The Prayer of Martha

How big are your prayers?

At my small group tonight, we looked at the story of the raising of Lazarus from John 11. This is obviously one of the most famous of Jesus' miracles. Before the miracle, however, there is an interesting exchange between Jesus and Martha, Lazarus' sister. It goes like this:

Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again int he resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."

 As we discussed this story tonight, our leader suggested that Mary's words can give us an important lesson in prayer. If you look at how she says things, it seems as though she's asking Jesus to do something about the death of her brother without coming right out and saying it. "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Nowhere in these statements does she say, "Jesus, raise my brother." She simply acknowledges that Jesus has the ability, and she states it in a way that suggests that she this is what she is asking Jesus to do. She makes a request of Jesus with full confidence that he is able to do it, but she does it without demanding that Jesus do what she wants. And that's not a bad way to pray.

I think it's pretty safe to classify a request for Jesus to raise someone from the dead as a "big request." You know what I mean. There's are small requests ("God, give me safety as I drive the two blocks to Taco Bell to pick up some burritos") and big requests ("God, heal my father who's dying of cancer and has been given two months to live"). The raising of Lazarus fits in the latter category, and the way Martha handles it can teach us something about how we too should come to God with big prayers.

What can happen is that we fall into one of two extremes. On the one hand, we can be fearful to present any big prayers to God at all. We doubt in the efficacy of our prayers, so we don't even bring it up when there is something we really want. We think God is too busy or just doesn't care enough to answer our prayers, or maybe he's not even able. Praying big sets us up for disappointment, and we are afraid that our faith will be rattled if God doesn't answer our prayer in the way we would like. So it's safer not to pray at all, and to just let the course of events proceed as they will.

On the other hand, we can demand that God answer our prayers. We can feel that we have a right to answered prayers. As though God owes it to us to do what we ask. We can be like the Pharisees, who come to Jesus and demand a miraculous sign. We can become belligerent and whiny, forgetting that God is the Creator, and we are the creatures.

I think Martha's way is better. She petitions Christ with confidence, knowing that he has the power (and the care) to do something about Lazarus' death. But at the same time, she recognizes that she does not have Jesus on a leash, and that Jesus' way is best. So we, we don't need to be afraid to present big prayers to God. He is the Father who delights to give his children good things. And yet, we need to always remember that he sees the big picture, and his plans always prove to be better than what we can come up with ourselves.