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Welcome to Unpacking the Mass with Keith Nestor. On this podcast, we dig into the week's readings for the upcoming Sunday for the Catholic Church so that when you go to Mass, you are ready to hear what God has to say to you through the Scriptures. So grab your Bibles and let's get digging. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Unpacking the Mass. Today we're looking at the readings for the fifth Sunday in Lent. Palm Sunday is next week. We're cruising through this journey, and I couldn't be more excited, and I know that there are so many people coming into the church coming up, and that's such a thing to give praise to the Lord for. If that's you, I want to welcome you. And as you're getting ready to enter in, just know that we're excited for you and pray that the content here on this channel is helpful to you. Today we're looking at readings that talk about a tough subject. Really, it's the subject of resurrection. Now, you might say, why is that a tough subject? Well, because what has to happen before resurrection? Death. And that is a tough subject. But that's something that we're moving into, because as we cruise through Lent, into Holy Week, we are facing Good Friday. We're facing the events of our Lord's passion and what he suffered for us and the things that he suffered before he gets there, which all lead to this incredible moment of Easter. And that's something that we have to remember. That's the key to these whole readings today, and really to life, is to view your life not through the lens of death, but through the lens of resurrection. And. And that's critical, because if we just view our life through the lens of death, then we will become hopeless. But if we view our lives through the lens of the resurrection, then even in the midst of the shadow of death, friends, we will trust the Lord and walk in his grace. So let's pray together as we begin. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, I know that right now there are people watching this video that are in the midst of death. They are mourning someone who has been lost or preparing themselves to cross over. God help us all to face this fact of life, this necessary part of our existence, not as though it is the ultimate, but, Lord, through the lens of the resurrection. You are the resurrection and the life. Lord, may we turn to you with faith and hope and love today. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, friends, Our first reading from the book of Ezekiel 37. And our Lord says these words through his prophet. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God. Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you home into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And when I put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land, then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, says the Lord. Our second reading comes from Romans, chapter 8. And it reads this. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh. You are in the spirit. If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his spirit, which dwells in you. And our gospel today, a powerful story from John 11. This is the story of Lazarus, my friends. Let's read it together. Now, a certain man was ill. Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, lord, he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness is not unto death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to his disciples, let us go into Judea again. The disciples said to him, rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. Thus he spoke. And then he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him out of sleep. The disciples said to him, lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, lazarus is dead. And for your sake I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe. But let us go to him. Thomas called the twins, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him now. When Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary. To console them concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. While Mary sat in the house, Martha said to Jesus, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And 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 in the resurrection. At the last day, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever 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 the living God. He who is coming into the world. