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The Resting Place
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The Resting Place
The Extravagant Worship of Mary
What happens when our perfect theology meets our messy reality? When the promises of God seem to crash against the walls of our disappointment?
Join us on a powerful journey through John 12, examining Mary's extravagant act of worship—pouring expensive perfume worth a year's wages on Jesus' feet. But rather than simply celebrating this display, they trace it back to a pivotal moment that made such abandonment possible: when Jesus met Mary in her darkest hour after her brother's death.
Drawing from Dr. C. Baxter Kruger's insights on the incarnation, they challenge the Western notion of distance between humanity and God, suggesting that Jesus came specifically to eliminate that separation. "The whole logic of the incarnation is that the Father, Son, and Spirit were not content to share their life with one another. They wanted to bring us back into the center of the life shared by the Father, Son, and Spirit."
Through a fascinating comparison of Martha's "perfect doctrine" and Mary's raw honesty at Lazarus's tomb, we discover why some expressions of faith move the heart of God while others—despite theological correctness—do not. Martha met Jesus with flawless statements of faith but remained emotionally disconnected. Mary confronted him with her pain: "Where were you when your promise got buried?" This vulnerability, rather than offending Jesus, drew him to tears and action.
The most powerful revelation? We never feel safe enough to "break our box" in worship until we've invited Jesus into our weakest, most vulnerable places. When we discover that he meets our accusations not with judgment but with compassion, we find the freedom to hold nothing back.
Whether you're wrestling with unanswered prayers, feeling distant from God, or simply craving a more authentic spiritual experience, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on what it means to keep your heart engaged in the tension of faith—even when circumstances suggest God has failed you.
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Hi everyone. I'm Ben and I'm Logan and we're the Robins. Welcome to the Resting Place Podcast. We're going to go to John 12, but I will be brief. I have extensive notes that I'll just pick and choose from what I would like to share and we'll do this in a concise way. My wife is laughing at me because I don't have extensive notes, but the thing is I always in our gatherings I'll have notes and I'll always, 10 minutes in, be like I don't know why I'm sharing this. This has nothing to do with me. That's why I can't say that tonight, because I don't have any notes. That's funny. You can laugh. That's a little bit funny. At least the home people should laugh at that. Giving me no support. You bunch of liars. There we go. There we go, all right, john 12, and we're going to look at one through about eight and then we're going to pivot off of this.
Speaker 1:But I want to, before we get to John 12, I want to just frame all of our thinking at least frame at least the message tonight, through the lens of a quote by Dr C Baxter Kruger, who wrote the Great Dance and many of the other books that have been impacting us in a powerful way here. He says this concerning the incarnation of Jesus. The whole logic of the incarnation of Jesus, or the virgin birth of Jesus, the coming of Jesus in Bethlehem, that's the incarnation, the whole logic of the incarnation, is that the Father, son and Spirit wanted to share their life with us. The early church fathers used to teach a concept called perichoresis, and this perichoresis is taken from the idea of the Jewish circle dance and the whole idea is this the Father, son and Spirit are united in perfect union with one another. And the way that we're taught this they would say other-centered, self-giving love, loving other-centered, self-giving love, loving other-centered self-giving love, loving other-centered, self-giving love, loving one another and completely content until their love demanded another to pour their love upon and bring into that union. And that's how Adam and Eve were brought to creation. But Baxter Kruger says this. He says the Father, son and Spirit were not content to share their life with one another. They wanted to bring us back into the center of the life shared by the Father, son and Spirit. And this is the whole idea. The whole logic of the incarnation of Jesus is that they were not content to have a perfect union with one another. They wanted a perfect union with us.
