Scripture: Jonh 11:28-44
11:28 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.” (NIV)
Observation:
Jesus knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Yet, when invited to come and see where Lazarus had been laid, we encounter the shortest verse in the Bible "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). Jesus joins us in our human condition and is moved to tears by the pain and reality of our death. He came so that we might have life and have it to the fullest. Jesus truly loves us, even to the point of His own death on the cross.
Application:
Since Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life as a ransom for all who believe in Him, let us trust our Lord and God with our whole selves. Let us conform to His will for our lives, for He knows the plans He has made for us, plans to prosper us and give us hope and a future.
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for your immense and unconditional love for us. We thank you for being the Resurrection and the Life. Help us to live in the grace that you provide for us by being gracious to others in our lives. Amen.