Friday after Exaudi

Scripture: St. John 11:28-44 (NKJV)

11:28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

Devotion

Twice, the Lord groans within Himself. After the confession of Martha, there is the seeming weakness of Mary, and the doubts which trouble the crowd. Mary does not speak of the resurrection; rather, there is almost resentment in her words: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Now that Lazarus is dead, she seems to think only of that circumstance as one from which not even Jesus could deliver her brother. And the crowd seems to be filled with nothing but doubt: “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” Similar words would be heard when the Lord was on the cross: “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.” It is little wonder that the Lord groaned within Himself.

The raising of Lazarus is of a markedly different character from that of Jairus’ daughter, and the son of the widow of Nain: neither of them had been buried. But the Lord had waited before coming to Bethany, so that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. All understood what it meant for a man to have rested in his tomb for four days, and it horrified them.

The Lord declared, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” The Word—“Lazarus, come forth!”—was fruitful, and foreshadows that glorious resurrection which is to come, when the Lord will call forth His Church from our graves to dwell with Him forever.

We pray: Almighty, Everlasting God, make us to have always a devout will toward Thee, and to serve Thy Majesty with a pure heart; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.