Speaker 1:Why is that important? Because where we're going will demand that we remove the delusion or thinking of distance between ourselves and God. At the atonement or at the cross, the Father was in Jesus, reconciling the whole of creation back to himself. The whole of creation was being reconciled back to Jesus, and that has been accomplished, and so that then demands that, in order to see the Father rightly, we must remove the Western teaching of distance between ourselves and God completely from our thinking. And this is why Jesus came, because he wanted no distance. He wanted no distance between myself and him, between you and him, between all of the cosmos, all of creation and him. He desired that there be no distance between us. And I want to look at something that we always point to in the realm of worship as something that would be considered profound, as one of the greatest acts of worship, as something that would be considered profound as one of the greatest acts of worship in all of church history, all of the created order's history, and I want to just take a peek at that tonight, but I want to frame our thinking with this he came to remove the distance between us and him to the point that we would share the perfect life that the Father, son and Spirit share with one another. Bring us completely into the middle of this place, and I want to say something really boldly You're there, whether you know it or not. See, inside of the new covenant, there's two options. There's two options there's reality and there's delusion, and there is no in-between and you get to choose which one you live in. Well, brother, what about the promises of God inside of the new covenant? Those are called divine realities that demand that we come up higher, that we come up higher in our experience in God to the point that they become realities inside of our life. They're realities whether we believe them or not, and we can live just wherever we want to live on the scale of reality or delusion. We get to choose.
Speaker 1:I was listening to a podcast that Baxter did recently and someone asked him what was the purpose of the atonement or Jesus' death on the cross? What was the purpose of Jesus' death on the cross? He's a big proponent of doing away with penal substitutionary atonement. That's a theological term. That is primarily the cross was designed for the wrath of God to be poured out on Jesus, so that it didn't have to be poured out on us. And Baxter looks at the atonement a completely different way and would say it was the love of God poured out rather than the wrath of God poured out.
Speaker 1:And the way that you look at that matters, because the father gets painted as an angry judge waiting to render judgment against us and wanting to wanting to render judgment against us, until Jesus, our lawyer, stands up and says what about my nail-scarred hands? You can't do these about. See, the picture gets painted in churches weekly that the Father is about to render his gavel. He's about to bring his gavel down in judgment against our unworthy lives, our sinful nature and our unworthy lives. And Jesus stands between us in that judgment and says what about my scars? What about my cross? Don't do it. You can't do it. You already poured your wrath out on me. Don't pour your wrath out on them too.
Speaker 1:And the issue with that thinking is that it will keep distance between you and him, because you're not worthy, because you're sinful and your sinful nature is not worthy to be brought into the presence of God. But thanks be to Jesus, we'll get into heaven. Thanks be to Jesus, we'll get into heaven by the skin of our teeth and we'll be given a little corner of heaven to make our home in, and while everyone else is enjoying their mansion, we'll get a little cabin in the by and by, in the sweet by and by. We'll just enjoy being in heaven while everyone else is being blessed. And, guys, this thinking is hamstringing your Christian experience.
Speaker 1:So Baxter's talking about the atonement. He says what's the purpose of the atonement and he said something I'd never heard him say before. So I'll share it and then I'll get into my message and I'll be brief. I promise I'll be brief. It's getting late on us. I'll be brief. Levi's shaking his head no at me. Anybody that's ever heard me knows I'm lying. I'm giving you false hope. When's it going to end? That was funny, it's okay.
Speaker 1:Baxter says this. He said that Jesus had to get to the bottom of Adam's delusion and remain in union with the Father and the Spirit all the way to the bottom of the delusion of Adam in order to free the sons of men from the delusion of Adam. What do I mean by delusion? I mean the lies Adam believed about the nature of God. The lies Adam believed about the nature of God. The lies the Pharisaical order believed about God. The lies the Jewish people believed about God and the lies that the Western church still believes about God.
Speaker 1:Jesus had to get to the bottom of the lie that Adam believed. And what was the chief lie? That Adam believed? That God desired distance between himself and Adam. And so Jesus on the cross, enduring the most humiliating punishment a man could endure and in that day, so humiliating a Roman. It's so humiliating. A Roman citizen couldn't be crucified. By law, it was reserved for thieves and defeated armies. Criminals and those they defeated in battle were the only ones they were allowed to crucify. A Roman citizen could not be crucified. It was considered too degrading. Crucified, it was considered too degrading. Jesus, in the throes of agony, gets to the bottom of Adam's delusion, at the place where he says my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he's quoting Psalms. If you read to the end of that, psalmsalm ends in victory and Jesus. I love how he says it. In Jesus and the Undoing of Adam, he says Jesus got to the darkest, the deepest, darkest hole of Adam's thinking and he chose union rather than delusion In the deepest, darkest hole of Adam's delusion. And in the moment he chose union, in that place All of the sons of men were freed from the influence of Adam. So what does that have to do with John 12? We're going to talk about it, john 12, let's look at it. John 12, verse 1.
