Called and Let Go

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

CALLED AND LET GO

John 11:32-47

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." 40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"  41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."  43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"  44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."  45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

NIV

We have considered the fact that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. We understood that his weeping was not for Lazarus for he knew he would raise him from the dead, but he wept because of people’s unbelief. Now we need to look at the moment of truth for the whole world. Jesus has the power, he has all authority over all things, including death. Once again we remember his words that he spoke to Mary and Martha. He told them if they believe although they die, they will live. In addition, because they believe they will never die. This is the message to the whole world which John made very clear early on in this gospel. Everyone quotes that verse, it can be seen on signs or posters at almost every sporting event. Someone is always spreading the message that God so loved the world, that would mean the whole world, every person on the earth, that he sent, he gave his only, his beloved Son, so he could die on the cross of Calvary and take all our sin upon himself and bear all the punishment we so deserve, as a sacrifice so that whosoever believes in him will not perish, experience eternal death, or damnation in Hell forever and ever, but instead will have eternal life in the paradise of God. Here at the tomb where Lazarus lay is the proof of that verse or least a living example of how it will be for all believers. A dead man in grave clothes, who has already begun to decay, as Jesus is told that he already has the bad odor of death, is about to be resurrected. This is the very reason Jesus waited so long to arrive. If Lazarus had only just been put in the grave, perhaps some would say, it was not really dead, but just in a coma and appeared dead. But now there can be no mistake, Lazarus is dead, dead, all the way dead. His spirit or soul had already left his body. We have to believe he was somewhere other than in his body, in fact, if he were absent from his body than he had to be in the presence of God, if Lazarus truly believed Jesus was the Christ. Otherwise, he would have been in the place of the dead. Nevertheless, the point is after Jesus had the stone rolled away for him, he calls Lazarus. He calls him to come out of the grave and behold, Lazarus comes out of the grave, alive and well, with no smell. Of course, he was still in grave clothes and Jesus tells the people to take off those grave clothes and let him go. We can see the truth, right there in front of us. Praise God, thank you Jesus. Someday we will hear him call our name, calling us out of the grave and removing our grave clothes and dressing us in fine linen, a new white robe pure as the driven snow and he will tell us we have been let go, we have been freed. And when Jesus sets us free, we will be free indeed. Oh, death, where is thy sting! Jesus has conquered death and we will live forever. We have been called out of death and let go.