“Lazarus, Come Out!”
Sunday’s Verse:
From John 11:25 ESV
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.’”
Everyone knows the story of Lazarus. It’s probably one of the more dramatic miracles in the Bible. After all, everyone remembers the big shout that made the tomb shake…but for the believer, there’s far more resonance in the tension between not yet and already.
Jesus comes to Bethany, and Lazarus has been dead for four days. Now, four days in First Century Jewish idiom means there was NO POSSIBILITY of resuscitation. The soul had departed the body, and the body had begun to decompose. Martha’s words ring with authenticity. She confronts Jesus with a “what if” scenario: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Lutherans like to talk about the Theology of the Cross versus a Theology of Glory. Martha is seeking a Glory solution here. She wants preventative healing. Jesus, however, meets her where she is—in the agony of the Cross. He doesn’t make light of her suffering. Rather, Jesus weeps with her.
Still, He moves her beyond a hoped-for future event (the resurrection at the end of the ages) and focuses her on His Person. He isn’t coming back to give us resurrection. He IS the Resurrection.
“Take away the stone.”
When Jesus commands that the stone be rolled away, Martha objects because of the smell. Ugh. Death smells. You know what else smells? Us when we are in our sin. When we are separated from Christ, we don’t just “get sick” or “sleep”. No, we STINK. We are dead like Lazarus was dead.
But gracious Jesus doesn’t wait until we clean up our act or the stench of death no longer looms. Christ commands the grave.
“Lazarus, come out!”
Jesus speaks LIFE with the same Word that spoke the universe into being. Life bursts from the tomb. Lazarus comes stumbling out…and He’s still wrapped in the burial cloths. Jesus then issues the commands to the townspeople: “Unwrap him and let him go.”
Life can wrap us up in the burial cloths of old regrets, anxieties about the future, and fear of death. Hear Christ’s voice today calling your name. You are defined not by the “four days” of your hopelessness but by the Word of the One who has already raised the dead.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Merciful Father, help me through this Sunday as I experience the challenges of life. May my focus this day be on the cross of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
The photo above is licensed through Unsplash+