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary. Saying quietly, the teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village. But was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews were who were with her in the house consoling her. Saw Mary rise quickly and go out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him. Fell at his feet, saying to him, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping. And the Jews who came with her also weeping. He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man. Have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus, deeply moved again came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou hast hearest me always. But I have said this on account of the people standing by that they may believe that thou didst send me. When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him. Friends, our first reading, we're looking at people who had been kicked out of their land for disobedience, which was a type of death, you could say. But even in their exile, God reminded them that they would be brought back. God's always viewing things through the lens of his plan for resurrection. Even the times when we have to go through death, even the times when we go through loss, through pain, through consequences, whatever it might be. Friends, we have to remember, we view things oftentimes through that lens. And it feels so ultimate and eternal and powerful and ever present. But God views things through what's on the other side. And God reminded them that they would be brought back. Resurrection isn't just about death. It's about the restoration of broken dreams and broken hearts. Of course, we see in our gospel this picture of a resurrection of a man who was physically dead. And we can relate to that. And it's a powerful story. It's so moving. Even as I read it, I was getting choked up. And I've read it a million times, and we'll talk about that in a minute. But I also think about these Israelites who were still alive, but they had felt a kind of death. Have you ever been there? Have you ever suffered something so painful in your life that it felt like death? Maybe a failure, maybe a divorce, maybe a. A loss of something so dear to you. A broken dream, a broken heart, a broken relationship. Something that you believe defined who you were in life, and it was taken away or it just fizzled out. I think all of us can relate to that to some degree. And when we think about what the Lord promises, we have to remember this. Jesus isn't here to make all of your wildest dreams come true. And you might have had this fantasy life in your mind of what you wanted your life to be, and it didn't come true. And you might think, well, if I give my life to Jesus, he'll make it happen. I lived that, you know, I wanted to be A musician so bad. When I was a kid, I just wanted to play the drums all the time. And that was my life's goal, was to be a professional drummer. And I sold out to it, man. I dropped out of school twice to do that. I moved across the country twice to do that. I got involved in all sorts of crazy situations to do that. And ultimately the Lord called me out of that. And you know, at some points in time I felt like, all right, that was. I had to die to that dream. I had to die to that part of myself. And you know, I still am involved in music and do things for fun, but it's not to the nowhere near the same scope of what I was wanting it to be. But what I've discovered is this. When we offer even our quote, unquote, death to the lord, it's just St. Paul said, it is no longer I who live in Galatians 2, but Christ who lives in me. The death I died, I die to self, but the life I live, I live to Christ. We have to remember that our faith is going to call us into all sorts of things that are going to be difficult, all sorts of things that feel like death. But God has new life in store for us. He has a resurrection. And if we view our lives in the ultimate sense of those moments of death and loss, we can get stuck there. And we know all of us, I'm sure people who have done that, we know people who have been so overcome by the grief of failure and loss that they've decided that this is just it. They've given up on themselves, they've given up on God. They've resigned themselves to a life of misery and hopelessness. Well, all the while the answer is not in the achievement of some worldly fleshly goal, but rather the answer is found in the spirit of Christ dwelling within us. I mean, look at our second reading. You know, what does Paul say? He says that if we live in the flesh, that we cannot please God. If all of our life is about what happens to us here and now, and that's what we consider just non stop, then that's not a life pleasing to God. Because God is viewing our life not through the lens of this world, but of eternity. I've been working my way through the classic saint. He's not a saint, but Thomas a Kempis, the Invitation of Christ. And I think it's a powerful book. The first part of the book, he talks a lot about what it means to pursue Christ and not this life. And he talks about death too, A lot, in some ways that are kind of challenging. But he talks about how you can't truly understand what it means to have a relationship with God until you've completely detached yourself from this life. And when we allow ourselves to suffer these moments of ultimate failure and loss, and we stay there, then we've proven that our hope really isn't in Christ. It's in what happens to us here. But what St. Paul is telling us, that if Christ is in you, then no matter what happens to you here, you will be risen. Both a spiritual resurrection of your life, being joined to God, and, of course, in the day of judgment, in the last days, our mortal bodies being risen from the dead as well. Whole other subject there. But on that note, we move into our gospel. This is one of my favorite stories in the gospel, to be honest with you, because there's so many things about it that I think remind me of what it means to just live