Speaker 1:Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus, the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus' honor, martha served and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. Then Mary took a 12-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from the essence of nard. She anointed Jesus' feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance, but only one person left smelling like Jesus. They could smell it, but they could not partake in it. They could smell it, but they could not partake in it. They could smell it, but they couldn't be part of it. Only one person got to be part of this extravagant worship with Jesus, and it was Mary. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said the perfume was worth a year's wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Not that he cared for the poor, he was a thief and since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself.
Speaker 1:Jesus replied leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. Leave her alone. Leave her alone. You're the only ones mad at her for this? I'm not. It's always amazing to me that extravagance in worship is criticized by the ones who should be celebrating it. Oh, they don't have to go all that far. That's ridiculous. She's just trying to get attention for herself. She's just trying to get attention for herself. Get up off the ground. You don't need to be in front of all of us this way. You're just trying to get attention for yourself, being associated with Jesus that way. And Jesus looked at them and says leave her alone. You're the only ones this offended. You're the only ones this offended.
Speaker 1:And I ask the Lord, why did this offend the disciples? They should have celebrated this. This is something they claimed to believe that he was the son of David, the one who would take away the sins of the world. Multiple times throughout the New Testament you can find the disciples declaring to him we believe you are the Son of God. And someone walks into the room with a more appropriate response to the presence of the Son of God than the men who claimed to have the theological insight into who he was, and they were offended by how appropriate her response to his presence was. They were offended at how appropriate her response to his presence was. Her response was appropriate and theirs. Her response was appropriate. Her response was appropriate and theirs was offended.
Speaker 1:When we think about extravagance in worship, when we think about displays of worship, there are three anointings of Jesus' feet that we really will go to if we search Scripture. It's this one in John 12. There's another in Matthew 26. And then there's another in Luke, chapter 7. These are probably the most extravagant displays of worship in all of the New Testament.
Speaker 1:In all of the New Testament we look at displays of worship and these three really stand out. These are the three that are most often mentioned, and Mary is among them. And how did she get there? This is worth a year's wages. It's by far the most valuable thing that woman has. It wouldn't even be close. It's the most valuable place that she could offer something to Jesus that would offend the disciples. But bless Jesus' heart. So you're willing to offer him something to the point it starts to offend those around you? You're willing to offer him something until it starts to ruffle feathers. You're willing to offer him something until it starts to be called over the top, until it starts to become a show, or until it starts to look to others, like you're just trying to get attention for yourself.
Speaker 1:And Mary looked these boys dead in the eye. These men would go on to change the whole of the face of the earth. These weren't listen. These weren't the Pharisees that would stand in the way of the work of God. These were the men that would go forward with the ministry of Jesus and take it across the whole of the known earth. She looks them dead in the eyes and says I've got something that I'm going to offer him and I don't care if it offends you, I'm giving it to him. How'd she get there?
Speaker 1:Because I look at that. I look at that and that provokes me, because there's a line that I'll get to and then I pull back from I know nobody else in here gets to a point where they're in worship before the Lord and I'm going to pull back just a little. I'm not going to do that. That's a little bit too far and it's hard to believe that I would do that. I realize. I realize.
Speaker 1:If you know me well enough, you know stories about me doing sprints around the church and the whole thing. I was on the track team at ministry school. They called it the track team at ministry school. I was the first anchor, I was the first leg on the track team. I'd start it every time. You haven't really been in revival unless you've ran a lap around the church, I promise you.
Speaker 1:You all think I'm lying. I'm not lying, but really what I want to ask, the question I want to ask is how did she get to the place in worship before the Lord where she could offer this thing so freely, without care and without hesitation? How did she get to this place? And I want to just look at it. We first find Mary. We find her in Luke, chapter 10, verse 38 through 42, and I'm not going to turn there. You can turn there if you want to. We're not going to turn there. Jesus visits her home. It says that Martha served and Mary sat at Jesus' feet. And we all get mad at Martha because she's offended that Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet.
Speaker 1:Martha has the appropriate cultural response to a teacher coming into her home and that's to serve the men. The appropriate cultural response was for the women to serve and the men to sit at the rabbi's feet. Schuyler said amen. I've heard theologians teach from this chapter before and I've heard them say that there's in Jewish recorded history. There's one other time in this period of time where a woman sat at a rabbi's feet and afterwards she was so rebuked she never did it again, and the rabbi was her father. Women were not allowed to sit at the feet of the teacher like the men were. That was not culturally allowed and Mary, in response to Jesus coming into her home, says cultural values be hanged.
