Humanly Impossible

Recently my friends from Wisconsin were in town. We had a blast hanging out with them at their hotel pool during spring break. Our kids had fun playing together. A friendship that started with similarities during times of dating, engagement, and weddings, has now progressed to similar stages of raising kids. Most of our time together wasn’t one-on-one conversation; rather we were just parenting in the same room and trying to sneak in a conversation here or there. There is something that feels good about being with an old friend in a similar life stage. The most profound thing that came out of their visit was that my buddy introduced me to a show called The Carbonaro Effect. In this show, Michael Carbonaro, a magician, does amazing tricks that shock people and catches it all on hidden camera. One trick that stood out to me was called H₂O To Go. He mixed two packets of dust together, one he called hydrogen and the other he called oxygen, and it made water. The people were so shocked.  The looks on their faces were unbelievable. For the most part, they bought into the trick and believed him. I mean, how could they not when he did it right before their eyes?

Moments like this stick out in life; when someone does something we never thought was possible. Sometimes the situation is just our lack of knowledge or understanding, for whatever reason we were unaware this could happen. But when the situation is miraculous, meaning it is outside of the way our world naturally works, it is life changing. These situations happen few and far between, but when they do, they stand out.

In this week’s lesson from John, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. There are so many significant things to point out in this reading. We see the faith of Martha and how she understands who Jesus is and what He can do. We see the human side of Jesus, as he gets emotional at the loss of His friend. We see the actual event of Lazarus’ resurrection. The most powerful reality showcased in this event is that Jesus is God; it is undeniable. Our world often tries to undermine Jesus and dispute the fact that He is God, but in this passage it is undeniable, as only God can raise someone from the dead. Many of these points might make their way into our conversations with others about life and faith, therefore we take time to look at how this passage can help shape our future conversations.