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
One surprise in the story of Lazarus is Jesus’ reaction to the death of his friend and to the grief of Mary and Martha. He felt the soul-shaking disorientation of the world’s brokenness. Jesus was homesick for the way things should be. But all creation has been upended by human willfulness.
When Jesus experienced that wrenching grief, he called into the tomb and pulled Lazarus out. It was the beginning of the Lord’s promise to pull all God’s children out of their graves. The Lord would go on to defeat death’s hold permanently by dying on the cross and busting out of his own tomb.
On this All Saints Day we usually remember our loved ones who have died. The pain of their absence remains but there is certainty in this story that the Lord has the power to give them new life. Thanks be to God for the joy of this assurance.
Prayer
Precious Jesus, comfort those who are grieving today, we pray. Engrave your resurrection promises on their hearts and on ours. Amen.
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