The presence and power of Jesus brings both future promise and present experience of new life. As reflected on yesterday, going to the grave has no power over the eternal life Jesus brings. The relationship he establishes is more powerful and enduring than physical death. Lazarus, though brought back to life, will still experience that greater resurrection, in Jesus. His physical rising points also to the power Jesus has to call us out of our present graves – those things that bind us and drag us down to a dull or destructive existence. In the previous chapter he talked about coming that we would have life “to the full” (John 10:10).
That’s what so many of us are missing.
The prayer of Jesus in this section shows his passion for awakening faith. It is not only Lazarus who is being called out of a tomb. For those who would follow Jesus as his disciples, our life and ministry should serve as an open call to come out of tombs of despair, and experience the peace and joy of offering our loaned lives back to God in devotion to him and fearless service to others.
Prayer:
To feel fully alive, Lord, that’s what we your children yearn for, and we seek it in so many ways that do the opposite. I pause just to be aware of your presence. Then let me detect you in some circumstance around me or that I’m part of. You are seeking to call out what really makes for life in that, aren’t you? Help me respond, be part of the life you are calling forth, as you did in the beginning.
3 comments:
in my neighbourhood there are a lot of people, many of them kids, who seem to already have a foot in the grave; i listen to parents yell at kids, i listen to kids yell the same at their siblings and friends, i see teenagers with babies, i see the evidence of drinking and drugs. who ministers these people? who will help them come alive to the light?
I think this is about the best statement yet of what our church is about, or should be.
i can see, from the outside, what's going on. that's easy enough. but i don't feel any call to do something about it, and i'm afraid to mix with these people. i'm not part of their community, i have no credibility, no connection, or so i think.
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