"I am the Resurrection and the Life" (John 11): A Well-Managed Faith

I have a fairly well-managed faith. Years of study and reflection have given me a pretty solid understanding of the Bible and what it says about God. I know, pretty well, where my spiritual gifting lies and how that fits into God's greater mission. I have a sense that I am growing in my obedience to Christ; if not daily, at least monthly. In other words, I am like many of the characters in the New Testament- the rich young ruler from Luke (who rejected Jesus at the command to sell everything and give it to the poor) and Martha come to mind.

Martha, in John 11, has a well-managed faith too. She believes without a doubt that Jesus is God's Son, the Christ, and the One prophesied about in the Old Testament. She knows that Jesus has a unique relationship to God and that He performs miracles. She knows that Jesus has a role in the end of all things, when the resurrection happens. She even knows that Jesus has the power over death.

But she is reluctant to open the tomb.

Risk is not glamorous, no matter how you share it. At the end of the day, risk looks a lot less like skydiving and a lot more like uncertainty and vulnerability. It involves coming to the boundary of faith and doubt on a regular basis. Risk comes a lot more in the faith than we would like to think. After all, faith assumes that we are putting trust in something or Someone, and trusting involves risk.

Martha opened the tomb. She took the risk. It was the only way that she would experience God's glory, as promised by Jesus. And when her brother rose from the dead, she knew the risk was worth it. And her faith became a little less managed, and a little more adventurous.

I pray for an unmanaged faith for all of us today, that we would be brought to take risks and see God's glory. And I pray that we will all be filled by the grace of Christ to face that risk with the same boldness as Martha.