as a human, of what it means to live as a human who loves other people and loves Jesus and tries to make sense of all of it. This is essentially a story of people trying to make sense of what's going on. And Jesus saying, look, I got to show you something awesome. Of course we see Mary and Martha, and they are like all of us, aren't they? When death comes, they're overwhelmed with grief, and they're also overwhelmed with confusion. Why didn't you stop this, Jesus? If you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. How many times have we prayed a prayer similar to that? Lord, if you only would have answered this prayer. If only you would have intervened, if only you would have just willed it, this particular thing wouldn't have happened. This death would have been avoided. Have you prayed that prayer? I'm sure you have, because they told him ahead of time. Jesus can't be like. I mean, it's kind of ridiculous to say this, but Jesus came. Oh, I didn't know. Oh, I was busy. No, the reality is this Jesus knew, of course, and he stayed away on purpose. Why? Well, he tells us plainly so that the disciples could see the power of God, so that they could see this resurrection and put their faith in Jesus and believe more in him. Now, some people might look at this and go, wow, what a cost to achieve his goal. Lazarus experienced death. Mary and Martha experienced the death of their brother. Was it worth it? Well, who are we to answer that? Obviously, it was. And again, I talked about this before with the man who was born blind so that he could be healed By Jesus, would he go back and wish for a life of sight and not have that encounter with Jesus? I'm going to say this. I guarantee you that Mary and Martha and even Lazarus would have rather have gone through this experience, as painful as it was, than to not have gone through it because of the joy of what they saw in this resurrection. And think about us today who are reading this and are blessed by it, my friends, for this shows us many powerful truths about the Lord. And the first truth that we see about the Lord is that he has a plan. And in his plan, it all works out, even if from our perspective, it seems like a complete disaster. Are you trusting his plan, or are you only viewing life through your plan? It's the difference between death and resurrection. Jesus plan is bigger than what we can ever possibly imagine. And. And this is tragic, but true. It involves our suffering, but not apart from Him. Why do I say that? Because he suffered too. Which is the ultimate paradox, isn't it? Because if he knows it's part of his plan and he does it on purpose and he knows what's coming, why does he still weep? Have you ever asked yourself that question? And I know people like to have the answer. Oh, well, the reason why he wept was, you know, because he was contemplating the power of original sin and the death that has come into the world from a cosmic perspective. Okay, maybe you know what? That might be true. I think he just wept because he felt human emotions. And around him were these people that he loved suffering the worst pain they'd ever experienced. And he's not immune to that. He wasn't immune to that back then, and guess what? He's not immune to it now. He feels the suffering that you feel. Even though he has a plan, even though it's part of his plan, he feels that pain. Now, I don't know what that does for you, but I can tell you it ministers to me. Because sometimes the thing we need most from the Lord isn't for him to fix everything for us. I know we'd like that. But what we need more than anything is for him to be with us. To be with us in our pain. And that's what we're promised by God. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Notice the psalmist doesn't say, hey, you got me out of that. No, he says, you are with me. Your rod and your staff comfort me, friends. There's no greater comfort than what we've seen here. When even though they were confused and hurt, they wept with the Lord. He wept with them, and he'll weep with you. But here's what we have to remember. We got to do what Mary and Martha did. They went to him. Think about how powerful that is. You know Martha, the one who's always busy, busy, busy working on stuff. She's the first one to go out and meet Jesus. She's the one who goes out to Him. Remember, she learned her lesson, right? Mary has chosen the greater things. You have chosen the lesser things. Not this time. Martha's the first one. When she hears the Lord coming, she runs to him. Lord, what's going on? If you'd have been here, my brother would not have died. And not far behind her comes Mary. And this is the one that gets me every time. Because I think about Mary of Bethany and I think about how much her love of Jesus was outwardly expressed. She was the one who sat at his feet while her sister slaved away. We just talked about that. And she's the one who anointed him in worship. She just was all over Jesus in this outward emotional way. So you better believe that when she hears he's coming, she keeps doing it. Now, why is this remarkable? Because sometimes when we're overwhelmed with sorrow and fear, we don't do that, do we? We run away from God. We think to ourselves, God, where were you in this? And