This Sunday's Gospel reading was the story of the raising of Lazarus. This was one of the miracles we discussed in 7th grade. This is yet another way that God tells us that Jesus is the Light and that we need to come out of the darkness. The darkness that is sin. The gospel story can be found here:
Obviously this is yet another prefigurement of Jesus' resurrection. We know that God has given us many stories that prefigure the future. Think about the stories of the Old Testament. Many of them prefigure the coming/birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. The New Testament stories prefigure Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection. This story of Lazarus definitely prefigures Jesus' resurrection. That Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead — thus attracting even more believers — was a kind of “last straw” that pushed the Pharisees to such distraction that the plan to kill Jesus hardened in their minds. There is great irony in the fact that Jesus’ success in gaining converts from Lazarus’ resurrection inspires the Pharisees to kill him. It is the other parts of the story that I am interested in you reflecting on and writing about.
1 Why does God allow bad things to happen?
2. Why is it so hard for us to believe that God is the answer and if we just believe, we will have all that we ask for?
3. Martha and Mary were upset that Jesus wasn't with them and that he "allowed Lazarus to die". What was his response to that? What can you learn from that?
Obviously this is yet another prefigurement of Jesus' resurrection. We know that God has given us many stories that prefigure the future. Think about the stories of the Old Testament. Many of them prefigure the coming/birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. The New Testament stories prefigure Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection. This story of Lazarus definitely prefigures Jesus' resurrection. That Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead — thus attracting even more believers — was a kind of “last straw” that pushed the Pharisees to such distraction that the plan to kill Jesus hardened in their minds. There is great irony in the fact that Jesus’ success in gaining converts from Lazarus’ resurrection inspires the Pharisees to kill him. It is the other parts of the story that I am interested in you reflecting on and writing about.
1 Why does God allow bad things to happen?
2. Why is it so hard for us to believe that God is the answer and if we just believe, we will have all that we ask for?
3. Martha and Mary were upset that Jesus wasn't with them and that he "allowed Lazarus to die". What was his response to that? What can you learn from that?
1. God allows bad things to happen because of free will. He does not deliver bad things into our lives due to our actions but sometimes they happen because of our choice, sometimes they are results of our decisions. Then there are times where, such as death, it is just a part of life.
ReplyDelete2. It's hard to believe that God is the answer and that he will deliver what we asked for many reasons. It is hard for us to believe that because because bad things happen. Even though we know God doesn't deliver evil sometimes it is hard to understand why he lets these things happen or why he allows us to do bad things.
3. He told them many things. He said that he is the resurrection and that Lazarus will rise with him. He also told Lazarus to rise. He rose Lazarus with him to Heaven. I can learn that Jesus is human that even he wept. I can also learn that God is always with us, even after death.
1) God doesn't really allow bad things to happen. He put everyone on this earth and gave everyone free will. God does not choose what happens, people do. We cannot blame God for what happens, but we can always have faith in him.
ReplyDelete2) It is hard to believe that if we ask, he will bring us what we hope for. This is because we know God is almighty and can do anything. But he can't just give us what we want. It is not his fault if something bad happens.
3) He told them that Lazarus will resurrect with him, and be by his side. He rose him ti heaven. God is by our side from the first day till the last day, and even in heaven. He will always be with us.
1) God allows bad things to happen because of free will. The world is not perfect and there is gonna be bad things that will happen. If bad things didn't happen the world would be boring and dull. He can stop some bad things from happening but he knows if he does then it wouldn't be right.
ReplyDelete2) It is hard because of those bad things that happen to us. We choose to believe that he will be there for us though because we need to. If we didn't we wouldn't have anyone to actually be there for us.
3) Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” You can learn that if you put your trust into God then you will rise and live in Heaven. All you have to do is trust in him and you will live forever in peace, and happiness in Heaven.
1. God allows bad things to happen because of free will. Bad things can happen due multiple reasons. One is because it is our choice to do something. If we do something inappropriate, those actions have to have consequences.
ReplyDelete2. We sometimes believe that God isn't the answer because he may not answer all of our prayers. If he doesn't answer our prayers, we may doubt him. The Corona virus is a great example of this. We have to believe and have faith in God.
