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 believed, you would 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.”
In yesterday's passage Jesus claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life - and now He proves it.
He raises a man from the dead, not just recently dead, but a man who had already begun to decompose. Not that raising a man who had just recently died would be easy either, but this is another miracle in itself. Skin, bones, blood - everything would need to be made new in order for Lazarus to become alive after being dead for days.
And if Jesus can do that for Lazarus - He can do that for us too.
But He waited. He waited a long time - in the eyes of Mary & Martha and all those watching. Why didn't He come sooner and heal Lazarus before he died?
Because Lazarus needed to die, and needed to be dead for a few days in order for Jesus to show His resurrection power.
We need to trust in God's power. We need to trust in God's will. We need to trust in God's timing. Even when we can't understand it and have no idea why something is (or is not) happening.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: John 11:45-57
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