Jesus said, "Roll the Stone Aside"

My name is Lazarus.  I am living proof of resurrection from the dead. More importantly, I am proof of the power of God in one of my oldest and dearest friends. I think I have been spared the grave to be a witness to Jesus’ authenticity, and right now he really needs it.  The problem is that my being raised from the dead, brought many to believe, but has angered many others.  The word is that there is a definite plot to kill Jesus now. Surely, his raising me from the dead has something to do with that.  

I have thought a lot about it. I vacillate between fear for Jesus and gratitude and joy that I live.  It is a confusing time for me and for Jesus, but this is not new to us.  So many evenings over the fire with Mary and Martha serving us dinner, he and I had long discussions about what his teaching, preaching and healing might cause. Now he raised me from the dead, truly scary stuff. Jesus is not at all naïve about the fear in people. He is wise about the Romans and even wiser about his fellow Jews motivated by jealousy.  I just never thought I would be in the middle of it all.  I am loyal to Jesus, I will always be, but more than anything, I fear for him.

I do not understand why the giftedness of some people, makes others so jealous.  Jesus is clearly of God; his motives are pure, but so often his words get twisted by those who don’t like that he is changing things, saying he is doing too much, too fast.  We have awaited the Messiah for so long, now that it appears Jesus could be the Messiah, the learned men of the temple, the law keepers seem to have forgotten all that was foretold.  It has become harder for me to talk to them now, because while I am living proof of the power of Jesus and it confirms my earlier thought that he is the Messiah, people are listening to me less, accusing me of believing only because I was raised from the dead after being in the tomb for days.  It is just not true.  Miracles do direct us to the deeper meaning of life and reality and yet they only point to the truth, they are not the truth.  I have asked myself so many times in the last few days, “What is Truth?”  I am convinced there is One God, One Truth, and that Jesus is the One sent by God, he is, as Peter has said so many times, “The Christ, the Son of God.”  Before my resurrection, Jesus was the way and the truth for me. Now, he is also the Life.  I wonder where his life is going, I pray for him.

 Gracious God, I believe in the miracles of the Christ, may I not depend on them for my faith. Amen.

 

 

The Raising of Lazarus - John 11:1-44

11 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. ² This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair.^[a] Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. ³ So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”

⁴ But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” ⁵ So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, ⁶ he stayed where he was for the next two days. ⁷ Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

⁸ But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people^[b] in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”

⁹ Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. ¹⁰ But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.” ¹¹ Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”

¹² The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” ¹³ They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.

¹⁴ So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”

¹⁶ Thomas, nicknamed the Twin,^[c] said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was only a few miles^[d] down the road from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. ²⁰ When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”

²³ Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.^[e] Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. ²⁶ Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” ²⁸ Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” ²⁹ So Mary immediately went to him.

³⁰ Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. ³¹ When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. ³² When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him,^[f] and he was deeply troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you put him?” he asked them.

They told him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Then Jesus wept. ³⁶ The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” ³⁷ But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

³⁸ Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. ³⁹ “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”

⁴⁰ Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” ⁴¹ So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. ⁴² You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” ⁴³ Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”