3. Jesus responded with Lazarus will rise with me. We can learn from this because Jesus will always be there for us when we need him. We need to have faith that he will be with us. Eventually, we will all rise with God.
1. God allows bad things to happen because people make bad choices. God gives us free will, and we have the choice to chose right over wrong. When bad things happen people chose wrong over right. God can't stop people from making bad choices because he gave them the right to make those choices.
ReplyDelete2. It is hard to believe that God is the answer sometimes. He doesn't always answer our prayers, and we have to be ready for that. We have to realize that he can't give us everything we ask for. We still need to believe in him though.
3. He said that he who believes will have life even after death. This means that whoever believes in God will live eternally in heaven after death. I can learn that even if God doesn't answer my prayers, I need to keep believing.
1. God allows bad things to happen because he gave us free will. If he did not let these things happen then he would be taking away free will. We cause a lot of illnesses and diseases by our own actions. We do not cause all of them. We may never know why he causes some illnesses or death, but we do know that there is a reason.
ReplyDelete2.It is hard to believe that God is always the answer. Humans want their problems to be solved right away, but that isn't always how it works. Jesus always answers our prayers, but not always in ways that we expect.
3.Jesus responded by telling them about eternal life for his followers. This means that we never truly die. Death is a passage way to eternal life. All we have to do is believe in him. I can learn a lot from this. I can learn that God is always answering my prayers. I can also learn that death is not as bad as it seems.
1. God allows bad thinsg to happen because we're accountable for our actions. When he gave us free will, he also gave us the consequence of responsibility. We also need bad things to happen. Why? We don't know what's good if we don't know what's bad, we don't learn if we don't suffer.
ReplyDelete2. It's hard to do this because people have other ambitions, even if they're cruel. Most people have been trained to work for what they want and waiting and sitting for salvation or justice or good health to most people isn't ideal.
3.Jesus told Martha and Mary that he will rise again. This shows that Jesus will never leave us and he will always be by your side even when you don't think he is.
1. God gave us the gift of free will. We make poor decisions by our actions. It is not God’s fault that we get ourselves hurt. It is our decisions that get us hurt. At times we may blame it on God, but truly it is our poor decisions.
ReplyDelete2. It is hard to believe because sometimes it takes patience to get what we asked for, and some of us don’t have that. We rush to conclusions if we don’t get what we ask for. He has so many prayers to answer that it takes him time to reply to your prayers.
3. He told them that Lazarus would be resurrected with him. You can learn that some people are selfish, because one got helped, but the other hasn’t. Lazarus is in a better place, and is alive and has eternal life.
1. God lets bad things happen because if we don"t have the bad things happen in our lives we won"t be able to experience what good things are like. God gave us the gift us free will to be able to make choices and choose right from wrong. Free will is something everyone has and if you actually think about your choices more good things will happen than bad things.
ReplyDelete2. It is hard to believe that God is the one answer because as teenagers we like to figure things out on our own. And we like to think we have all the right answers and we are smart, but the truth is whether we are smart or not, we dramatize everything and finding the right answers to our problems takes too much blood, sweat, and tears when really we could look to God and have every answer that we will ever need.
3. Jesus told them that he would rise with him, and whoever believed in him would rise with him. What I can learn from that is if I believe in Jesus and love Jesus with all my heart then I will rise with him. I should never question Jesus or doubt him, instead I can believe and I will go to heaven with him.
1. God allows bad things to happen because he gave us the gift of free will. We are allowed to make our own choices and be held accountable for them. He has allowed us to make our own choices and if we decide to use the privilege in a bad way, we have to learn from it and not do it again.
ReplyDelete2. It is hard for us to believe that God is answer because he doesn't always respond to our prayers. If he doesn't always respond we become doubtful in him. We feel like he is not there for us. We have to find our way back to him.
3.Jesus said that he would rise again. I can learn that If I continue to believe then God will always be with me. If I stay faithful God he will show me how I can help others believe.
1 God does control everything but we all have free will. We were born with the gift of it and he can’t control what we do with it. Whether we decide to do good or bad with the gift of free will is our choice. Yes he created everything and knows the future but he can’t control us and make our paths for everything.
