Believest Thou This?
John 11:1-45 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Gladys Scarborough, Big Sis to most of us, went home to be with the Lord, so we have gathered to say something about Gladys and her life here on earth. The one thing that sticks with me the most out of all of the things that Gladys did while I knew her here at Herbert was: On any given Sunday morning when she was not on the choir, she was sitting right in that very same seat, the amazing part is not that she sat there but who she sat next to.
Charlie Boy, her husband, she sat next to him and the most impressive part was she did not deviate concerning that one thing. So you must be wondering what did it say. It spoke for her because you didn’t hear her talking a lot, unless you were blessed to be in her presence when she let fly some of the funniest things I had ever heard. Gladys could be noted by the doctors and nurses as not doing so well, and she would be the last to know because she was not doing well. I visited at the nursing home one day last year, and Gladys was sitting in the hall and we talked a little and she was pretty quiet on this particular Sunday. The Pastor in me giving pastoral care to her, said maybe this is a time that Gladys is resting and thinking, and praying and just being still in God. As I rose to decided to leave, there was a woman in a wheel chair that I noticed out of the corner of my eye, but nothing unusual, a patient in the hall moving toward us, slowly in a wheelchair, who Gladys, however immediately noticed and the women was stealing a cup of ice cream off of the nourishment cart in the hall. Well I didn’t notice the woman’s actions but Gladys does and not only does she notice, Gladys calls out Hey, I see you stealing ice cream. The woman looks around at Gladys, and with her eyes tells Gladys to minds her business. I’m laughing and now Gladys is laughing but acting just like a big sister. Telling.
I’ve witnessed Gladys take Deacon Jackson apart talking about him and I’ve heard her talk about Martin, and all my wife and I could think was that Gladys sure is bad.Gladys did not say a whole lot here at church but when she was in her element, she was someone to behold. Gladys when I went to see her during this last stay at the hospital and I apologized for taking a little longer than I wanted to get there to see her, sat in her chair, looking at me, said nothing verbally, but spoke volumes. She had a face that was determined to hang on, be the Big Sis and not to disappoint.
That brings me to my text John 11: 1-5 Jesus Loved Martha, Mary her sister and Lazurus. I assume that Martha is Big Sis. And she and Mary, the Mary that anointed the feet of Jesus with oil and wiped it with her hair. They send word to Jesus and say, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” Sickness is to be dealt with, with a long handled spoon, none want to be sick and suffer, but all want to be in good health, however in the processes of life sometimes, there is a time when someone we love gets sick and we send word to Jesus and tell him, come quick, behold the one you love is sick. To mention that it’s the one you love and not the one we love somehow seems to me that if anything should capture the attention of the Lord is the one “you love” is sick.
Sick means that something can be done, sick means its not over, there is a chance and an opportunity to do some of your handy work, Lord. Sending word to Jesus is sending heavy timber, its saying look, I know you love them but we are sending word to the one who we know loves them and can change the condition by the touch of his hand, the look in his eye, the spit from his mouth, even something as simple as the hem of his garment makes whole. Jesus who is a friend of Martha, Mary and Lazarus knows his friend is sick, when one is sick it means that there is a possibility of healing and making one whole or restoring them to the condition as before they were ill. When Lazurus was sick and has a friend like Jesus, just his coming and getting there makes everything alright.
Gladys was sick, and Martin, Rose, Mack, Diane, Mary, called for there friend Jesus to come and see about her, yet Gladys…Gladys died. Lazarus, was the prototype for Gladys, in case the question arose or the rhetorical question, the one that you really don’t want an answer to, but figure you will say it anyway. Jesus why didn’t you come and see about Gladys? You could have seen about Lazurus, or did you make a miscalculation, were you afraid that the folk at Bethany would kill you or did you make some type of mistake, did you not hear them when they called. Jesus is silent. He is silent for two days. It does not say what he was doing with his time, but it sure doesn’t seem like he was in a hurry to see about Lazarus. Our story begins her Gladys has been dead for eleven long days.
What chew gonna do Jesus?
