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
On your doorstep, this evening, you might find a small mummy holding a trick-or-treat bag. Children canvassing the neighborhood, though, are much less frightening than Lazarus, a dead man walking.
How long did it take his sisters, Mary and Martha, to reorient their minds and emotions? Instead of dreading the days ahead without Lazarus, they could begin to imagine a future together. Jesus’ gift of life was initially disorienting. God’s resurrecting power doesn’t change only the end of life. It shapes how we understand every day. There is a promise in this death-shattering event that those who believe Jesus is Lord will experience God’s glory.
Glory is not just the majesty of a heavenly throne. God’s glory came down to earth in Jesus and remains with us. The power that drew bright life from a light-less cave continues to bring light into dark places every day. We like to entertain scary stories on Halloween but knowing that Jesus’ reorienting power is at work in our world changes everything.
Prayer
O Lord, we depend each day on your resurrecting power. Help us see your every-day glory all around us. Amen.
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