Thoughts for the Day

* The 4th year anniversary of these Thoughts occurs on 24th March 2024 - I would love to hear from you all, to help me keep going for another year!

When Martha had said this to Jesus, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When 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.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So 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?

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus 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 for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I 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.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The 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.'

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

The picture above is a fairly faithful image of a tomb carved into the rock that leads steeply down into the hillside, straight off the narrow street of Bethany (el Aziriyeh), that is thought to be Lazarus' tomb. In our last Thoughts on this story (Lazarus: 2 ) we saw Martha run ahead to meet Jesus and express her belief that Jesus was "the Messiah, the Son of God." We now see her fetching her sister Mary, the one who sat at the feet of Jesus when Martha had been stressed about coping with all the visitors (Luke 10.38-42 ). She too expresses her faith that if Jesus have been present he could have healed Lazarus. But neither woman expects that Lazarus will be raised from the dead!

John's Gospel tells us that Jesus prays aloud to the Father. It seems to be part of an ongoing discussion with Him, said for the benefit of all who are present. When the stone is rolled away, Jesus shouts "Lazarus come out!" Jesus, the 'Good Shepherd' is calling his sheep by name as he said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." (John 10.27). We cannot explain how Lazaris bound with grave clothes and his eyes covered can walk up the steep steps towards the entrance of the cave, but he does. His master's voice calls him and he obeys.

This miracle (or 'sign' as John calls them) demonstrates the power and authority of Jesus over death and foreshadows his own death and resurrection three days after his crucifixion. It should also give us hope for our future, for Jesus says to Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11.25).

Lord Jesus Christ,
may we learn to hear Your voice
and to follow Your commands
as the Good Shepherd.
Strengthen our faith and trust in You,
to know that when we faithfully follow You
we are offered eternal life.
Amen.