Christopher Bentley
“…Come forth!”
—John 11:43 (KJV)
Dear friends,
Reading today’s familiar passage in John’s Gospel—Jesus raising Lazarus from the deadrenewed my faith in the Bible as a living word. It truly reveals something new each time. I thought I’d share some reflections that surfaced for me on this reading.
Setting the miracle aside for a moment, the story really centers Jesus’s humanity. Jesus had friends! “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick”, say the sisters. We learned in yesterday’s reading that, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (11:3 & 5). They are not named as disciples, but as his dear friends. And when witnessing the grief of those he loved, “Jesus wept” (11:35). It’s the shortest verse in the English Bible, yet one of the most relatable. This makes me desire a deeper friendship with Jesus. And I take comfort knowing he is the first to grieve when there is suffering in our lives.
Now, add a miracle, and intrigue, and we have a great story! So much happens in the few verses of today’s reading, let alone the whole chapter. The raising of Lazarus is regularly used in Ignatian contemplation, the method of prayer developed by St. Ignatius in the 16th century in which the senses and imagination are used to step into a Gospel story. I’m no expert in this method but I understand why the narrative is effective for meditation. The imagery and collaboration of Jesus’s divinity and humanity is vivid.
There is great wisdom hidden in Lazarus’s tomb which calls on us to live a deeper life in Christ. In a short exercise inspired by Fr James Martin SJ, author of Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle, and in the spirit of Ignatian contemplation, I invite you to imagine yourself into the story for a moment:
In the still darkness of the tomb,
Lazarus lay bound in grave clothes.
Consider the smell and dampness.
Gauge the silence.
The sealing stone loosens.
Light separates the room.
Lazarus stirs.
Together, bound, hear His voice.
What will you leave behind in the tomb?
What can you let “die” that is keeping you bound and unfree?
Now, what will “come forth” in the light of Christ?
Friends, may the Lord unbind us and set us free.
– Christopher