Skip to main content

Yeah, Not Everyone Believed. Can You Believe It?

Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.~John 11:45

John 11:45 says many of the Jews believed after they saw what happened to Lazarus.

Many? Not all?

Jesus just raised a guy from the dead by telling him to get up. I'm not sure what miracle these guys were waiting for. Does it have to be two people raised from the dead? Should there have been a cloud of smoke and some thematic music for Lazarus to come out to? I'm thinking Eye of the Tiger. 

I know Jesus said that some would not believe even if a man were to rise from the dead. I'm sure Jesus knows what He's talking about. But that doesn't make it any less ridiculous. I don't know about you, but I don't see many dead people get up and walk again. Trust me, if I did, that might be something I'd recall. 

I'd also like to believe that if I saw a dead man rise from the dead that I would give glory to God and just accept it. But a new show on ABC has me rethinking this. It's called Resurrection. I'm not advocating everything (or anything) on the show, although the writing is good and the questions are compelling. 

It's about families mysteriously receiving loved ones back from the dead, years after those loved ones die. Three episodes in and they are discussing the belief and doubt of different people. Despite the presence of a pastor in town, one who ironically doubts more than others, the show isn't totally focused on faith. But it's hard not to comment on what you believe when dead people start walking around again. Even harder when it's not about zombies. 

I have no idea where the show's direction will go, but given modern day surroundings, it does at least make me pause and reconsider how I would respond. At the very least, it begins to make sense why only many, and not all, chose to believe when Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his ...
Post a Comment
Read more