that's exactly what they thought. But notice what they did with that. They went to him. They didn't sanitize their feelings either. They didn't go to him and say, hold on. We got to get it together. We got to pull ourselves together before we go to Jesus and be dignified and composed. No. Friends just went to him in the rawness of their pain, in their tears. And through their tears, they cried out to him. If you'd have been here, my brother would not have died. Friends, that's the picture of what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. That's what he wants from you. Sometimes we get all worked up about what we're going to do in prayer. What do we do in a holy hour? I'm going to sit there for an hour, and what do I. So we have our lists and we have our books. We have our rosaries. We have all the things to help us occupy the time. And those are great things. But sometimes our prayers need to be a little less composed and a little more heartfelt, a little more raw, a little more real. Because what Jesus is after aren't the Perfect words of a prayer. What Jesus is after is the real you. In good times and in bad, in times of resurrection and in times of death, you don't have to fear that you're going to offend him or that you're going to scandalize him. The only thing you could do that would offend him is to not go to him to say, nope, I am not going. Because he didn't do what I wanted him to do. He stayed away from me, so I'm going to stay away from him. No, run to him. Run to him in your pain. Run to him in your hurt and through your tears, cry out to him, lord, if you'd have been here, my brother would not have died. But that's not all he did. They also declared the truth of who he is. And when he asked, do you believe this? They responded with, yes, Lord, I believe. Friends, if we're going to turn to Christ in our resurrections and in our deaths, of course, to get to our resurrections, we've got to maintain our faith. We got to remember this, my friends. We got to remember when we don't understand that Jesus walks with us. And one thing I also want to point out about this is that Jesus understood death and grief. Remember, the Bible says that he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And this wasn't the first time that he encountered death and grief. Remember St. Joseph, John the Baptist, men that were close to Him, I'm sure, others that were close to him that he lost. I guarantee you this wasn't the first time that Jesus wept. He doesn't expect you not to feel the pain of this death, but he doesn't want you to lose hope in the midst of it. So a couple things I want to share with you as we process this. Number one, remember this in all of this, Jesus, it says he loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. None of this happened because he didn't love them. He wasn't up in heaven going, eeny, meeny, miny, moe, who don't I love? Let's use this guy. Boom. Lazarus. No, he chose them for this, especially because he loved them. And you need to remember that he loves you, too. Even in the hard times, even amidst the death, even amidst the broken heart, he loves you. And if we can't reconcile this, then that's our deal to get through. It's not a problem with him. It's just a lack of dimension in our part when we can't say to him, I don't understand. Therefore, you don't Love? No, it's just, Lord, I know you love me, even though I don't understand. The second thing we have to remember is this. We got to have patience. We got to have patience even with Jesus. Remember, they sent word to him and he didn't come when he was supposed to. And what did they do, Lord, what happened? He was biding his time for a reason. And we have to have patience, too. Again, not because there's any defect in him or his timing, but just in our understandings. And we have to remember where he is. It all makes sense where we are. It doesn't. But we've got to trust God's timetable. We gotta trust his timetable. And when we're in the midst of these moments, we. We need to be resolved in our faith and strengthen our belief. Remember, Jesus said, do you believe this? Do you believe this? You know, I was thinking about that. I wonder. And I'm not saying I know this. This is just Keith speculating. I wonder if that was the pivotal moment right there, when Jesus asks her, do you believe this? And she said, lord, I believe. I wonder if that was the moment when Jesus was like, all right, this is happening. I wonder if when Martha said, oh, I believe, if instead she would have said, no, I don't believe. I wonder if something would have been different. My friends, think about it. It's powerful. What does she say to him? She says, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. But what does Jesus say? I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he shall die, yet shall he live, and whoever believes in me shall never die. That's the question. And isn't it interesting that her answer, when she says that, lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he was coming into the world. What does that remind you of? Reminds me of St. Peter's confession too, doesn't it? Who do people say the Son of Man is? And he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's a powerful statement of