John 11:32-44 (NRSV)
Read John 11:32-44 on biblegateway.com
Verse 32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
Verse 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. Verse 34He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Verse 35Jesus began to weep. Verse 36So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" Verse 37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" 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
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. I have prayed this prayer many times: Lord, if you had only understood my need... Lord, if you had only listened to my concern... Lord, if you had only acted, then... Such prayers honestly express the deep concerns of our hearts. But they generally also underestimate God. Mary knows what Jesus can do. She has seen it many times. But she still doesn't fully understand who Jesus is.
Jesus doesn't just have the ability to restore people to life, or know how to counteract death. Jesus is not a faith healer or an itinerant miracle worker with an ability to raise the dead; Jesus is the resurrection.
The resurrection is a present reality in Jesus because the fullness of God is present in him. This passage, along with the other signs in John's Gospel, reveal who Jesus is: Jesus is the abundance of God; Jesus is fullness of life; Jesus is divine community; Jesus is the bread of life; Jesus is the light of the world; Jesus is the resurrection and life.
Prayer
Lord, you are present right here in this moment. Teach me, therefore, how to live in the confidence of the resurrection and in the fullness of life that you bring in this moment. Amen.