Speaker 1:I'm going to sit at the feet of this one. When he walks in the room, something starts to move inside of me that no other teacher I've ever been around starts. It starts to move inside of me like nothing I've ever felt before and there's no other teacher I've been around that when he looks at me, he looks right through me. When he looks at me, he spears into my soul. I've never seen a teacher like this. So I'm going to respond in a way that is different than any other teacher.
Speaker 1:What did the woman at the well say? Come see a man. Come see a man who told me everything that I've ever done. Come see a man. Well, the problem with her she'd been seeing too many men. The problem with her was she had seen too many men until she saw a man, until she saw a man, until she saw a man, until she saw a man. So Mary does the only logical thing and she breaks every rule in her culture and sits at Jesus' feet. And we know the story. Mary Martha gets upset and tries to rebuke her sister and Jesus says to her Martha, martha, you are troubled over many things, but your sister has chosen that better part. The next place we see her is in John 11. I'm going to hang out here just briefly. We're not going to belabor the point, hopefully too much, but we're going to just look at John 11 a little bit.
Speaker 1:It says this a man named Lazarus was sick. He was in Bethany with his sisters, mary and Martha. This is the Mary who later poured expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, lazarus, was sick. So they sent a messenger to Jesus telling him Lord, the one whom you love is sick. But when Jesus heard about this, he said Lazarus, sickness will not end in death. Know what happened, for the glory of God, so that the Son of God will receive glory from this. You have to understand something right here. You have to understand something right here Jesus, when he said something, what he said always happened. When Jesus opened his mouth to the centurion, to the centurion his servant sick he says I'm not worthy that you come into my house. He says go your way, your servant's been made whole. That man got home and found out that servant was made whole the moment it left Jesus' mouth.
Speaker 1:Jesus would say something and immediately what he said would come to pass. He was the greatest prophet who ever lived. He never missed it. He never missed it, never missed a word of knowledge, never missed a prophetic word. He hit every single time so that he had built up enough equity with these people at this point that when this messenger heard that Jesus said this sickness will not end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the son of God may be glorified through it, that man got on his donkey or whatever. He rode or ran back, whatever it was, ran back as fast as he could to this family and said hey, don't worry, lazarus isn't going to die. Jesus said so, lazarus isn't going to die. Jesus said so and I can't even imagine the celebration that took place when they heard that, because by this time he would have been getting pretty sick. He would have probably been at the point where they're starting to wonder if they need to call and make funeral arrangements for him. And they get word don't worry, he's not going to die. Don't worry, he's not going to die. Don't worry, he's not going to die. Then watch what happens. So, although Jesus watch this, so although Jesus loved Martha, mary and Lazarus he loves Martha, he loves Mary and he loves Lazarus he stayed where he was for the next two days.
Speaker 1:I love them, so I'm waiting. I love them, so I'm waiting. I love them, so I'm not moving yet. I know what I told them and I know what they're going through, but I'm not moving yet. There's something, jesus, there's a place I want to meet them that if I go right now I won't be able to meet them at. There's a place in the depth of despair that I want to meet them at that, if I can meet them there, they'll never question my goodness again. There's a place in the Jesus, there's a place in the dark night of the soul that, if I can meet them in this place, if their hearts will stay engaged with my word at this place, I can meet them and they'll never question it again. If I can meet them there, they'll take me anywhere. If I can meet them there, they'll take me everywhere they go. They'll never have a question again If I can meet them there. And that's what Jesus was after. He knew what he was going to do for Lazarus, but he was concerned with these two girls. Will their heart stay engaged with my word, even when it looks like I lied? Because that's what it looked like.
Speaker 1:Finally, he said to his disciples let's go back to Judea. But his disciples objected Rabbi, they said only a few days ago, the people in Judea were trying to stone you Are you going there again, rabbi? They said only a few days ago, the people in Judea were trying to stone you Are you going there again? Jesus replied there are 12 hours of daylight every day. During the day people walk safely, they can see because they have the light of this world, but at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.
