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Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:40 am Post subject: The Power by Which He Weeps |
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The Power by Which He Weeps
Scripture:
Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus said the Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchers, O my people: and will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchers, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my people: And shall have put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken, and done it, said the Lord God: (Ezekiel 37:12-14)
And they who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead, because of sin: but the spirit lives, because of justification. And if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you; he that raised up Jesus Christ, from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:8-11)
Now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary and of Martha her sister. (And Mary was she that anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was sick.) His sisters therefore sent to him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. And Jesus hearing it, said to them: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God: that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he still remained in the same place two days. Then after that, he said to his disciples: Let us go into Judea again. The disciples say to him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone you. And go you there again? Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man walk in the day he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world: But if he walk in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. These things he said; and after that he said to them: Lazarus our friend sleeps: but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. His disciples therefore said: Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. But Jesus spoke of his death: and they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep. Then, therefore, Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead. And I am glad, for your sakes; that I was not there, that you may believe. But, let us go to him. Thomas, therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Jesus therefore came: and found that he had been four days already in the grave. (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.) And many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus was come, went to meet him: but Mary sat at home. Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. But now also I know that whatsoever you will ask of God, God will give it you. Jesus said to her: You brother shall rise again. Martha said to him: I know that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, although he be dead, shall live: And every one that lives and believes in me shall not die for ever. Do you believe this? She said to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that you are Christ, the Son of the living God, who are come into this world. And when she had said these things, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The master is come and calls for you. She, as soon as she heard this, rises quickly and comes to him. For Jesus was not yet come into the town: but he was still in that place where Martha had met him. The Jews therefore, who were with her in the house and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up speedily and went out, followed her, saying: She goes to the grave to weep there.
When Mary, therefore, was come where Jesus was, seeing him, she fell down at his feet and said to him. Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her weeping, groaned in the spirit and troubled himself, and said: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. The Jews, therefore, said: Behold how he loved him. But some of them said: Could not he that opened the eyes of the man born blind have caused that this man should not die?
Jesus, therefore, again groaning in himself, comes to the sepulcher. Now it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it. Jesus said: Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said to him: Lord, by this time he stinks, for he is now of four days. Jesus said to her: Did not I say to you that if you believe, you shall see the glory of God? They took, therefore, the stone away. And Jesus lifting up his eyes, said: Father, I give you thanks that you have heard me. And I knew that you hear me always: but because of the people who stand about have I said it, that they may believe that you have sent me. When he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth. And presently he that had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands. And his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him and let him go. Many, therefore, of the Jews, who were come to Mary and Martha and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him. (John 11:1-45)
Reflection:
God is able to see across all eternity, but our view is limited by our senses of the world. We see life by what we observe. We are conceived, we are born, we live and experience, and then, the day will come where we pass from the earth from whence we found ourselves within the midst of the battle of good and evil. Our body is our vessel as we experience that which is before us, but our mortal form is not infinite. It suffers from wear, aging, and disease. No matter what we do, the time will come for our last day in this portion of the creation of God.
It is within the power of God to extend our days; indeed, to allow us to live here forever (John 21:20-23), but that is not His plan, for, despite the wonders of His creation, He has a far more glorious place where He invites us to spend our eternity. Our graves are for our bodies, but His desire is that His kingdom shall become the home for our soul.
As we approach our experience within this world, we must provide for the vessel which holds us. Our existence is dependent upon the food and water we consume, but our life is more than how we nourish and feed our flesh. (Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4) Our existence must look beyond the moments of our sustenance and to the purpose for which our Creator made us.
It is true, we must minister to the flesh, for without water, food, and hygiene, we shall perish. If we do not tend to our physical health, we cannot accomplish what the Holy Spirit guides us to do. We must keep in perspective, though, that if all we do is focus on ourselves, then, again, we cannot accomplish what our Creator asks of us. Our purpose, at that point, becomes that of mere existence, void of the blessings of the love by which God desires that we should live. (Matthew 22:36-40, John 13:34-35, 1 Peter 3:8-9)
As we turn away from Him, we turn away from the hope of eternal life. Instead, we only prepare ourselves for the dust to which our bodies shall return. We might ask ourselves, how is it that we so easily turn away from the opportunity to live an eternity of love so that we may concern ourselves with but a few brief moments which shall only pass to the emptiness of darkness?
Even before His sacrifice upon the cross, Jesus revealed His power over death. By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus demonstrated His power over the body; that He can not only turn back affliction and disease, but that He can turn back even the death which every body shall taste. What Jesus did was a miracle, not for Lazarus, but for the people, so that they might observe the power our Creator has over all which He made.
Those who witnessed were blessed through what they saw, but it is not His power over the body for which we should seek Him. We should seek Him because of the power of His love. It is by this love that His compassion and mercy pours out for us. It is by this love He is willing to forgive our sins and carry our soul from this world so that He might breathe eternal life into it. It is by this love that He desires that we all shall turn to Him so we may live forever with Him within His kingdom, where the blessings of love are shared by all. (Matthew 18:10-14)
Questions for further reflection:
What is the purpose of the grave?
In what ways should we care for ourselves within this world so that we may prepare for the days after the grave?
In what ways do we see the glory of God?
May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier
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