SCRIPTURE - John 11:44
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
OBSERVATION
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after he’d been in the tomb four days already. When Lazarus came out of the tomb, he was alive but still covered with grave clothes and needed assistance from the others to get the grave clothes off and release him to life again.
APPLICATION
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he walked out of the tomb still covered in his grave clothes. And Jesus instructed his followers there to take the grave clothes off Lazarus so he could walk on his own. Lazarus must have looked like a “dead man walking”. He was alive – Jesus has just given him life. But he still looked like a dead man.
Sometimes, I feel like I am covered in grave clothes. I know I have a new life that Jesus gave me, but I still feel bound up by the grave clothes – the reality and consequences of my past failures. I can’t seem to go on sometimes when my past seems to rise up to haunt and entrap me. And those failings of the past seem like grave clothes binding me and keeping me from walking the walk God has called me to. What am I to do with this mess ?! How can I walk when I am bound up like this ? Jesus called on his followers to assist Lazarus to take off the grave clothes and “let him go” so he could walk and live again. How does that work in God’s kingdom ? How can I help others to shed the grave clothes of their past and allow them to walk freely in the life God called them to live. And how can I shed my own grave clothes and walk the way You want me to, Lord ? Is there a piece of this life I am missing ? Maybe my brothers and sisters in the faith are more important than I thought ? Maybe, as Paul compares us to a physical body, the other members of the body of Christ are so very much more important than I realized. We need them to help us shed the “grave clothes” – the things in our past that bind us up and keep us from walking the path God has called us to live. Maybe God is telling us we cannot live this new life without them. It is impossible to live the Christian life without my brothers and sisters walking along side and helping me shed the clothing of the grave.
There are times with I have my towel all rolled up and ready to throw it in and walk away. But I know I can’t. As Peter put it in John 6:68 “Lord, to whom shall we go?” In other words, there is no one else we can go to, no one else to lean on, no one else to worship, to follow, to give us eternal life ! We may often want to return to the grave, because walking in grave clothing is hard ! But as we learn to lean on our brothers and sisters in accountability, in fellowship and to help us shed those grave clothes of the past, we can begin to be released to live this life God has called us to here on earth.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus - Help me to walk in this new life you have given me. Help me to shed the grave clothes that may still bind me from walking fully in this life. Help me to lean on my brothers and sisters to assist in shedding the grave clothes of the past. I commit to following you, Lord. I commit to walking freely in newness of life. There is no one else, other than You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.
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