Speaker 1:Then he said our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up. I love how ignorant his disciples are. Lord, if he's sleeping, it will be well with him. He's just been sick. This is what they said. If he's sleeping, it will be well with him. Lord, he's been sick, he needs to sleep. Why are you going to go wake him up? That seems dumb. Let him sleep a little bit. Give him some soup. Let him sleep a little bit, he'll be all right. I love how dense they are. The disciples said Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better. So verse 14,. So he told them plainly Lazarus is dead and for your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there and for your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there. For now you will really believe. Come, let's go see him. Lord, if he's sleeping, he'll get better soon. You misunderstand he's dead and I'm glad I wasn't there, for your sakes.
Speaker 1:There's this interesting tension when the word of the Lord gets released to us. There's this interesting tension of what will we do when it looks like Jesus lied. Lord, you said this, you said this and we put him in the grave three days ago. But you said this. But he's in the grave. You said this this sickness will not end in death, but, for the glory of God, that the son of God may be glorified through it. And we read his last rites three days ago. And in the tension of the two we find life. You've got to be able to walk with the tension of the word of the Lord and the unanswered word of the Lord and walk in that tension until you find the light of life. And Mary and Martha were in the middle of the tension of the unfulfilled word of the Lord. It looked like he lied. They would have been within their rights to call him a liar and I want to just watch the response of the two hearts. And then we'll be done tonight. Verse 17,.
Speaker 1:When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. That number is really interesting. In the Jewish culture, they believe the soul departed the earth after three days. They would have had people that would have been not necromancers but those that would have prayed for the dead and sometimes they would have been raised and the nature of those things, and they would have had people that could do that up to three days. But after three days his soul departed and entered the bosom of Abraham, abraham's bosom, where they believed that they were kept until they were made united with the Lord and the coming of the Messiah, so that fourth day when he got there there was no chance. Not only did he lie but he could have had the odd death. You know he'd raised the widow at name son, but that was the day they were burying him. That would have been more of a resuscitation. He raised j iris daughter, but that also would have been more of a resuscitation. She just died. This would have been considered possible in jewish culture. That's something that they believed was possible. It's one of the cultural peculiarities that they made a difference between someone who just died and someone who'd been dead for four days.
Speaker 1:To complicate the matters further, I spoke with a friend of mine who'd done some research, with a man who had several PhDs in history and was well educated in Jewish custom, and Lazarus had been embalmed according to the Roman method. He had a two-story tomb. His body would have been buried in the bottom story of the tomb and his brain, his heart and his liver would have been taken out of his body embalmed in a jar, had been taken out of his body embalmed in a jar, taken to the top story of the tomb. Lazarus was dead and he had no brain, no heart and no liver and it had been four days. They'd embalmed him and Jesus waited too long for his soul to be called back into his body. They'd watched him give someone new eyes. It's never been. I've never heard of someone being healed who was born blind before. That's what they would say when the man who was born blind was healed. We've never heard of a man who was born blind being given his sight back. Jesus could do that, but this would have been a level of impossibility no one could have imagined. This is impossible. And Jesus walks smack into the middle of two hearts, wrestling with the tension of the unfulfilled word of the Lord and impossibility staring them in the face. And there are two responses, two separate responses, to the presence of Jesus in the face of the unfulfilled word of the Lord and impossibility mocking them.
Speaker 1:Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. So interesting Martha goes to see him but Mary stays back. Martha goes out to meet him and Mary withholds herself after she hears that he has come back. That chick so believed, she so believed his promise that she couldn't handle looking at him and thinking of him as anything but the truth. And the truth lied to her and she's got to hide herself from him because the truth lied.
Speaker 1:Martha said to Jesus after she got to Jesus verse 21,. Martha said to Jesus Lord, if you had only been here, my brother would not have died. Watch this, watch this. Then she responds with the most unbelievable statement of faith. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask. If you'd been here, he would not be dead. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, he'll give to you. And I love how Jesus responds to her because he puts her heart right back in the tension of faith. Jesus told her your brother will rise again. Imagine this Resurrection comes walking down the road, looks you in the eyes and says that boy who died, he's getting back up. She's looking resurrection in the eyes. She's looking resurrection in the eyes and she has just given one of the most profound statements of faith you'll find in all of the New Testament. And watch her response to his statement. Yes, martha said he will rise again when everyone else rises at the last day.
