Worship into the Week-
The Death of Lazarus
John 11:1-44
Lazarus, the good friend of Jesus had died.
It was not a good day in Bethany.
Jesus had been told that Lazarus was sick,
and the disciples were puzzled
about the delay to respond.
He tells them that
"this illness does not lead to death.
It is for the glory of God,
so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
Jesus finally arrives in Bethany.
The sisters had heard that Jesus was coming.
Martha went out to meet him
and Mary remained seated in the house.
Mary tells Jesus that if you had been here-
he would not have died.
Jesus tells Martha,
"I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die,
yet shall he live,
and everyone who lives and believes
in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Martha says she believes that He is the Christ,
the Son of God.
Martha goes to get her sister
who was waiting at the house
with the Jews that had come to console them.
They saw Mary leave and followed her
as she went to meet Jesus.
Mary also tells Jesus that if had been there-
Lazarus would not have died.
Jesus sees her weeping and also the Jews
who had come with her,
and was deeply moved and wept also.
The Jews said."See how he loved him!"
They comment that if Jesus makes the blind to see,
he could have healed Lazarus.
Jesus comes to the tomb and asks
for the stone to be rolled away.
Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.
Martha offers that he will be stinky.
They roll the stone away
and Jesus lifts his eyes and says,
"Father I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me,
but I said this on account of the
people standing around,
that they may believe that you sent me."
Then Jesus cried out,
"Lazarus, come out."
The man who had been dead for 4 days
comes out with his hands and feet
bound by the linen strips,
and his face wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus says, "Unbind him, and let him go."
It is hard to imagine just what happened next.
But, I imagine it had some shouting and hollering.
The time of mourning
turned into jubilee and dancing.
I do wonder if Lazarus was happy.
In heaven one minute
and then back on earth
and all of its challenges the next.
Perhaps because his "alive again"
story brought tribute to God he was OK with it.
I wonder if he told his sisters
what heaven was like and tried to describe it to them.
This story helps us to picture
coming back to life again.
We will need this hope
for our journey into Holy Week.
In the middle of these days of tragic deaths,
we cling to the hope that this life is not the end.
The urgency is for those near death
who don't know Jesus.
That gives us a real purpose
to share this Resurrection hope story-
for the sake of the Gospel.
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