When everything is normal in life, we have to prepare for the crisis scenario

I want to dedicate the next segments of this program to study with you a well-known text of Scripture, the 11th chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John, where we have recorded the well-known event, the death and resurrection of Lazarus. And I hope that through this time we can extract from this beautiful passage some teachings that I know will be a blessing for our lives, it is always a privilege to be with you.

I want to read a couple of verses and then get into the discussion of our passage. Lázaro has just died and the writer, the evangelist Juan, enters us into the drama of that moment. And it says here that: "One named Lazarus of Bethany" was ill then, the village of Mary and Martha his sister. It says here that Mary whose brother Lazarus was sick was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair.

It says that: "So the sisters of Lazarus sent to tell Jesus: Lord, behold, the one you love is sick. Hearing them Jesus said: this disease is not for death but for the Glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified for her. And Jesus loved Martha, his sister, and Lazarus, and when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. After this he said to the disciples: Let's go to Judea again. the disciples said: Rabbi now the Jews were trying to stone you, and are you going there again? "

"Jesus answered: Is there not twelve hours in the day? He who walks during the day does not stumble because he sees the light of this world, but he who walks at night stumbles because there is no light in him. After saying this he said to them: our friend Lazarus sleeps but I am going to wake him up. His disciples then said: Lord, if he sleeps then he will be healed. But Jesus said this about the death of Lazarus, and they thought he was talking about the rest of the dream. And then he said to them: Lazarus has died. "

We see here in this passage, there is a continuous treatment through the entire passage of this game between sickness, life, death, Jesus and His role as giver of life, the nature of death, what is truly in the light of the Presence. of Jesus in all this drama. And this game of ideas is very interesting here, of teachings for all of us.

The first thing that I see here in this passage that interests me is this idea that Jesus knows Martha, Mary and Lazarus, they are friends of Jesus. And indeed Mary has a history with Jesus in the sense that in another passage of Scripture she is shown as anointing the Lord with a perfume and wiping his feet with her own hair in an act of extreme devotion and adoration to the Lord.

We also remember that Martha and Lazarus are the protagonists of that famous scene where Martha is busy working to prepare the house for the Lord who is invited to the house with the disciples and Mary is there in the room at the feet of Jesus listening, neglecting the Homework that Marta is having to do to keep the whole thing working, Marta complains about Mary and we know Jesus' response, Mary has chosen the best part and it will not be taken away from her but you are busy with many things, right? Beautiful passage, maybe we can comment on it a little later.

But what we see here, the first thing I see is this that Martha, Mary and Lazarus have a previous relationship with Jesus, Jesus loves them, appreciates them, has friendship with them. And when they find themselves in this terrible crisis, the tragedy of the loss of their brother in the case of Marta and María, they immediately go to that previous relationship of friendship that they have with the Lord, of affection and send to ask the Lord to come because Lazaro is critically ill or rather, he is not dead yet but he is critically ill. They send the Lord to come.

And I see here something very important and it is the following: that we always have to build on a previous relationship with the Lord. When we have served the Lord, when we love Him, we adore Him, we seek Him, we pray continuously, we read His Word, a close relationship is created, of intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ that when moments of crisis come to our lives then we can appeal to that relationship.

How difficult it is when we are in a terrible situation, of tragedy, of pain and we do not know how to pray, we have not had experiences with the Lord in life, we have not been able to build our faith, we have not had dealings with Jesus that then allow us to draw closer in moments of crisis and have that authority, that trust and remind ourselves that we do have a help, we have a resource that is the Lord Jesus Christ and we can appeal to Him in our needs.

So the first thing I see here is this, right? that we have to use the everyday moments of life, when everything is fine, when there is blessing, when everything is normal to set the stage so that when the moment of crisis and need comes into our lives we can approach as the Bible says confidently to the Throne of Grace to receive the timely help we need.

So in the next few sections we are going to continue this dialogue, but it is important right? that we use the normal times in life to prepare the platform for moments of crisis, how? Through prayer, study of the Word, adoration of the Lord, a rich emotional life, having dealings with God that are good for us strengthening our faith so that we can appeal to Him in times of need.

Thank you for being with me and we will continue our meditation in the next segments. God bless you.

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