(The following post is an inspired
by a statement my wife made to me after Sunday school. Man, I married a smart woman.)
John chapter 11 is the story of
the death and resurrection of Lazarus.
Lazarus, Jesus’ friend and follower, became gravely ill. The sickness was so serious that Lazarus’s sisters
sent a messenger from their home just outside of Jerusalem in southern Judea to
find Jesus in (northern) Galilee and ask Him to come heal their brother. With the disciples watching and listening, Jesus
sent the messenger back --- alone --- with an optimistic reply, “This sickness
is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be
glorified by it.” (v.4)
Two days later, Jesus assembled the
disciples (the 12) and announced that they were all going to Bethany so that He
could wake up Lazarus. Of course, this
didn’t make sense to the disciples.
First, Bethany was Temple territory and the leaders of the Temple had
already tried to kill Jesus (John 10: 30-33).
Second, if Lazarus’s fever had broken then the brother needed to rest
and regain his strength.
So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus
is dead.”
Or maybe: So
Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,”
See the difference?
Depending on the translation, John
11:14 ends with a period or it ends with
a comma.
The oldest manuscripts of the New
Testament were written in Greek, in all capital letters, with no spaces between
words, and very little punctuation. Translators
of the Bible, including the King James translators, added modern punctuation where
context and their best-educated reasoning/ guess indicated punctuation was
needed.*
It doesn’t matter whether you write
John 11:14 with a period or with a comma, but makes a HUGE difference whether
you READ John 11: 14 with a period or with a comma.
If you read it with a period, you
hear that the last word on Lazarus is death.
You can hear death as the last
word on your unfixable situation. You
can think, “I was so optimistic. I
believed on the promises of God. I spoke
it into the atmosphere. By faith, I
declared that this situation was not unto death, but for the glory of God; but
now my hope, like Lazarus “is dead.”
Period.
But, what if it’s not a
period. A comma can end a verse, but it
can’t end a sentence. So, if you hear a
comma, it means that dead is not the
last word on your situation.
So Jesus then said to them
plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not
there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”
Jesus went to the dead man and
brought him back to life (John 11:38-43), and Lazarus’ sisters were
shocked. They had gotten Jesus’ message
that “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that
the Son of God may be glorified by it,” but it had sure looked like the end was
death. Period.
What about you? You prayed, didn’t you? God replied, didn’t He? What?
You think God was playing?
Jesus meant what He said when He
told you that the END would not be death.
Jesus meant it when He told you that the end would be glory.
Right now, your hope may be dead,
but it’s not dead-period. It’s only
dead-comma.
Resurrection is on His way.
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth
Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership
development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
#Awordtothewise
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