Read John 11:1-44

There are times in our life when we all have to struggle through loss and grief. Just recently, my Great Uncle Bill passed away unexpectedly. I had visited with him a couple weeks before and knew he had some health struggles, but did not think that two weeks later he would no longer be alive. How quickly things can happen; in the blink of an eye, life can take sudden and drastic turns. So, this devotion is dedicated to the memory of my Great Uncle Bill.

Who was my Uncle Bill? First and foremost, he wasn’t perfect. After all, what human being really is? He certainly made his share of mistakes and, like the rest of us, had to find peace with himself and others in the midst of those mistakes. But his life was not an easy one. As a young boy, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and went paralyzed and completely blind. Over time, his M.S. went into remission and he regained his ability to walk and regained sight in one of his eyes.

Despite his disabilities, he was a person of faith. Though he was blind in one eye, he read the Bible from front to back several times and always displayed his love for God. Like most of us, he wrestled with his faith and with his God (Genesis 32:28), and like all of us he had his strengths and his weaknesses; however, his faith carried him throughout his life.

My great Uncle was a person who loved others…even if he wasn’t always able to express it. He loved his wife, he loved his sister, he loved his nieces and nephews and even extended his love to a dear friend of my family, considering her as family too. He always told me he was proud of me, and I know that he supported me with his prayers over the years. It is hard for me to think that he is gone now, and I am so thankful that I was able to see him a couple weeks ago. I know that my presence with him meant the world to him and I know he had the peace of God in him.

I would imagine that Jesus felt the same way about his dear friend Lazarus as I do about my great Uncle. I am sure that he felt the sting of loss as sharply as I am feeling it, as sharply as any of us feel it when we lose someone we’ve grown to love and respect. Experiencing loss is never easy and whether we lose someone due to them passing away, or to them moving on to a different chapter in their lives, the loss we feel can be overwhelming.

Yet the story did not end with Lazarus in the grave; rather, Jesus called him forth out of the grave and into a new life. That is the power that God has in all of our lives…the power to resurrect us out of the graves of grief and loss we find ourselves in. There is always the hope of new life and new beginnings, the hope that God is always with us and with the ones we love. That is the hope and faith that my Uncle Bill was filled with, and it is a reality he now experiencing in its fullest.

Like Jesus, and like my great Uncle Bill, we should never lose sight of the hope we have in God. Though we find ourselves locked away in the tombs of our circumstances and in the tombs of loss and grief, we should never forget the power of the resurrection that lies within us. Like Lazarus, Christ is calling us to rise out of our tombs and experience the new life that God has in store for us. Welcome to resurrection day! Morning has broken and the loving presence of God is upon you. Rise and shine and give God the glory by living into the legacy of hope and faith.