But He'll Stink!

I've read the story of Lazarus many times, but this section stayed with me today. John 11:39-40 "Jesus said, 'Remove the stone.' Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, 'Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.' Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?'"
Poor Martha, it is easy to remember her as the doubting sister, the one who had her priorities wrong. Unfortunately, I find myself relating to her all too often. Jesus was about to do an incredible miracle of raising a man from the dead. Not dead for a couple of minutes or hours either, but dead for four days, plenty of time for his body to begin rotting and decomposing. The build up in heaven was probably full of excitement as the angels watched Lazarus' spirit prepare to return to his body at the call of the King. I imagine them nudging each other saying, "Watch this! Jesus is going to amaze everybody with another miracle!"
But Martha was worried about the smell. Jesus told them to roll back the stone so that He could restore life to her brother, but Martha was concerned about the stink it might make. It struck me when I read the passage how often I have had a similar response. How many opportunities have I passed up for fear of looking funny, sounding weird, making a scene, or in some way making people uncomfortable with the possible "smell" that might result? Can you imagine if Jesus had responded with something along the lines of, 'You're right, Martha. He probably does smell horribly. Never mind with the stone guys! Leave it there. We'll just go grieve back at the house, it's better than enduring that smell."
It sounds absurd, but if I realized what I've passed up, wouldn't my excuses suddenly sound the same?
Reading on in the story, Lazarus comes forward despite his sister's misgivings; and no where was a smell mentioned. I don't know if Jesus' miracle included supernaturally removing inhaling any lingering effects of death, or if they were simply so shocked and over joyed to have Lazarus back that it suddenly became a minor concern and they forgot to mention it. Either way, it wasn't an issue. If God calls you to something, He'll be faithful to cover the details.
God help me to not let the fear of a "stench" hold me back from what you want to do in me and through me.