Unbound

“When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’” (John 11:43-44)  Our Lenten journey with Jesus is beginning to draw to its end.  On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus stops in Bethany and there we see him in both his great power and vulnerability.  He weeps at his friends’ grave just before he raises him from the dead.  There are so many facets to this story just like the others that we have encountered in John this Lent.  What stands out to me here is the way in which you and I are called to participate in Jesus’ work.  Jesus (and only Jesus) has the power to raise the dead, but he asks us to care for those to whom he has given new life. “Unbind him, and let him go.”  Even after Christ has given us new life, we may very well still bear the trappings of the grave.  How are you and your church doing with ministries of unbinding?  Addictions, a spirit of unforgiveness, a lack of generosity and broken relationships are only a few of the ways in which the newly revived may still bear the marks of death.  You and I serve the Lord who we have come to believe is the Resurrection and the Life (verse 25).  Therefore, it is with boldness that we can work in the most difficult situations because we never encounter anyone whom Christ would not give new life.  Are there people that you know who need to be unbound?  Are there places in your life wherein you still wear the grave clothes of the old life?  Be encouraged, Jesus is still calling out names even as he did Lazarus’ name!