The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father,I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This is some occurrence. First, a man has been dead a good three days. Time enough [human reality here] for decomposition to start setting in. So, scientific evidence that Lazarus truly died, and did not merely slip into a form of coma.
Lazarus is raised from the dead. He eventually passed away a second time. The fascinating thing is that we don't have a Gospel of Lazarus giving first hand testimony of what he experienced on the far side of the grave.
Lazarus had been in life after death for three days, yet no gospel writer told of his experiences. The answer is possibly simple; he either did not speak about this profound experience to any other than Jesus, or his story was repeated so many times and was so well known to all his contemporaries it was not considered essential to place it in the witness gospel.
Just think of it. You have died. Now you're alive again. But you're certainly not the same person. You look upon Jesus, Who has this unbelievable power over life and death.
You dined with Him. You joked with Him. You saw Him when He slept. He helped you grill bread and fish. He sweats. His sandal leather broke.
This man, standing outside your tomb as you blink decomposition away from your eyes in answer to His Call from that faraway place, appears so average.
But He isn't. He is the Emperor of the Universe, the Ultimate Ruler over life and death. And yours.
And He wants life for you forever, in joy and happiness with Him. But because of the unfortunate history of the Fall and the collusion with satan in a plot for the downfall of God, a path needs to be traversed first.
A personal path, where personal decision is made to follow Him, and become His beloved disciple forever with Him in Heaven.
Yet, as Lazarus, you stand helpless at the grave. You rose, but you're hobbled by the winding sheets of your burial. And He calls, unbind him; and let him go free.
Not only free from the cotton winding sheets. Not only free to walk. But free to finally look into the Eyes of Jesus and see there the wondrous truth; the God Who seeks to set us free from the dreadful decisions our forefathers made, and those which we make in sin; and to set us free to become the free and noble being we were meant to be.
Each of us is bound in a cave of our own making; a sin that we have fashioned; a misery that we have carpentered. Jesus can set us free; all we need to do is to repent, and change our lives.
Why not repent of your sin? Change your life today!
ENJOY YOUR LENT!
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR JOURNEY TOWARDS HEAVEN!
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