2018 Weekly Devotional - Week 16

Week 16

"Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against
it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud
voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

    I am told that our sense of smell is a strong trigger to our memories. If that is true there are certain things I will never forget but would like to! One summer I took a job with the Texas Department of Transportation’s mowing crew. Before I received my tractor and shredder I was “chosen” to be part of the sign crew for a few weeks. Our job was to drive all the county roads and repair or replace all the damaged road signs. We also had the less than enviable responsibility of cleaning up the road kill. I’ve shoveled up the remains of raccoons, opossums, skunks, armadillos, squirrels, ringtails, rabbits, lizards, various birds, hogs, deer, sheep, and even a few cows. The blazing Texas sun has an incredible ability to take an animal that has been hit by a car and neglected for a few days and turn it into a putrefying, maggot breeding sarcophagus that is apt to explode when attempting to move it. Don’t ask me how I know. Needless to say, the stench was enough to gag a Billy goat. There was nothing I could do for those critters at that point and besides, the stench was never to be an excuse for not getting the job done.
    

    Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus and Martha stood at the entrance to the sepulcher that held Lazarus’ body. His corpse would have begun the process of decomposition and therefore would have smelled horrible. Martha knew this and stated the obvious to Jesus who had asked for the stone to be removed. For Martha, the stench was an inconvenient reality associated with death. The fact that she mentions the smell is a testament that she could only think of the inevitabilities of death at this point. The reality of her brother’s death and its permanence was certain. Or so she thought! I find it very interesting that Jesus did not address the issue of the stench that Martha raised. Instead, Jesus focused on the cause of the stench, death. Jesus commands Martha’s brother Lazarus to come forth and the man who was dead came to life! You see, the job at hand was conquering death, not managing odors! Often we practice the gospel of sin management. We just deal with the stench of our sin instead of striking a blow at its cause. The Bible says we are dead in our transgressions and sins. Is it any wonder that death produces foulness in our lives? Through his substitutionary death on the cross and glorious resurrection, Jesus has conquered death once and for all. When by faith that substitution is appropriated to our lives, we take on the resurrected life of Christ! Sin no longer has mastery over us! Eternal life is ours in Christ! Take the time to thank Jesus today that the stench of our sin wasn’t an obstacle to getting the job done!

In Christ,

John