faith, isn't it? That's what we need to hang on to in those moments where our faith is tested. I can believe all sorts of crazy things about my situation and all this, but at the end of the day, what I have to believe and stand in is, is the belief that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. That's the belief I need to maintain, no matter what happens. I might think, yeah, you know, I'm a miserable wretch. Which is true. Or things didn't work out the way I wanted to, or I don't understand all of that. Whatever, whatever. But at the end of the day, the thing that I can't walk away from is that belief that he is who he says he is. And nothing in this life can make me stop believing that, not even death. That's the kind of faith that we need. Now you might say, well, how do I get that faith? Well, sometimes it's an act of the will, and sometimes it's just asking for that as a gift from God. Because faith is a gift from God, but yet we have to step into it. So do the things that you need to do. But remember the prayer, lord, increase our faith. And what does Jesus say? If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, be moved and be thrown into the sea, and it would be. It's not faith in faith, it's faith in Jesus. So never let your belief in him wane. And if you're struggling, then ask him for that gift now. I love this. What else do we need to do? I think this is so cool. We need to take away the stone. Think about what Jesus. Think about the linear moments here in this story. When does Lazarus, you know, when is he resurrected? We don't really know, do we? Is he resurrected before the stone is taken away or after the stone is taken away? Here's what we know. We know that Mary says, I believe. And then they go down there, they take away the stone, and Jesus calls out, lazarus, come forth. And then he comes forth, right? But at what point in time do Lazarus, eyes open? I don't know. But what I do know is this. If they don't take away that stone, doesn't really matter a whole lot, does it? Think about it. If Lazarus is raised from the dead, but the stone is still there. Think about that for a second. What happens? They got to take away the stone. Now who takes away the stone? Did Jesus take away the stone? No, he told them to take away the stone. Think about that. There are times in our lives when we have to participate in this resurrection of what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of other people. And sometimes what the Lord is calling us to do is an act of faith. That was an act of faith and an act of obedience. And everyone didn't get it. They were like, what are you talking about? Take away the stone? He stinks. There's all these reasons why that's a bad idea. There's all these reasons why that's worthless he's been in there four days. Have you ever felt like the things that God's called you to do aren't going to work because everything's already destroyed? Have you ever felt like it's already over? There's no point in this. I've given up hope, but God says, no, don't give up hope. I've got a plan. How many times have people been at the edge of everything and God has made a way? How many times have people thought, there's no hope in this marriage and God has restored them? How many times have people thought, that's it, I give up with life, and God has a new plan? Friends, we can never let those stones stand in the way of God's resurrection power in our lives. And what God is saying to each of us, potentially, is this, hey, there's a stone standing between you and what I want to do in your life. It's time for you to take it away. Get that stone out of here so that you can see what God wants to do in your life through his resurrection power. What does that mean to you? What stone? What barrier have you been leaving in the way that keeps God's miracle from happening? Think about that. What's our stone? What have you not taken away? Maybe it's unforgiveness. You're like, I want to be restored and reconciled, but I can't forgive Jesus saying, take that stone away. I won't do it. Maybe it's pride, and you need to humble yourself and do something different that might require sacrifice and suffering. And you're like, well, I'll serve God in this way, but not that way. And your addiction to comfort is your stone. Take it away. Maybe God has a powerful plan for your life, but it requires you to get something out of the way that's standing in the way of what he wants to do. He doesn't just snap his fingers and that stone rolls away. No, he tells them, take away the stone, and they don't get it. I don't know what that means for you. I don't know what's in your life right now that's in the way that you think is like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Take it away. Yeah, big deal. There's going to be a stench. Death stinks. Yeah. There's going to be some fallout. There's going to be some baggage. There's going to be some collateral damage. There's going to be some difficulty. Take away the stone because he has a plan. Pray on that. I wonder what it is now. One more thing. And don't lose this. The stone is taken away. What does Jesus do? He calls to Lazarus. Lazarus, come forth. How many people remember the old Ray Bolt song, Lazarus. You remember that