Child, Come Out!

“Lord, if you had been here…Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying…Take away the stone…Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out’…The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face…’Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’” John 11:32b, 37, 39, 43-44.

I have lifted several verses from the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. This story brings fresh truth for me this morning as Christmas is approaching. Christmas is about new birth, new hope, and new life in Christ.

Like many of you, my family experienced great loss this year as Beth was called to her eternal home. I am sure over the past 8 months my heart has beat once or twice to the same drum as Martha and Mary’s – Lord, where were you? Couldn’t you have done this as you have done for others?

I had a marathon lunch with a dear friend from high school the other day who has experienced such levels of loss and grief it amazes me how she still has such a level of joy. She lost both brothers, her father to cancer only to be followed up with her mother’s death to cancer. She spoke of moving between the two hospital rooms of her parents in an effort to be there for both. But she does seem happy and joyful thanks to the relationship for which she experiences with Christ. She continues to believe that God loves her, He is working for her good and He is ever present in her life. With so much loss it would be easy for her to be the one in the tomb, in the darkness, in the aloneness of her circumstances. Her stones of loss could have easily entombed her but Christ stood at the opening and removed the stone.

No matter what or who we have lost, Christ stands at the door of our hearts desiring freedom for us and calls out to us knowing we are on the other side of that tomb needing a resurrection. Notice that when Lazarus came out he still was bound with the grave clothes and his face covered. It was only when Jesus commanded the clothes to be removed that full life was experienced by Lazarus. Upon the devastating loss of something or someone we must not die with them for Christ came to bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free! We must remove the grave clothes that bind our hands and feet, and the cloths that blind our sight from experiencing abundant life. I have watched my mom especially remove those grave clothes and experience life in Christ through her heartbreak. She did not allow her circumstances to entomb her but rather allowed Christ to embrace her and carry her out of the depair.

The real miracle is living through the impossible and still seeing possibilities!