ReplyDelete2. For me personally it is the fact that i can’t physically see him and sometimes that makes it hard. We all want answers right away and our problems to be solved immediately but that's not how it works and that makes it hard to just believe and be patient.
3. He told them multiple things. He told them he would resurrect him. That means God is always on our side and with us when we are living on earth or after death.
1 . I think God allows bad things to happen because he wants us to learn from our mistakes. He also allows us to because if no one made mistakes, our world would be perfect and it wouldn’t be any fun or interesting. Yes, God gave us free will, but that doesn’t fully explain it. We have to become more aware of the choices we make and know the next time not to do it.
ReplyDelete2. It is hard because if it isn’t just placed in front of us, we sometimes don’t believe in it. It is hard for us to believe this huge concept of heaven and after-life, so sometimes people just forget about their faith and forget about God. Also, sometimes when we think we have done something to solve a problem, or something just fixes itself we don’t think about God.
3. Jesus told them that Lazarus was to rise and he told them to believe in him, Jesus. I can learn that Jesus doesn’t just let things happen, he does these things for a reason. We should always know that Jesus is there for us and to never question or get angry with him.
1 God allows bad things to happen because we have free will. He leads on a path but does not control our actions or the actions of other s that help us keep going on that path. There might be good things that make us who we are but take us our path, there could also be bad things that make us who we are but keep us on our path.
ReplyDelete2. It is hard to think he is the answer because we can ask for material objects that we think we need but really don't. We pray to God and ask him but we never get it. We wanted it so bad we think if God cant give it to me how can he even be real he knew I really wanted this thing.
3. Jesus told Martha and Mary Lazarus would rise again. They had to believe in him and trust him.
1. To me I think God allows bad things to happen because there are some things he can't control like a fight between two people or arguments. I am not saying that he doesn't control anything because he does and he will whenever is necessary. Another reason why God allows bad things to happen is because we have free will and sometimes we don't always use it very well which is why we sin but God will always forgive us.
ReplyDelete2. I think its hard for us sometimes that God is the answer to things because if someone tells us that they saw God or a miracle we are not going to believe it right away. Sometimes the way God shows us signs that he is there is by prayer and adoration. These things are very important because even if we may never see a miracle at least we will always know that God is always with us and won't give up on us.
3. He told them that he is the creator of all eternal life and as long as they believe in him Lazarus or anyone else will not die. I learned and have already that Lazurus's soul will not die because if he believed in Jesus in his lifetime, his mind and soul will live eternally in heaven.
1. God allows bad things to happen because of free will. And if he interfered with our lives everyday, he would be taking that away, even if he wasn't directly affecting our choices. Different outcomes would come of the change of one thing, which wouldn't do.
ReplyDelete2. Because humans are prideful and single minded. They believe themselves to have the answer and don't open there minds to other possibilities. Which leads them to do there own things their own way, which may not always be the right way.
3.He raises him from the dead. This shows that he didn't want them to be mad with him and had used his powers to make them happy. It shows hes truly a kind and caring person.
Who is this?
DeleteIt was me. When I clicked on the blog link I think it auto signed me into my other gmail without realizing it. Sorry.
DeleteThe reason God lets bad things happen is so we can learn from them. If we don't learn from these mistakes then we would never learn anything. That is why God lets bad tings happen.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard for us to believe in God because as humans we have to see it to believe it. As humans we can not see God. That is why it is hard for us to believe in God.
In response Jesus raises him from the dead. This shows that Jesus has the power and is the almighty one. That is what you can learn from this stories.
1. God doesn't allow bad things to happen. He gave us the choice. He gave us free will. God shouldn't be the blame for everything.
ReplyDelete2. It's hard to believe that God is the answer to everything. We have to just have faith but we can't know for sure if he is here or not. We have no physical proof of him being here. It's based on if
we can have faith and believe in him.
3. Jesus told them multiple things. He told them that he will rise again. He also told them that they need to believe in him. We can learn that if we believe in God he will always be with us.