Speaker 1:And she settled for statements of faith and theological correctness and she settled for perfect Jesus. She settled for perfect doctrinal statements and that's a perfect eschatological statement. She's got all the right answers to the question. She's got all the right answers to the problem and there's nothing inside of her that moves the heart of Jesus. Watch, jesus tells her. He tries again. I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this, martha? He's trying to get her heart back into the tension. Back into the tension. Yes, lord, she told him. I have always believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.
Speaker 1:Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mortars and told her the teacher is here and wants to see you. So Mary immediately went to him. Watch this. Watch what her perfect statements of faith, her perfect doctrine and her perfect eschatological statements did for resurrection, coming to raise her brother. Watch what it did. Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place, perfect doctrine met him. Jesus stayed outside of the village where a perfect statement of faith had been. A dangerous statement of faith had met him there and he stayed where it met him. It did not move him. He's coming to raise Lazarus from the dead. This is the intention of Jesus. He's going to get it done. We're going to wake him up.
Speaker 1:And a woman with perfect doctrine, perfect statements of faith, perfect, perfect statements of faith, perfect. You would look at her and say you could not have believed anymore in that moment. And it did nothing to the heart of God. Why? Because she'd settled for perfect doctrines and she'd settled for perfect doctrines and she'd settled for perfect statements and she had settled for. This is the correct answer, and I know this is the correct answer and I can have the correct answer and remove my heart from the tension of faith. I can say it and remove my heart from it. She said it, but her heart had been so removed from the tension of believing what the truth had told her that it did nothing for the heart of Jesus. Now watch what Mary does when she meets him.
Speaker 1:When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Where were you when your promise to me got put in that grave? Where were you when your word got buried four days ago? Where were you? She came to him with an accusation and no statement of faith. Where were you, jesus? I believed you. Where were you, jesus? I believed you. No, no, I believed you. And then he died. I believed you. Then he died and then we read his last rites and then they embalmed him. He went through the indignity of having the interior parts of his body removed and put into a jar. Where were you? You could have stopped this Jesus?
Speaker 1:When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, it says in this translation I don't like this translation, actually, but it says a deep anger welled up within him and he was deeply troubled. Where have you laid him, he asked. They told him Lord, come and see. Then Jesus wept. You lied to me, you said he wouldn't die and then he died and then we buried him and you lied to me. And I know all of us in here are too spiritual to ever have that sort of conversation with Jesus where we would have the audacity to say to him you lied. We can't say that to the Lord. Sure you can. You believe it anyway. You may as well voice it.
Speaker 1:Something that I'm learning in my walk with Jesus is that he's big enough to handle my objections. He's big enough. He's big enough to handle my accusation. He's big enough to handle my misunderstandings and he's big enough to handle my confusion. He can handle it. He's a he can handle it. He wouldn't have died if you had been here, and now he's dead. And now there's no hope of him getting back up.
Speaker 1:Where were you? And Jesus' response was where'd you lay him? And I asked the Lord. I said, lord, why in the world did you stop? Why did you stop? You were coming to raise Lazarus from the dead. This was the intention of your heart. Martha meets you and you stop moving. Why did you stop? And the response of the spirit was very quick to me. He said I was waiting for someone with faith to pull me in the rest of the way. I'm coming down the road and perfect doctrine can stop me. Perfect statements of faith can stop me. Perfect eschatology can stop me from intervening in your life. If there's no heart connected to the tension that we're talking about, you've got to keep your heart in the tension of believing, even if it looked like he lied. So we can go through the rest of the narrative.
Speaker 1:Jesus stands outside Lazarus' tomb. Jesus stands outside Lazarus' tomb. Jewish tradition says he says Lazarus, come forth. And then sits down on a rock and 500 people were there with him when he said Lazarus come forth. And four hours later, 250 people were left and a groan came out of that tomb. Later, 250 people were left and a groan came out of that tomb. Four hours later, a groan came out of that tomb and 250 people watched a man who had his brain, heart and liver removed and put in a different part of that tomb walk out of that cave with grave clothes on. So what does this have to do with Mary anointing Jesus' feet?
Speaker 1:As I was walking and praying last night, preparing and seeking the Lord for what he had me share, the Lord whispered something really softly to my spirit. He said, son, she would not have felt safe enough to offer herself to me that way unless I met her in her darkest place. There's a hesitation around letting him meet us at our worst, at our weakest, at our most vulnerable. I'll say it this way We've been having a time of communion, the resting place family. We've been doing communion for the last 21 days in preparation for this, and by doing 21 days of communion, you're forced then to do it at your home.
