Jesus Christ: The Resurrection and the Life - Eric Taylor
Just out of sight from Jerusalem’s Old City on the farther, eastern side of the Mount of Olives is a dark, open doorway set amongst ancient blocks of limestone. Follow me down the heavily weathered steps, worn down by centuries of pilgrims, and we’ll be in an antechamber – and just to our left is another, smaller entranceway, set low, through which we’ll scramble. Now we’re in a small, cold, dark and empty room. We’re in Bethany or, as el-‘Azariayeh (the local Arab name) hints - The Tomb of Lazarus.
What happened here is important to us in so many ways. It is an anticipation of the truth of Christ’s own resurrection, and it demonstrates Jesus’ command and authority over death. And we see, in the raising of Lazarus, Jesus’ twin humanity and divinity. As a man, He wept over the death of His friend, just as we have all wept over the death of a loved one. Christ’s humanity is real. And yet, in His divinity, Jesus then raised Lazarus from the dead. Such is the power of Christ!
We also remember how Martha said to Jesus ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died’ (John 11:21). When Jesus responded that Lazarus would rise again, Martha said that she knew her brother would be resurrected at the Last Day. Jesus answered with a statement that resonates down the ages, to us in Worcester Park today: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die’.
Jesus reveals here that resurrection goes so far beyond just the raising of His friend, no matter how miraculous that was - Christ Himself is life, He himself is our resurrection. And we can begin to experience this resurrection in our lives today, when we live in union with Christ. It isn’t simply a historical event that happened in that cold tomb on the Mount of Olives two millennia ago – it is an encounter that we can all have with the Living Christ. And it’s free. In Christ’s calling Lazarus out from his grave, we are reminded that when we feel spiritually dead, no one is so far buried that Christ cannot reach him or her. He does now – He calls to every one of us, just as he did to Lazarus that day: ‘Come out!’ (John 11:43). Jesus calls to us, to the resurrection of ourselves that can only be found if we follow Him. Let us never lose hope, no matter our past. Let us seek and respond to Him who is the life and the resurrection. Let us believe in Christ. And let us do that today.
