Songs of Worship: What I See
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I encourage you to listen to What I See after you read this blog! I see a level of ambiguity in the songwriting for a reason! I hope you would open your heart and mind to the Lord first while reading, then see clearly what these lyrics are about after reading!
Do you see what I see? Do you see what I see? This question has probably been reiterated thousands upon thousands of times throughout the history of the Church. Jesus has transformed personal lives, transformed other families, communities, and churches. There is a tangible and spiritual power that happens when Jesus enters the picture of a story.
A story of real-life transformation comes to mind when I think about the resurrecting power of Christ. I think of the story of Lazarus. He was a friend that Jesus loved very much! Mary and Martha were siblings of Lazurus. Both Mary and Martha sought Jesus out to help heal him after Lazurus became extremely ill. We learn through this story that Jesus is very passionate about others, so much so that he would put himself on the line to help and heal others and Jesus calls us to that same place. Today we are going to be looking at this story through the lens of personal resurrection.
We are going to be looking at ourselves and noticing that all of us daily need resurrection from death. We all are on an equal playing field here. We all have stones guarding a tomb of secrets (skeletons in the closet if you will) and doubts and grave clothes still on. So let’s get started in John chapter 11, verse 38.
“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Take away the stone is very bold of Jesus to say. You can see Martha’s reaction to a statement like this is very logical, very practical, and very clueless about what Jesus was hinting at. Martha, their friends, and their family have been mourning the death of Lazurus for four days. They had already been through fear and anguish as they watched him grow sick and pass away, they had already tried to get Jesus to come and heal Lazurus before he had passed away, and now he is dead. Jesus is “too” late for a miracle to happen. Martha is like… “Jesus, our spices and perfume we drenched on his body to prepare him for burial can’t overcome death and decay. You missed your chance to visit and see him laid there dead… that happened four days ago… Why would you want us to remove the stone? Why would you want to even see him? Why would you want to get inside the tomb? Why? Your request doesn’t make sense.”
Let’s keep reading… Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Believe and see. Jesus reminds Martha of her faith. He reminds her in the midst of her deep anguish, her deep longing to make sense of pain, her desire to keep busy so she doesn’t have to mourn the loss of her brother, he reminds her in the middle of her depression, he reminds her *fill in the blank with whatever other thoughts and feelings you could imagine about someone who just lost a loved one might have right in this moment* … He reminds her to BELIEVE. To believe in HIM, believe in the Messiah, to believe in the way-making, miracle-working, promise-keeping God she HAS been believing in…. And with that belief will come being a witness, getting to experience the glory of God, that Jesus promised. He is reminding her of His word and His promise. Let’s keep reading.
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
So they finally removed the stone. Martha relented and chose belief. Then Jesus prays for what benefit this miracle might be. That the belief one woman had in Jesus might impact the family, the friends, the friends of friends, the whole town, the future families to come… that they too also might believe in Jesus.
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Take off the grave clothes. We read in the next chapter that Lazurus was fine. He lived. Jesus ends up eating dinner with Lazurus and his family. This story of his resurrection from death was told far and wide and many came to believe in Jesus because of it. It became such a well-known story that in John 12:10-11 it says that the Chief of Priests made plans to kill Jesus and “made plans to kill Lazarus as well” because of how many other people started to believe in Jesus.
The story of Lazurus is powerful in itself. The story of friends and family desperately seeking to find the healing and power of Jesus for their loved ones is powerful. But what does this story mean for us individually? How can we be changed by Jesus as we learn more about this?
Jesus wants to get inside our personal tombs. He doesn't want that stone in the way. He wants to get in the middle of the death and decay. He wants into your tomb that needs a little resurrection power. And to those dark hidden things inside of you, inside of me, inside ALL of us… Jesus shares this. “Believe, and you will see the glory of God.” Believe and you will see God do something only He can do. Believe that God can change things around, that he can heal what has been broken for so long, and that he can break the strongholds in our lives. We are to believe and see God do it.
And once we start to believe and we start to start to see… Jesus tells us to “take off the grave clothes.” When preparing a body for burial in these old Jewish customs, they wrapped dead bodies in cloth. The hands and feet would be tied together. A special piece of linen would be draped over the face. These identifying pieces of clothing were made for death. Are you still walking around dressed in rags and garments made for death? Are you still wrapping your sin, your brokenness, your hidden? Are you truly living and walking in the newness of life, dressed in the righteousness of Jesus, letting his mercy and grace clothe you every day?
Will you take off those grave clothes? Will you start identifying that you have been freely given the newness of life through Jesus? Will you identify, not with the sin, mistakes, brokenness, darkness, the diagnosis, the condition, the labels, the * fill in the blank*
But will you start identifying as a child of God? As a human dearly loved… loved so much that Jesus didn’t just die for your sin and mistakes once… He died so that He could forevermore be active in resurrecting us EVERY DAY. Will you put on His grace and mercy and love daily?
“If you see what I see
That the grave is empty
Then you know what I know
Anything is possible
If you see what I see
That the grave is empty
Then you know what I know
Anything is possible”
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