1. The reason bad things happen is so that people learn from their mistakes. Bad things happen so people can learn whats wrong and whats right. Bad things influence our decisions if we know that something is bad from experience we won't do it again.
ReplyDelete2. But God doesn't act right away and people don't understand that. They think that God has a magical wand and he can do anything you ask. That's not how it works you will get what you ask for maybe not the way you asked for it but you will get it eventually.
3. He said that there is life after death. After you die you will have eternal life in happiness with Jesus. We learn that we will always be with Jesus even after death.
1. God allows bad things to happen because we have the freedom of free will. Not only that, but he wants us to learn from the bad choices we made in the past. Even though bad things happen sometimes, I believe that God is there with us the whole time.
ReplyDelete2. It is hard to think that God is always there for us because we have so many temptations in life. We don't always get what we want because God wants us to work hard for what we receive.
3. Jesus told them that Lazarus was to rise and be with him. He asked Martha and Mary if they believed him. We can learn that Jesus has a better plan for us when we die.
1. God allows us to make bad choices because he gave us have the choice. That choice he gave us, is free will. God lets us choice between right and wrong, he gives us the decision on what we want to do. That is why God allows us to make bad choices.
ReplyDelete2.It is hard to think that God is with us because sometimes, the things we might have prayed for or asked for wasn't answered. I said this because it can cause people to lose faith if nothing is happening. That is why I think it is hard to think that God is with us.
3. Jesus responded by saying "Your brother will rise." He then also responded “I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." What we can learn from this is that everything is going to workout.
1. God allows us to to bad things because of free will. God does not want bad things to happen to us or us to do bad things to other people. That's why we follow the church laws. Everybody sins because of free will.
ReplyDelete2. This is hard to believe because bad things happen and we wonder why he let these bad things happen. We need to realize that we have free will and God always loves us. God will always forgive us.
3. He told them that Lazarus will resurrect with him, and be by his side. Then Lazarus rose into heaven. God loves us and wants us to make the right choices.
1 God allows bad things to happen because he gave us the gift of free will. If our choices led up to the bad thing, that was our decision. He can stop it but that would not discipline us to make better choices, it would make us fully dependent on God. No that that's a bad thing. But we should be able to make the right choices because we aren't reckless and we know that God will let it pass.
ReplyDelete2. The bad things that happen make it harder for us to believe, we blame him for the bad things. We just think that he can just swoop in and save everyone and he can, and he will. But we must let bad things pass so that we can take them as a humbling time or it can show us the good side of things.
3. He said that he did not truly die, for he will go to the kingdom of heaven and live in glory for eternity. Martha believed him but we still sad. The apostles blamed Jesus for Lazarus's death, Saying it was his fault he had died. It wasn't but he showed them his power an d that you should always trust in the Lord.
1 He allows bad things to happen because that is how life works. people always say "God works in mysterious ways" and now i am figuring out what that means. Life is a book and we are the main characters in our own stories.
ReplyDelete2. We cant do that because he doesn't give us everything because we don't need everything that we ask for. I f we got everything that we ask for we would be spoiled even though some people I know are.
3. He said that he would rise with him on the third day. We can lear that everything happens for a reason.
1. God allows bad things to happen because of free will. Free will allows us to make our own decisions and to learn from those decisions. If nothing bad ever happened we wouldn't know what is truly good.
ReplyDelete2.It is hard to believe when things aren't put right in front of us and clear. We are always looking for soemone to blame instead of searching for a way to make things better. Believing in God and letting him lead us takes a lot of trust and that is very hard to come by for most.
3.He said he would resurect him and that he will live for eternity meaning he will live with God in heaven.
God allows bad things to happen because hes not standing over every single person telling them if they should be doing something or not doing something. We all have free will which allows us to make our own choices. Sometimes they aren't always the right one but God always accepts us.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to believe because with some people their Faith isn't strong enough and they need to see it to believe it. Then people think that they can just ask him for things and they will just somehow appear. God is not going to physically make us not do something, its all free will and being able to have Faith in God.
Jesus told them many things. He told the that Lazarus that he would resurrect with him. Jesus also rose him to heaven. I can learn that I can always have someone to talk to when I need someone and that he'll always be there for us.