All eyes were fixed on the hole in the side of the hill. Some in the crowd that had gathered were murmuring and whispering. Most stood silent, the words of Jesus still echoing in their minds.
“LAZARUS, COME OUT!”
The air was thick with anticipation.
And then he appeared, still wrapped in his burial shroud. Jesus instructed some of those standing near by, “Unwrap him, and let him go!”
Many of the people who had come out with Mary and Martha to mourn with them, when they saw Lazarus alive, believed who Jesus was. But some were troubled, and went to the Pharisees to tell them what Jesus had done.
Imagine, if you can, spending your whole life putting your faith and hope in the teachings and traditions of your trusted elders and leaders, only to witness for yourself something so profound that it rocks your whole belief system. Would you be suspicious? Confused and thrown off balance? Would you even be able to accept what you had just seen with your own eyes? You might even feel angry.
Who is this man? And how is he able to do that which only God can do? This is a very important question to ponder—perhaps the most important question of all.
In that moment—when the realisation of what you have experienced hits you—I wonder if you might allow the gift that is the reframing of your reality to reform and re-story your understanding of who Jesus really is.
Prayer: Father, in the middle of all that’s going on in my life — the grief, the busyness, the fear, the questions — I choose to run to you today. I know you have something to show me and that there’s more of you to know. Expand the borders of my heart and fill in the black and white spaces of my theology with the beautiful colours of new life.
Prayer excerpt from the Lectio 365 app, courtesy of 24-7 Prayer.
Image credit: Courtesy of Lumo Project Films
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