standing behind Mary and commanded that a couple of them help move the stone. They all looked at each other skeptical, but one emerged out of the group and walked up to Martha, then walked to the stone and began to push it away. More came out and helped. In a couple of moments, the stone had been rolled away. The odor in the air was a terrible smell and they all coughed, trying to wave away the smell.

Jesus then nodded at them and whispered thank you to Martha as she passed by to stand behind Him, fully believing He would do the miracle. 

“Father,” He began,”Thank You that You have heard Me. I know that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they would believe that and know that You sent Me here to this place.”

He then spoke up loudly over every sound that seemed to come from the air,”Lazarus! Come forth!”

Lazarus shot up from his stone bed, rising up  onto the ground.He couldn’t see anything, but he knew that he had heard someone calling him to walk out from the stone tomb. Quickly, still wrapped from head to toe, Lazarus inched his way out of the cave until he walked out into the sunlight of day.

This was one of the many miracles that Jesus did here, yet nobody knew that He would do it twice.