...where were You, Lord...

Today I am grieving, and I cannot move along without sharing a few thoughts about Blake Menke, who died suddenly yesterday at the age of 33. Blake was the only sibling of my son-in-law, John, who is Caroline’s husband and the father of 8-month old Bennett, my beautiful, loud and happy grandson. I loved Blake and miss her already. She quietly and peacefully died early yesterday morning from heart disease that fell suddenly into her life a few years ago. At Caroline and John’s wedding just a short time ago Blake was so happy, so excited, and so beautiful! She smiled all day long! And every opportunity she had to spend with Bennett was so memorable, so loving, so happy!

Since I learned yesterday of her death I have been thinking of the Lazarus story in John’s Gospel. The background of Lazarus and Blake’s life are similar: both had fallen ill. Like Mary and Martha we all sent prayers to Jesus, and they are very touching words: Lord, Blake whom You love is ill with heart disease. Please heal her! I wonder about Martha’s comment to Jesus about Lazarus’ death as it applies to Blake: Lord, if you had been here, Blake would not have died. But I’ve also been thinking about Jesus’ reply as it applies to Blake: Blake will rise again!

I find myself wondering as Martha wondered: Lord, Blake whom you love is ill…and still Blake has died. In other words I wonder: Where were you, Lord, when Blake died? And I find myself face-to-face with the central truth of life: The Lord was closer to Blake than ever before! And do you know how I know this is true? Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son!

As I think through, and pray about, Blake’s death what I remember is that trust stems not from proof, but from love. When God finally showed His face to Blake yesterday God did not explain Blake’s death to her. God did not explain. And Blake did not say: Ah yes, now I understand, thank you. No, dear friends, to encounter God, as Blake did yesterday, is to experience — not explanation — but love.

And did we not all experience God’s love in Blake’s love?

I know I did!

The point of Blake’s life and death is the point of our life and death.

And Jesus pointed out to Martha the point of all life and death: Whoever lives and believes in ME, Jesus said to Martha, shall never die.

Shall NEVER die — and that’s the point.

And so for Blake! And so for Blake!

And so for us all!

So my prayer today is this: Lord, for the way You live, Blake is alive with You! By the way we live, let us keep Blake alive in ourselves!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God have mercy on me a sinner!

From the Bible:

“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them.” 11 After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”