One day He has also promised to give me a new body and I will be with Him physically for all eternity. At that moment He gave me new life and I began to have communion with Him through His Word and in prayer. One day when I was in my early twenties, I realized that I was spiritually dead and asked the Lord for new life in Him. Because of his effective witness, Lazarus was persecuted by the religious leaders who wanted to kill him and get rid of the evidence. There are no recorded words of Lazarus in the Gospels, but his daily walk is enough to convince people that Jesus is the Son of God. All lost people are spiritually dead, but some are more “decayed” than others. 14 So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is. 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. After all, a surface-level reading seems to show the beggar Lazarus dying and going to heaven while the selfish rich man dies and descends to hell. 12 His disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better. He was decayed because death and decay go together. 11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I am going there to wake him up. Lazarus was dead, and all sinners are dead. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. The experience of Lazarus is a good illustration of what happens to a sinner when he trusts the Savior (Eph. The Death of Lazarus 11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. They can’t work because their hands are bound. Here is a picture of many Christians who are alive in Christ but are still bound by the graveclothes of the world. It has been said that if Jesus had not named Lazarus when He shouted, the whole cemetery would have been emptied. Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come forth” (vv. It is because He is in close communion with the Father, that this miracle is possible. Jesus wept (John 11:35) when He gathered with the sisters and others mourning Lazarus’s death. He is thankful that the Father has heard. John 11:145 concerns the death and resurrection of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha and a friend of our Lord. The prayer was one of thanksgiving rather than requesting. ![]() Then Christ offered a prayer before He performed the miracle (vv. ![]() Christ reminded her of His previous statements by saying, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (v. ![]() Martha objected to this strange request since Lazarus’ body would stink (vv. “missionary of mercy” by Pope Francis in 2016.Christ came to the tomb and ordered someone to roll away the stone. Amen.įather John Paul Mary Zeller is a member of theįranciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word and resides in God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. As an early Church Father says, to restore the life of grace in a soul that has fallen into grave sin is a greater achievement than the creation of the world. Some of the most beautiful words that I have ever heard as a penitent and have the privilege to utter as a priest of Jesus Christ are the words of absolution. Jesus still calls out to each one of us when we go astray: “Lazarus, come out!” Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, sent a messenger to Jesus to tell him their brother was sick. The confessional has been referred to as a tomb, where a dead Lazarus goes in repentant, confessing his sins and willing to make amends, and, by the power and grace of Jesus Christ, shows how we are restored to life by absolution. Jack Zavada Updated on MaLazarus was one of the few friends of Jesus Christ who was mentioned by name in the Gospels. This passage of the raising of Lazarus from the dead has been looked upon as how the early Church looked upon how we are restored and made new at baptism as well as how we are restored if we have destroyed the free gift of sanctifying grace by committing mortal sin after baptism.
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