It is curious that Jesus waited until He knew Lazarus was dead before going to Bethany. Jesus himself is quite clear that this whole situation will lead to God’s glory and the glory of the Son. He says reportedly throughout this story that this great sign will lead people to faith – as it does for His disciples, for Martha and Mary, and for the people standing round the tomb. Jesus explains to Martha that faith in Him is the way to resurrection and life. Raising the dead to life is a sure sign of the presence and action of God. These Sundays Gospels have presented us with various images of what coming to faith in Christ is like: having a spring of water inside us, welling up into eternal life (the woman of Samaria); moving from blindness to sight, from darkness to light (the blind man); and today, in the story of Lazarus, it is described as being a movement from lying down to being lifted up, from being bound to being free, from death to life.
Tradition tells us that Lazarus relocated to Larnaca in Cyprus after the resurrection of Jesus. The church in Larnaca claims to be the site of Lazarus’ second tomb – where they buried him when he finally did die. It is a place of peace. Jesus had already brought him back to life once. He knew that was just a sign of an even greater miracle: that Jesus would bring him to eternal life, bring him to the kingdom of His promise. Faith in Jesus Christ empowers us to live in true freedom: freedom from fear, freedom from the power of death, freedom to live by the Spirit which God has placed is us – the Spirit of the risen Christ.
Thank you for continuing to post the bulletin and these posts for those of us who cannot share in worship in person at this time.