Dearest e-votees,
God's intent is to unbind us from the things that separate us from the divinely appointed abundant life.
Peace,
Karl
------------
32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So 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 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
John 11:32-44, NRSV
So much of Jesus' ministry was about unbinding and loosing and freeing. When Jesus encountered people who were bound up by religious tradition and hypocrisy that heaped burdens on them he loosed the cords and set them free. When Jesus encountered people who were captured by demonic presence or debilitating conditions or chronic conditions he chased the offending presences off and set those who had been captured free. When Jesus encountered people who were boxed in by blindness or deafness or muteness he opened the box and set them free. When Jesus encountered those who had been overshadowed by the valley of death he called them back and set them free. It takes a very select reading of Jesus' ministry to not find an abundance of reference to freedom and liberation.
This week's gospel lesson, for All Saints Day, shows the three Bethany siblings who were bound up. Mary is captured by grief and wondering where Jesus was when Lazarus died. (Martha reflected that same captivity in 1:21). She is weeping and disconsolate. Martha is also present here and is stuck in her perceptions of what is possible and what will happen. She seems more worried about the stench than engaging in just what Jesus is up to at this moment. Sometimes doing what we think best is how we try to swallow our grief. Martha, ever the one sensitive to the needs of others, is taking care of others but perhaps not engaging what she fully needs to do to move toward healing. Lazarus is bound up in grave cloths and sealed behind a stone. He is as captured as you get as death has beset him. The full consequence of our sinful and mortal nature has come to bear upon him.
Jesus enters into the scene and is brought to tears. He surely knew where this account was going (see John 11:11-15). What was it that stirred him up so? Was he grieving his friend as well? Was he grieving the pain that Mary and Martha were experiencing? Perhaps he had a sense of his own death and rising and that was weighing heavy on his soul. In truth Jesus was bound up with the fate of humanity. Jesus came to set us free but in the process he became tied into pain, mortality and isolation from our heavenly Father. Jesus took on that which we could not bear in order to give us a freedom we could not deserve. Jesus' work on the cross speaks to all who would hear "Unbind them, and let them go!" Clearly the repentant thief heard that good news. Will we let God say it to us as well?
God, we are bound up in so many ways. Sin keeps us doing that which we ought not and avoiding that which we ought. Jesus came to shatter the manacles, to cut the cord, to break the chains and to make our tombs impermanent. That which binds us is losing its grip. Thanks be to You. Amen.
God's intent is to unbind us from the things that separate us from the divinely appointed abundant life.
Peace,
Karl
------------
32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So 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 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
So much of Jesus' ministry was about unbinding and loosing and freeing. When Jesus encountered people who were bound up by religious tradition and hypocrisy that heaped burdens on them he loosed the cords and set them free. When Jesus encountered people who were captured by demonic presence or debilitating conditions or chronic conditions he chased the offending presences off and set those who had been captured free. When Jesus encountered people who were boxed in by blindness or deafness or muteness he opened the box and set them free. When Jesus encountered those who had been overshadowed by the valley of death he called them back and set them free. It takes a very select reading of Jesus' ministry to not find an abundance of reference to freedom and liberation.
This week's gospel lesson, for All Saints Day, shows the three Bethany siblings who were bound up. Mary is captured by grief and wondering where Jesus was when Lazarus died. (Martha reflected that same captivity in 1:21). She is weeping and disconsolate. Martha is also present here and is stuck in her perceptions of what is possible and what will happen. She seems more worried about the stench than engaging in just what Jesus is up to at this moment. Sometimes doing what we think best is how we try to swallow our grief. Martha, ever the one sensitive to the needs of others, is taking care of others but perhaps not engaging what she fully needs to do to move toward healing. Lazarus is bound up in grave cloths and sealed behind a stone. He is as captured as you get as death has beset him. The full consequence of our sinful and mortal nature has come to bear upon him.
Jesus enters into the scene and is brought to tears. He surely knew where this account was going (see John 11:11-15). What was it that stirred him up so? Was he grieving his friend as well? Was he grieving the pain that Mary and Martha were experiencing? Perhaps he had a sense of his own death and rising and that was weighing heavy on his soul. In truth Jesus was bound up with the fate of humanity. Jesus came to set us free but in the process he became tied into pain, mortality and isolation from our heavenly Father. Jesus took on that which we could not bear in order to give us a freedom we could not deserve. Jesus' work on the cross speaks to all who would hear "Unbind them, and let them go!" Clearly the repentant thief heard that good news. Will we let God say it to us as well?
God, we are bound up in so many ways. Sin keeps us doing that which we ought not and avoiding that which we ought. Jesus came to shatter the manacles, to cut the cord, to break the chains and to make our tombs impermanent. That which binds us is losing its grip. Thanks be to You. Amen.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment