Death Shattered
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I 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.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The 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 11:41-44
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Death Shattered
When Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, His word alone shattered death’s hold. The voice that created life in the beginning now recreated it in Bethany. Lazarus did nothing; he was dead. Yet, at Christ’s command, he arose. This is the Gospel in action: the living Word calling sinners from death to life. This miracle foreshadowed Christ’s own resurrection and the life He gives through His Word and Sacraments. Just as Lazarus came forth still wrapped in grave clothes, so we are daily unwrapped from sin’s binding through repentance and forgiveness. But this life came at a cost. To give life, Jesus would soon lay down His own. The cross stood between Lazarus’ rising and ours. There, death was undone forever. The same voice that once thundered, “Lazarus, come out!” now speaks to us in Baptism: “You are Mine.” And by His Word, we live.
John 11:41-44
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Death Shattered
When Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, His word alone shattered death’s hold. The voice that created life in the beginning now recreated it in Bethany. Lazarus did nothing; he was dead. Yet, at Christ’s command, he arose. This is the Gospel in action: the living Word calling sinners from death to life. This miracle foreshadowed Christ’s own resurrection and the life He gives through His Word and Sacraments. Just as Lazarus came forth still wrapped in grave clothes, so we are daily unwrapped from sin’s binding through repentance and forgiveness. But this life came at a cost. To give life, Jesus would soon lay down His own. The cross stood between Lazarus’ rising and ours. There, death was undone forever. The same voice that once thundered, “Lazarus, come out!” now speaks to us in Baptism: “You are Mine.” And by His Word, we live.
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