1. Gladys was sick and died, physically (We know that)
2. Jesus Loved Gladys and Gladys loved Jesus (We know that)
3. She will rise (We know that) I Thess 4:13-18
John 11:1-45 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Gladys Scarborough, Big Sis to most of us, went home to be with the Lord, so we have gathered to say something about Gladys and her life here on earth. The one thing that sticks with me the most out of all of the things that Gladys did while I knew her here at Herbert was: On any given Sunday morning when she was not on the choir, she was sitting right in that very same seat, the amazing part is not that she sat there but who she sat next to.
Charlie Boy, her husband, she sat next to him and the most impressive part was she did not deviate concerning that one thing. So you must be wondering what did it say. It spoke for her because you didn’t hear her talking a lot, unless you were blessed to be in her presence when she let fly some of the funniest things I had ever heard. Gladys could be noted by the doctors and nurses as not doing so well, and she would be the last to know because she was not doing well. I visited at the nursing home one day last year, and Gladys was sitting in the hall and we talked a little and she was pretty quiet on this particular Sunday. The Pastor in me giving pastoral care to her, said maybe this is a time that Gladys is resting and thinking, and praying and just being still in God. As I rose to decided to leave, there was a woman in a wheel chair that I noticed out of the corner of my eye, but nothing unusual, a patient in the hall moving toward us, slowly in a wheelchair, who Gladys, however immediately noticed and the women was stealing a cup of ice cream off of the nourishment cart in the hall. Well I didn’t notice the woman’s actions but Gladys does and not only does she notice, Gladys calls out Hey, I see you stealing ice cream. The woman looks around at Gladys, and with her eyes tells Gladys to minds her business. I’m laughing and now Gladys is laughing but acting just like a big sister. Telling.
I’ve witnessed Gladys take Deacon Jackson apart talking about him and I’ve heard her talk about Martin, and all my wife and I could think was that Gladys sure is bad.Gladys did not say a whole lot here at church but when she was in her element, she was someone to behold. Gladys when I went to see her during this last stay at the hospital and I apologized for taking a little longer than I wanted to get there to see her, sat in her chair, looking at me, said nothing verbally, but spoke volumes. She had a face that was determined to hang on, be the Big Sis and not to disappoint.
That brings me to my text John 11: 1-5 Jesus Loved Martha, Mary her sister and Lazurus. I assume that Martha is Big Sis. And she and Mary, the Mary that anointed the feet of Jesus with oil and wiped it with her hair. They send word to Jesus and say, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” Sickness is to be dealt with, with a long handled spoon, none want to be sick and suffer, but all want to be in good health, however in the processes of life sometimes, there is a time when someone we love gets sick and we send word to Jesus and tell him, come quick, behold the one you love is sick. To mention that it’s the one you love and not the one we love somehow seems to me that if anything should capture the attention of the Lord is the one “you love” is sick.
Sick means that something can be done, sick means its not over, there is a chance and an opportunity to do some of your handy work, Lord. Sending word to Jesus is sending heavy timber, its saying look, I know you love them but we are sending word to the one who we know loves them and can change the condition by the touch of his hand, the look in his eye, the spit from his mouth, even something as simple as the hem of his garment makes whole. Jesus who is a friend of Martha, Mary and Lazarus knows his friend is sick, when one is sick it means that there is a possibility of healing and making one whole or restoring them to the condition as before they were ill. When Lazurus was sick and has a friend like Jesus, just his coming and getting there makes everything alright.
Gladys was sick, and Martin, Rose, Mack, Diane, Mary, called for there friend Jesus to come and see about her, yet Gladys…Gladys died. Lazarus, was the prototype for Gladys, in case the question arose or the rhetorical question, the one that you really don’t want an answer to, but figure you will say it anyway. Jesus why didn’t you come and see about Gladys? You could have seen about Lazurus, or did you make a miscalculation, were you afraid that the folk at Bethany would kill you or did you make some type of mistake, did you not hear them when they called. Jesus is silent. He is silent for two days. It does not say what he was doing with his time, but it sure doesn’t seem like he was in a hurry to see about Lazarus. Our story begins her Gladys has been dead for eleven long days.
What chew gonna do Jesus?
1. Gladys was sick and died, physically (We know that)
2. Jesus Loved Gladys and Gladys loved Jesus (We know that)
3. She will rise (We know that) I Thess 4:13-18