The Rev. Thomas Dix Bowers was the Rector of St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan during my time there from 1981-1988. He published a small booklet of devotions titled Come to the Table, © 1988. Tom is kind enough to give me permission to publish these essays.
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS
Once I received an emergency summons to rush to a home. When I arrived, I found the father holding his five-year-old son in his arms. The boy had just been struck and killed by a car and the man would not let him go. He cried out to me, “Why? Why?” I remember in that moment wanting to run and hide; that tragedy pressed home with crushing force how finite and powerless we are in the face of death.
One day Jesus received word that his friend Lazarus was ill. Jesus loved Lazarus; he had been refreshed on numerous occasions with the hospitality of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. Word of Lazarus’ illness would have been of particular concern to Him. Yet Jesus waited two days before going to his side; when he arrived Lazarus was dead and his body sealed in a tomb. Both sisters greeted him with the words, “Lord, if you had been here. . .” (John 11:21, 32).
In the gripping narrative which follows, Jesus Himself weeps by Lazarus’ tomb, orders the stone rolled away from the entrance, and calls Lazarus forth from the dead. The raising of Lazarus emphatically underscores Jesus’ claim: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). It creates such a stir that the Jewish leaders are incited to scheme for His execution. Yet the grave couldn’t hold Christ. Easter is the celebration of His resurrection and the eternal hope it gives us in the face of our own mortality.
Our society does not deal well with death. Jesus showed his emotions; we try desperately to conceal ours. We see death as the end; for all who trust in Him it is the transition into His blessed presence. The raising of Lazarus makes clear that it is Jesus Christ who holds the keys to death. Both here and hereafter, His presence makes the difference between despair and confidence rooted in his love and power.
Note: Nine months until Christmas!
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