Called back to life by the Liberator

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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."
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 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." (John 11:41-44)

REFLECTION
Jesus arrives at Lazarus’ grave. “It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance”, John tells us. The whole story looks like a preview of what will happen later, when Jesus himself comes back to life victoriously.
Jesus instructs the people to take away the stone. Martha is worried about the bad odor that will spread as soon as the stone will be removed. But Jesus is not thinking about Lazarus' bad body odor, he is only focused on revealing the glory of God.
There is no hesitation on Jesus’ part. He trusts his Father completely and in his public prayer, in his proclamation of God’s resurrection power, he reveals the reason why God raises Lazarus: “That they may believe that you sent me.”
Horror movies were unknown back in those days, but all the bystanders and witnesses must have been shocked by the sight of a dead man stumbling out of the grave and walking back into their lives again!

PRAYER
Dear Jesus, I don’t know whether we can really visit Lazarus’ empty grave today. To be honest, I am not that interested in tombs, bad odors and grave cloths. I guess that, later in his life, Lazarus died again and went to Heaven to be with you forever. His sisters must have been so grateful for having him back with them for a while. But your deepest motivation was doing the Father’s will and revealing his resurrection power that brought you back to life and that raises all true believers from the death.
I don’t want to think about the bad odor that I was spreading before you called me out of the darkness. I don’t want to visit my empty tomb and neither do I want to keep on walking restricted by the grave clothes from my past. You have set me free from all these things that were once binding and blinding me!
It is your voice that calls out to us: “Come out!” The same voice that called stars and planets into existence, the same voice that told the sun to shine and the earth to flourish, calls out my name. Here I am Lord, take off my grave clothes and let me walk, jump and dance for joy for you!

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Jesus' tears

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."
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.
Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" (John 11:32-37)

REFLECTION
If you had been here... Mary’s bitter words imply that she thinks that Jesus could and would have prevented the death of her brother Lazarus. Maybe she was right – but maybe not. Look at Jesus’ reply to this statement. Does he say that Mary is right and that he would have cured Lazarus if only he had been there to heal him?
We just don’t know the answer to many of life’s difficult questions. I think that Jesus did not comment on Mary’s statement because he loved her so much. Mary expressed her sadness, her anger and her disappointment to her Master, and the Master didn’t argue with her. Instead he also shows his emotions and cries with the people he loves so much. Deeply moved in spirit and troubled – he only asks this practical question: “Where have you laid him?”
Jesus wept. These tears were tears of sadness and tears of love. I am sure Jesus had many reasons to cry – and we can only guess what moved him so deeply. Maybe he cried because of the sin in this world that causes so much pain and sadness. Maybe he cried because of the suffering and mourning that he witnessed all around him. I believe he cried because he was fully God and fully human and had emotions just like us. I believe that some of his tears were a silent response to the painful questions and bitter remarks he heard all around him.

PRAYER
Dear Lord, I believe that your tears are part of our healing process. I believe that the fact that you were deeply moved in spirit and troubled – is a great comfort for all suffering and mourning people. It must have been such a comfort for Lazarus’s sisters that you shared in their pain. Please help us to remember your tears each time we are confronted with other people’s tears. We want to cry with them and we want to be silent when some people only express their emotions of disappointment and bitterness. We don’t want to give easy answers, we do want to show our vulnerability and sadness. You don't mind if we ask our own difficult questions. Above all, we want to cry your tears too.
Jesus, one day we will all die. Of course we are hoping that you will be here before that happens, but generations of people have passed away already and we don’t know how or when you will call us home. But I trust that we will see you on the other side and that you are loving and powerful enough to raise us up to an eternal life where there will be no place for tears or bitter complaints. You are the Resurrection and the Life. Amen

Waiting desperately

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 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. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." 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." Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." John 11:1-7

REFLECTION
If only Jesus was here to help us! Martha and Mary are desperate. Their brother Lazarus is sick and I am sure that his sisters did everything they could to help him. Today we would make some quick phone calls, but the only thing Martha and Mary could do was sending a short, ‘telegram style’ message to their friend and Master. It was a message that would surely cause Jesus to get up right away and travel back to Bethany as soon as he could: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” But instead Jesus stayed two more days and only send an encouraging reply with a mysterious promise.

PRAYER
Lord, we now know how this story ended. But I want to stop at this point and think about the situation your friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus were in. They only had one desire – and it was a very good desire too – they wanted you to come and be with them in this hour of need. But you had a different agenda and they had to wait for two more days. Didn’t you love them enough? No, I am sure that you loved them and these Bible verses explicitly tell us that you loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Of course we all can see the prophetic message in this story – pointing us at the days that you stayed in the grave while your friends were just as desperate and distressed. Yes Lord, I want to think about the lesson that can be found in the first part of this amazing story. Help us to trust you, help us to keep the faith – even when everything seems to be hopelessly lost. We know your perspective on life’s circumstances is superior to our point of view. We will wait for you, because we know that you hear our cries for help and that you love us very much - even if you keep us waiting and wondering.

How much light do you need?

Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"
"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. John 10:31-39

REFLECTION
Jesus walked through the temple area when the Feast of Dedication - the Feast of Lights (Hanukkah) - had arrived. It was winter. Again the Jewish leaders started questioning Jesus. Did He really claim to be the Christ, the promised Messiah? Again Jesus uses the metaphor of the shepherd and his sheep. And He gave the religious leaders the answer they were looking for: “I and the Father are one”. How more specific did they want Him to be? The Jews picked up stones because of this ‘blasphemous’ claim. But Jesus diffuses their anger with some intriguing questions. Keep in mind that these men knew the Hebrew Scriptures by heart and that Jesus supplied all the evidence they needed to convince them of the truth. How much light did they need to recognize their long awaited Messiah?
Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6 to silence his opponents. It is interesting to read this verse in combination with the preceding and following verses, because the Jewish scholars were trained to quote every piece of Scripture in the right context: "They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. "I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler." (Psalm 82:5-7)

PRAYER
Dear Lord Jesus, you answered your opponents’ questions with superior counter questions. You clearly showed that they didn’t have any sensible reason to reject you as the Messiah, the Son of the Most High. You fulfilled the Scriptures in front of their eyes and nobody was able to refute your rightful claims. Yes, Jesus, Son of God, your bright heavenly light shone in the darkness of this lost world but some people still prefer to live in the shades of unbelief and doubt. But one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that You are Lord! Nobody is able to steal your glory! Thank You for giving us so much light and thank You for saving me from the darkness. Amen.