“…I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?”

John 11:25-26

I love it when Jesus does the work for me…Uhh…which is…all the time.  However, one particular lunch meeting at the garden table comes to mind.  I sat with our new garden apprentice Jack.

Because this very intelligent young man is a muslim, I try to share one Jesus story with him a day.  This particular afternoon Jack began our lunchtime conversation by saying,

“Hey Clayton, I just read in the quran the story of how Jesus has power to raise the dead!”

“Oh yeah…!?”  I responded.  “That’s interesting.  Just this morning I read the story in John when Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead. Would you like to read it together?”

“Sure.”  He answered.

Side note:  Jesus is respectfully mentioned many times in the quran, but the all-important point of his Deity, being the Son of God, and his power to save are missed.  These stories can be a good place to start, but I always try to bring it back to Jesus as described in the scriptures. 

Ok…back to the story.

I read the account directly from John 11 and emphasized Christ’s words when he said, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?” 

“What did you think of the story?”  I asked Jack.

“I liked it.”  He said.  “How cool that this prophet had the power to raise the dead!”

“And what did you think when he said, “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies…?”  I continued.

…

We left the story there for the day.  For just as a drop of water over time can grind away granite, Christ’s direct words will do their work.  I just read the story… Jesus did the work.

Please pray for Jack as I work with him day to day in the garden.  Pray for him to gain work skills that will help him in this life.  But above all, please pray that he will respond to Jesus’ question to Martha, “Do you believe this?”  in the same way she did.

“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

John 11:27