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ProudDog
Posts:562
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| 03/04/2008 8:14 AM |
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| Welcome to this week's Lenten bible study. This week we're talking about the raising of Lazarus from John 11:1-45. Kate's got a moving and even poetic peace that journeys through the scene, inviting us to experience the emotions of the crowd, Lazarus and even Jesus. I've written a piece that focuses on the tears. Take a look at Out of the Depths and Tears and let's discuss- |
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-Kirk Moore |
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katehuey
Posts:174
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| 03/04/2008 1:25 PM |
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The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is remarkable enough on its own, but what follows it in the Gospel of John makes it clear that this "incident" is a key moment in the whole story, "the last straw" for the religious authorities. They call a panicked council meeting to discuss this teacher who's "performing many signs" - after all, healing a few lepers is one thing, but raising a man from the dead? Unthinkable!
The chief priests and Pharisees see political implications in what Jesus is doing: unless he's stopped, "everyone will believe in him," and the Romans will destroy the Temple and the nation. I'm not sure how that follows, exactly, but they seem to see in Jesus a different kind of teacher/leader/healer/prophet than he claims to be. They can think only in terms of political power and worldly aspirations. Verse 53 says, "So from that day on they planned to put him to death."
In fact, this raising of Lazarus is mentioned again and again in the Gospel, as a turning point in the story, a critical moment that defined who Jesus was, and finally made the difference between those who believed in Jesus, and those who didn't.
And it's surely no accident that, right after he raises Lazarus and tells them to unbind him from the burial clothes, Jesus himself is anointed by Mary (the sister of Lazarus, who undoubtedly wanted to offer an extravagant gesture of thanks). This perfume was bought, he says, for the preparation of his own body for burial. We can sense what is coming, and how the plotting of the authorities will accomplish their purposes.
Where do you find yourself in this story? Are you Mary and Martha, grieving and struggling with faith (and maybe with the expectations of friendship - and Jesus' delay in coming)? Are you Lazarus, bound up with the things of death but finding new life in Jesus? Are you the crowd, watching all this and responding in your own way? (Some believed in Jesus, and others went and reported him to the authorities - two very different responses!) Where do you find yourself, here on the edge of Jerusalem? |
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Kate Huey |
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ProudDog
Posts:562
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| 03/07/2008 10:51 AM |
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| I think today I feel like the unnamed person who is going to have to clean up the stench in the tomb . . . |
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-Kirk Moore |
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TFussRN
Posts:7
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| 03/07/2008 11:22 AM |
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I know this might not be the right forum, but I wanted to discuss the Daily Devotional reading on Revelation 10: 1-11. At first reading, I felt as I often do after reading Revelation, that John was under the influence of some halucinogenic substance. Then I read the note in the margin of my Bible, discussing how God's word is "sweet as honey" when we first receive it, but "when we internalize the Word, we begin to realize that the promises may require a radical response from us" which can make our stomachs bitter. A lot of people don't get past the "sweet as honey", they just keep pouring more on to cover the bitterness. Some of us however, can get so obsessed with the bitterness or the "doing" that we forget there was ever honey in the first place.
Let's remember to stop and taste the honey this Lent. |
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TFussRN
Posts:7
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| 03/07/2008 11:36 AM |
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| I'm not sure why, but when I put myself in that story I see myself in the crowd asking "If Jesus can do this for Lazurus, why can't he do it for my loved one." I don't have a particular person in mind right now in need of healing, just a thought. |
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fulham
Posts:34
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| 03/08/2008 5:11 AM |
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| Wonderful stuff is honey. The longer you keep it and cherish it, the sweeter it becomes. |
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john p campling |
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katehuey
Posts:174
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| 03/08/2008 9:40 AM |
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| Good to hear your thoughts on the Lenten devotional reading as well - I think there is a forum in the Spirit Cafe (under Forums) for the devotional, but you're always welcome here, too! |
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Kate Huey |
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katehuey
Posts:174
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| 03/08/2008 9:48 AM |
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Yes, I can certainly relate to that feeling, in the crowd.
It seems that the Gospel of John is telling us more than just the story of one person's being brought back to life, though - in fact, the Gospel is saying that Jesus WILL bring us, and all of our loved ones, in on this resurrection experience. Jesus, John is saying, isn't just going to experience a resurrection, he is THE Resurrection.
Your words about "in need of healing" are right on - even if our loved ones (or we ourselves) aren't all the way in the tomb, we surely need God's touch. We need to hear God calling us out of whatever is entombing us. It feels like we need to have the strips of cloth unbound, too, whatever they are in our lives.
Like everything wonderful, this raising provoked a range of reactions, from people believing in Jesus to others who went to the authorities and reported him. (The religious authorities did not see someone being brought back to life as a good thing!) Doesn't that happen a lot in our lives, when something we think is good surprisingly affects others in a different way? Does fear or insecurity do that?
What do you all think? |
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Kate Huey |
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