John 11:38-44 (NRSV)
Read John 11:38-44 on biblegateway.com
Verse 38Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Verse 39Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Verse 40Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" Verse 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. Verse 42I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." Verse 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" Verse 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
Devotion
Jesus is greatly disturbed when he arrives at the cave that was Lazarus’ tomb. When he asks for the stone to be removed from the cave, Martha, ever observant, notes that the dead Lazarus will probably smell quite bad. But Jesus goes ahead and prays to his Father anyway. He then commands Lazarus to “Come out.” Lazarus does…with strips of embalming cloth still clinging to him. The stench of his rotting flesh hasn’t disappeared, but he is alive walking.
Prayer
Jesus, we bring you to the caves in our lives—to the stench, to all that is dead and rotting. We ask you to breathe life into us—that we might walk in the power of your resurrection.