This Sunday: Grace in Resurrection

This Sunday is the last Sunday before Holy Week.

We’re going to hear the story of Lazarus—Jesus’ friend who died and was raised from the dead.

It’s a preview. A foretaste. A glimpse of what’s coming on Easter.

But it’s also its own story. And it’s a hard one.

Lazarus gets sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha, send word to Jesus: “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” They’re expecting Jesus to come immediately. To heal him. To save him.

But Jesus doesn’t come. He waits. Two days. And by the time he arrives, Lazarus has been dead for four days.

Martha meets Jesus on the road. And she says what we’ve all thought at some point: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

If you had been here. If you had shown up. If you had done something.

Where were you, God?

And Jesus doesn’t defend himself. He doesn’t explain why he waited. He just says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

And then he goes to the tomb. And he weeps.

Jesus weeps.

Even though he knows he’s about to raise Lazarus. Even though he knows the ending. He weeps.

Because death is real. Grief is real. Loss is real.

And then he calls Lazarus out of the tomb. “Lazarus, come out!” And Lazarus comes out, still wrapped in grave clothes.

And Jesus says, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

This Sunday, we’re going to sit with this story. With the waiting. With the grief. With the resurrection. With the unbinding.

Because we all have tombs in our lives. Places where we feel dead. Stuck. Bound up. Hopeless.

And grace says: Come out. You don’t have to stay in the tomb. Resurrection is possible.

Here’s my prayer for us this week:

God, we’re tired of waiting. We’re tired of grief. We’re tired of feeling stuck in tombs of our own making. Call us out. Unbind us. Raise us to new life. Give us a preview of resurrection, even now. Amen.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Travis