song? Check Child. You know, all my Gen Xers out there, remember, like from the 80s? Look it up. There's that part of that song where you hear Lazarus, Jesus, and he says, come forth. Powerful moment. But what happens? Lazarus actually has to do it. I mean, think about that. The stones rolled away, Lazarus wakes up and he's got to come out. What if he doesn't? You might think that's ridiculous, Keith. No, but think about it. He had to respond to that call. Jesus didn't go into the tomb and drag him out. I know our Calvinist friends like to talk about how, you know, when God redeems somebody, when he regenerates them, it's as if they've fallen into the ocean, they're laying dead at the bottom, and Jesus goes down there and he drags them up and brings them back to life. It's a great analogy. It talks about how. How human beings have absolutely nothing to do with salvation, responding to God. I think this is a better analogy, that Jesus calls forth and brings life, but Lazarus has to actually listen and come forth to new life. Lazarus, come forth. Jesus doesn't drag him out. Lazarus has to listen to the voice of Jesus, too. Think about that. Where have you been listening to that call to come out of death? Where has Jesus been beckoning you out of that? Maybe you're in some sin that you just can't get out of and you're just like, oh, I'm stuck in this thing. And Jesus saying, come forth. And maybe for you it's that moment where you're just like, yeah, I'm not going to stay in death anymore. I'm coming out. Probably wasn't easy, even for Lazarus. He'd been in the tomb four days. I don't know that he was like Superman all of a sudden. All of his problems with his body were instantly, like, perfect. Like, he walked out and he was perfectly put together and, you know, he could slam dunk a basketball and run a mile in under four minutes. I don't know. He was still covered in bandages. He probably still stunk. It didn't say that. All of a sudden, oh, he smelled like roses. Doesn't say that either. He was in that stinky, nasty death and he walked out of it. And I guarantee you it wasn't pretty, but he did it anyway. Maybe it's Time for you to do it anyway. Maybe Jesus has been calling to you. Maybe other people have been praying for you. Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother, my sister wouldn't have died. They wouldn't have been stuck in this situation. They wouldn't have given up on life. They wouldn't have done whatever it is that we've done or are in, whatever it is that we're in. Other people have been praying for us. They've been crying out on our behalf. And maybe the Lord has told other people, hey, take away that stone. People have been trying to help you. They've been working on it. They've been trying to get through to you. They've been trying to talk to you and take away and help you and all these things. And now the Lord is saying to you, it's time. Let's go. Come forth now. There's nobody else accountable for this. There's nobody else who has a say. It's all down to whether you're going to listen or not. Will you? Will you come forth? I love that we get this reading before Holy Week. You know, I understand where it is in the story. This is so powerful because what else does this remind you of? Who else had a stone rolled away? Who else came forth? Who else is the resurrection and the life? Only Jesus, my friends. This is a picture of what's going to happen at the cross and the grave. He's dead. Lord, what is going on here? He could save others. Why couldn't he save himself? And I guarantee you there were people that looked to God in heaven and said, why didn't you save him? What happened? I wonder what the disciples thought. I wonder what Mary and Martha thought. I wonder what Lazarus thought. And he's put in the grave and people are praying and they go, and with tears. But the stone is rolled away and he comes forth. And because he comes forth, you can come forth, because he already did that. You can do that. Because the same spirit that made that happen is the same spirit that wants to get you resurrected from whatever you're dead in, from wherever death has a hold of you, whether it be in your heart, whether even it be in your body. It's only a matter of time. Will you listen? Will you believe? Do you believe the question that Jesus asked Martha is the same question he's asking you. Do you believe this? I pray that you do. No matter what else happens, start there. Start there and you'll experience that resurrection. Don't give up. Don't quit. Trust him. Stay strong in your belief. Roll away the stone and come forth. Thanks for watching, my friends, or listening. If you're on a podcast, please do me a favor, share this video with someone else. And again, if you want to get caught up on previous episodes of Unpacking the Mask, there'll be a card right above. Just go ahead and click on that. You can find the playlist on this channel and I encourage you to maybe even listen to this one twice. I think you're going to need it. And share it with a friend if you know someone else who is struggling with these issues as well, because God has a plan for them too. Thank you so much my friends. We'll be back next week for Palm Sunday and I look forward to it. Take care and God bless.