"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." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

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.""
- John 11:38-42 (NIV)

Moving the Stones

I've seen people struggle with their healing process for years, making headway little by little each month, and I've seen people miraculously healed of stuff they've struggled with for years in one prayer session. I don't know why God works in different ways, although I'm sure that we could make some useful observations fairly quickly (I'll leave those up to you). My own healing is coming in the little by little means.

I've been begging for God to break into my life in a Lazarus-type way for awhile now and I keep hearing things like "be patient." and "the Lord is moving." It's simultaneosly invigorating and maddening. When I get prayer now I expect to be a different person at the end, but that's not how God's worked in this process. However, he is moving.

When I watch Jesus at work raising Lazarus, I see different roles we play. Martha, the sister who out of love and deep grief wants to close this chapter in her life (we'll get to her later), Jesus, the miracle worker and the people he uses. This passage is one of my favorite examples of God using people to bring Heaven to Earth. Jesus does the healing, but he tells the others to move the stone.

Using a crude example, what would life be like for Lazarus if the stone wasn't moved? To be extreme, he would spend the rest of his living days inside a cave bound in linens. Due to its previous role as grave, I'm guessing the cave isn't stocked with water and food, and I read somewhere that not having enough light can drive a person literally crazy.

Last night my friends prayed for me and even though it wasn't the life-changing prayer I crave, I could feel them moving stones in my life, preparing the way for the Lord.

So in this story the other people are used to move the stones and to unbind the graveclothes. Not a bad job description as Christians, right?

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