Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.
Why do people “spread the word?” People talk all the time, and often the talking is just to pass the time of day. It feels good to talk and have someone listen to us. Yet, spreading the word is different.
Continue reading “The Word – John 12: 17-18”
Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
As people gather around the house that Jesus is in, the crowd grows. Already the small dwelling was full. Jesus’ disciples, and the friends and family that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus may have invited are there. Now the crowd presses in.
Lazarus has become a sort of celebrity. Once dead, now alive, I am sure people had many questions for him. In every case, I suspect that the answer Lazarus gave was, “Jesus.”
Continue reading “Pointer – John 12: 9”
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.
Our last post ended with the Pharisees and the chief priests plotting to kill Jesus. Jesus retreats to Ephriam, a village about ten miles north of Jerusalem and Bethany. There he stays for a while. Meanwhile, John mentions that it is getting close to the time of the Passover festival. People are asking about Jesus, wondering if he will be there.
Apart from all this activity, Jesus bides his time. Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus arrives in Bethany.
Continue reading “Celebration – John 12: 1-2”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘’Lazarus, come out!” 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.”
Please forgive me if I am reading too much into this passage, but I think that there might be a living metaphor here for us. Lazarus has gone where no man wants to go. He is dead and buried, decaying in the flesh. He has become a perfect symbol for the effects of sin on the human condition.
Into the darkness where his body lies, decaying, comes Jesus’ voice: “Lazarus, come out!” At the command of Jesus, the corrupted flesh of the dead becomes new again. The heart starts beating again, the brain functions again, and the body moves. In coming back to life, Lazarus becomes the symbol or metaphor of what Jesus wants for all people: to come back to life in Him.
Continue reading “Mega-Metaphor – John 11: 43-44”
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem…
At the end of Chapter 10, John tells us that Jesus had gone back to where John the Baptist had been baptizing near the Jordan River. While we do not know with certainty where this was, it appears likely that the place was north of the Sea of Galilee, about twenty some miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies.
If Lazarus had died about the time the news reached Jesus and his disciples, and if the walk back to Bethany was about a two day walk, then the two days that Jesus waited after hearing the news that Lazarus was ill fits with Lazarus being in the tomb for four days.
Why would this be important?
Continue reading “Assurance – John 11: 17 – 18a”
…and then he said to his disciples, ”Let us go back to Judea.”
”But Rabbi,” they said, ”a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
If I close my eyes and picture myself sitting among the disciples with Jesus, I imagine that we are camped near the bank of the Jordan River, near where John the Baptist appeared out of the wilderness and started preaching. In my mind’s eye, it is morning. The sun is peeking over the eastern horizon and some of the disciples have been up since very early. A fire is going in the middle of the camp and as the few disciples who are still asleep wake-up, they gather around the fire where a breakfast of small fish is cooking. Someone passes around a rough-hewn wood plate with dates on it and I take one to eat and pass the plate on.
Continue reading “Timing – John 11: 7-8”