Devotion:
Read John 11:38-44.
Imagine yourself in the crowd gathered around that tomb that day. Even if you are too far back to hear the conversation going on between Jesus and Martha or to hear Jesus’ prayer, you can see them move the stone away from the opening to the cave. And you can hear Jesus shout “Lazarus, come out!” Whether it was a few seconds or a few minutes before this man wrapped in burial garments appeared, suddenly he stood at that opening. What are you feeling and thinking at that moment?
Then Jesus says, “Take off the grave clothes (NRSV says “Unbind him”) and let him go.” I wonder what “clothes of death” we bind people with these days. Maybe it’s clothes of injustice and inequity. Maybe it’s rules and ways that we demand everyone has to live by. Maybe it’s our interpretation of the Bible or what we think it means to be a Christian. What comes to your mind when you think of the people around you who seemed to be bound up and unable to live life fully and freely?
I wonder who Jesus is raising from a lifeless existence among us and saying to us “Unbind them and let them go”?
Personal Worship Option:
Life-giving God, help me to always be your partner in giving life to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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