Resurrection Power
Opening Prayer
God, open my eyes to see the possible in the midst of the “impossible” as I read Your Word today.
Read John 11:28–44
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.”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“With God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). Meditate on these words before reading further.“Unbind him, and let him go” (44). Why did Jesus need to tell them to do this? Perhaps, this stunning miracle was just too good to be true. People literally could not believe their eyes as Lazarus shuffled blinking into the light (44). Jesus had been too late, Mary had told him so (32)—conventional wisdom, seen further in Martha’s reasonable, rational response to the tombstone being rolled away (39). But Jesus is not a slave to convention.
No gimmicks, no magician’s manipulation. But real authority and power: three simple words and Lazarus was raised from the dead (43,44).
“Jesus wept” (35). Why was he so moved when he knew he would raise Lazarus? The Greek suggests in fact that his heart was filled with the pain and anger that we feel when someone close to us dies: “This—death—is not how it’s meant to be!” Jesus had come to destroy this enemy, removing its power. He had come to undo the curse of sin and its ability to ruin and spoil God’s good creation. The resurrection had arrived.
Apply
Do you know someone who needs some kind of life resurrection? Share a word of hope with him or her today.
Closing prayer
In the tears that he shed, do you sense something of the compassion that Jesus has for you today? Thank him now.
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