“I am the
resurrection and the life” (John
11:25)
Here in John’s Gospel is
Jesus, standing at the graveside of a much-loved friend who has been in the
tomb for four long days. Jesus is more than a godly miracle-worker. His style
is utterly different from that of an itinerant wonder-worker who might perhaps
have boasted, “I can turn water into wine, I can stop storms, I can multiply
bread; Listen – I can even do resurrections!”
No, Christ is more than
someone who dispenses wonderful gifts. He IS the Gift itself – being the
original source of all life. You don’t come to Jesus for gifts. You come
because He is Jesus! He is the one and only universal Resurrection and the
Life. He says it, He does it, He is it!
At the tomb, they’re
weeping – and Jesus weeps too. So He doesn’t look down upon our sorrows in calm
detachment; He has emotions too. A friend of mine described her sense of
outrage as the coffin of her father was lowered into the ground. Something
inside her was shouting, ‘That’s my DADDY!’
What a difference it makes that Jesus, Lord of all life, shares the grief of
His friends at these epic moments.
In our story, Lazarus,
the dead friend, was raised. Here was the demonstration of Christ’s authority
over Old Man Death. It was
apparent in every one of His commands that wonderful day: “Take away the
stone!....Lazarus, come out1…. Take off the grave clothes and let him go!” This was not THE Resurrection. Lazarus
would die again one day. But the event took place – as Jesus phrased it in His
prayer to the Father above “that they may believe that You sent Me. ”It was also
something of a curtain-raiser for
what was to come – Christ’s own historic, bodily resurrection – the prototype
for every one of those who follow Him through this life and into the next –
never to die again!
HE SAYS IT .... HE DOES IT .... HE IS IT!
--ooOoo--
