LAZARUS’ RESURRECTION
38 Then Jesus,
deeply moved again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave,
and a stone lay against it. 39Jesus said, “TAKE AWAY THE STONE.”
Martha, the
sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor,
for he has been dead four days.”
40Jesus said to
her, “DID I NOT TELL YOU THAT IF YOU BELIEVED YOU WOULD SEE THE GLORY OF GOD?”
41So they took
away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said,
“FATHER, I THANK
YOU THAT YOU HAVE HEARD ME.
42I KNEW THAT
YOU ALWAYS HEAR ME, BUT I SAID THIS ON ACCOUNT OF THE PEOPLE STANDING AROUND,
THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU SENT ME.”
43When he had
said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “LAZARUS, COME OUT.”
44The man who
had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face
wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to
them,
“UNBIND HIM, AND
LET HIM GO.”
JOHN
11:38-44
COMMENTARY
This event occurred
during the last trip of Lord Jesus to Jerusalem before his crucifixion, in the
locality of Bethany (John 11:1,18).
It is evident
that Lord Jesus expected this to happen. Apart from been omniscient, He deliberately
let a few days pass from when He was told for the first time that Lazarus’ life
was in danger, ensuring that Lazarus was dead before He went to Bethany
(John 11:5-6).
But Jesus did
not do this for lack of love towards Lazarus, or negligence, but He wanted
Lazarus to experience death, in order to prove GOD’s power over it, the same
death He would experience two weeks from then.
When our Lord
arrived to the tomb, after being deeply sadden by Lazarus’s death (John 11:35),
He elevated a prayer to the Father, thanking Him for always listening to Him.
However, Jesus
clarified that He prayed aloud so that the people listening to Him came to know
that the miracle He was about to perform and they were about to see; it was an
act under the power of God Almighty, and by this, leave a final testimony of
the validity of his claim as Messiah and Son of God to all humanity before his
departure from his earthly life.
Jesus commanded
Lazarus, who was already in state of decomposition (John 11:39) to ‘Come out’
of his grave (John 11:43).
By praying to
God the Father in a loud voice, Jesus gave the glory to GOD YHWH, the God of
Israel; thus guaranteeing the divine origin of his power.
By bringing back
to life someone who was already in state of decomposition, Jesus demonstrated
his power to overcome death and confer life beyond any doubt. Nobody could
claim catalepsy, or falsehood with a decomposing body involved.
And by calling
Lazarus from death to life, by his single command, without any ceremony or
special liturgical prayer or mantra, in his own Name, JESUS proved to hold the
power of God in Himself, to the point of not needing any special ritual or
effort on his part to overcome death and bring back life, a thing that not even
Satan could copy among his ample repertory of fake miracles.
But above all,
JESUS gave skeptics the opportunity to repent and believe in Him; and those who
already believed in Him, the hope of the resurrection, especially when in two
weeks more, they will see Him crucified and buried.
Death, could not
hold in her arms, the Lord of Life (John 1:4).
Omar Flores.
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