Speaker 1:And you know, what I found out in the 21 days of communion is I don't get to pick and choose when I participate in communion. I don't get to pick and choose. See what that means. That means when I'm tired, when I'm impatient, when I'm weak, when I'm having hard conversations with the Lord about why are things not going the way that you told me they would go? Why are we still at the place that you told me Jesus? Why are we still at at the place that, jesus? Why are we still at this place and not here? Why are things going like this? When I'm at my worst, I'm still inviting him in and he's meeting me at my weakest.
Speaker 1:Friends that changed my life, friends that changed my life, friends that changed my life, inviting him in to my weakness, inviting him in to my weakness and not hiding my weakness from him. Cj, grab your guitar real quick for me, buddy. We're going to begin to transition this. We'll go home here in just one second. Thank you, she said where were you, and he said where did you put him? She said where were you and his response was where did you put him? Where were you? Jesus In her heart, and it's a perfect juxtaposition.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say it this way it's the perfect juxtaposition of the state of the current American church.
Speaker 1:We know all the answers. I'm not talking about Baptists. I'm not talking about Lutherans and Methodists. I'm talking about my people. I'm talking about about Lutherans and Methodists. I'm talking about my people. I'm talking about the prophetic charismatic movement, the Pentecostal charismatic prophetic movement. We believe in the power of God. We believe that we can see Jesus. We believe that we can see the things that Jesus said we could see, and we've got all the right answers. We've got the right doctrine. We know more now than we've ever known.
Speaker 1:We're advancing in the knowledge of God in a way that the saints in the early charismatic movement would have given their left hand for. Had they had the light we have now inside of the knowledge of. God. And where are we?
Speaker 1:this is where I think we are. I think we're going back to find someone whose heart still believes to the point that it will move, because our perfect doctrine didn't do it, our perfect statement of faith didn't do it, our perfect eschatology didn't do it. Then what does it it then? What does it? Our eschatology didn't do it. Our faith statement of faith didn't do it.
Speaker 1:Although those things are alright, there's nothing wrong with those things, but they lacked the necessary ingredient of a heart that was still engaged in the tension, of a heart that was still engaged in the tension, and this woman who dared, this woman who dared keep herself in the tension, was then so free. He met me at my lowest. He met me at my weakest. He met me when all I could do was call him a liar. He met me when I had no strength of my own. He met me when I was unable to do anything outside of myself. He met me there, and if he met me there, I'm then free to offer everything I have to him. We love to talk about breaking our box in worship. That's probably the thing that we talk about most. Come on, break your box. Come on, break your box.
Speaker 1:That's what I hear that refrain constantly inside of church Break your box in worship, and we write songs about what would it look like if every box was broken. What would it look like if every box was broken? But I'm telling you, you'll never feel safe enough to break your box unless you invite him in to your darkest, lowest and deepest the same, and I'm not so often. Let's do it again One more time, so so.
Speaker 1:Thank you, john would go on to write there's no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. And there's no fear in love, for fear carries with it the anticipation of judgment and where I think we find ourselves is unable to fully open up because we're still scared. The piece we can't open up is going to get judged.
Speaker 1:He's going to judge me because everybody else has always judged me and throw me away like everybody else has always thrown me away, and give me no chance, like everybody else has always given me no chance. He's going to cast me aside, like everyone else has always cast me aside. He's going to throw me away just waiting for the other shoe to drop. All the time, because the darkest place in my heart is in fear of the judgment of Almighty God. And I'm telling you, jesus on the cross, that's where we started, that's where we're going to finish. Jesus on the cross took the gavel and threw it into the same sea through your sins, into I know we're getting late. I know we're getting late, I know we are.
Speaker 1:There's a harder to, in here, withhold themselves from the one thing that can heal them, because they're afraid. The healing hand is the hand of judgment, and I'd be a liar if I didn't tell you of my darkest and my weakest, when he should have judged me, when he should have judged me, when he had every right to do like Paul said and cast me over to Satan for the destruction of my flesh, so that my spirit could be sanctified on that day.
Speaker 1:I didn't find a gavel of judgment. I found the healing hands of Jesus, ready to touch me in the place that would ready to touch me, in the place that would bring the destruction of delusion and bring me into a place that would bring the destruction of delusion and bring me into a place of evil.