ISSL Reflections July 24 2022 John 11:17–27, 38–44 Post 2

IV.
I suspect when we think about Lazarus and Martha as we encounter them here, our mind (and maybe heart) goes to Lazarus leaving the tomb. That doesn’t surprise us, does it? And I guess we think about the joy such brings to Martha and Mary.

What other emotions draw your attention here?

V.
John 11:17-27 (New Revised Standard Version)

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “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. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

John 11:38-44 (New Revised Standard Version)

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 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 upward 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.”

VI.
Perhaps we move so fast to the “unbinding” of Lazarus, we pass over other such things as the suffering, grief, and disappointment that precedes it..

How do you see suffering, grief and disappointment portrayed in this passage?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}


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