Lent with Lazarus ~ Week 2

 

We are continuing this week with the words of John 11:1-44.  This is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  Today, I encourage you to read a different version of the Biblical narrative than you did last week.  When we engage various translations, the word choices can evoke and provoke different reactions or responses.  Reading another translation slows you down as you compare the different ways the story is told.   I encourage you to read slowly, savoring each syllable of the passage below.  I pray you will open your sacred imagination to find yourself standing in the narrative as a participant.  You can name how the  Gospel story speaks to your story.  Name, notice, and pray your insights.  Name, notice, and pray your questions.  Name, notice, and pray your emotions.  Name, notice, and pray which character you are connecting with…and why that might be.  For today, slowly read this version of the story from the Voice translation:

 

There was a certain man who was very ill. He was known as Lazarus from Bethany, which is the hometown of Mary and her sister Martha. ² Mary did a beautiful thing for Jesus. She anointed the Lord with a pleasant-smelling oil and wiped His feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus became deathly ill, ³ so the sisters immediately sent a message to Jesus which said, “Lord, the one You love is very ill.” ⁴ Jesus heard the message.

Jesus: His sickness will not end in his death but will bring great glory to God. As these events unfold, the Son of God will be exalted.

⁵ Jesus dearly loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. ⁶ However, after receiving this news, He waited two more days where He was.

Jesus (speaking to the disciples): ⁷ It is time to return to Judea.

Disciples: ⁸ Teacher, the last time You were there, some Jews attempted to execute You by crushing You with stones. Why would You go back?

Jesus: ⁹ There are 12 hours of daylight, correct? If anyone walks in the day, that person does not stumble because he or she sees the light of the world. ¹⁰ If anyone walks at night, he will trip and fall because he does not have the light within. ¹¹ (Jesus briefly pauses.) Our friend Lazarus has gone to sleep, so I will go to awaken him.

Disciples: ¹² Lord, if he is sleeping, then he will be all right.

¹³ Jesus used “sleep” as a metaphor for death, but the disciples took Him literally and did not understand. ¹⁴ Then Jesus spoke plainly.

Jesus: Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and I am grateful for your sakes that I was not there when he died. Now you will see and believe. Gather yourselves, and let’s go to him.

Thomas, the Twin (to the disciples): ¹⁶ Let’s go so we can die with Him.

^17-18 As Jesus was approaching Bethany (which is about two miles east of Jerusalem), He heard that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days. ¹⁹ Now many people had come to comfort Mary and Martha as they mourned the loss of their brother. ²⁰ Martha went to meet Jesus when word arrived that He was approaching Bethany, but Mary stayed behind at the house.

Martha: ²¹ Lord, if You had been with us, my brother would not have died. ²² Even so I still believe that anything You ask of God will be done.

Jesus: ²³ Your brother will rise to life.

Martha: ²⁴ I know. He will rise again when everyone is resurrected on the last day.

Jesus: ²⁵ I am the resurrection and the source of all life; those who believe in Me will live even in death. ²⁶ Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never truly die. Do you believe this?

Martha: ²⁷ Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Anointed, the Liberating King, God’s own Son who we have heard is coming into the world.

²⁸ After this Martha ran home to Mary.

Martha (whispering to Mary): Come with me. The Teacher is here, and He has asked for you.

²⁹ Mary did not waste a minute. She got up and went ³⁰ to the same spot where Martha had found Jesus outside the village. ³¹ The people gathered in her home offering support and comfort assumed she was going back to the tomb to cry and mourn, so they followed her. ³² Mary approached Jesus, saw Him, and fell at His feet.

Mary: Lord, if only You had been here, my brother would still be alive.

³³ When Jesus saw Mary’s profound grief and the moaning and weeping of her companions, He was deeply moved by their pain in His spirit and was intensely troubled.

Jesus: ³⁴ Where have you laid his body?

Jews: Come and see, Lord.

³⁵ As they walked, Jesus wept; ³⁶ and everyone noticed how much Jesus must have loved Lazarus. ³⁷ But others were skeptical.

Others: If this man can give sight to the blind, He could have kept him from dying.

They are asking, if Jesus loves Lazarus so much, why didn’t He get here much sooner?

³⁸ Then Jesus, who was intensely troubled by all of this, approached the tomb—a small cave covered by a massive stone.

Jesus: ³⁹ Remove the stone.

Martha: Lord, he has been dead four days; the stench will be unbearable.

Jesus: ⁴⁰ Remember, I told you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.

⁴¹ They removed the stone, and Jesus lifted His eyes toward heaven.

Jesus: Father, I am grateful that You have heard Me. ⁴² I know that You are always listening, but I proclaim it loudly so that everyone here will believe You have sent Me.

⁴³ After these words, He called out in a thunderous voice.

Jesus: Lazarus, come out!

⁴⁴ Then, the man who was dead walked out of his tomb bound from head to toe in a burial shroud.

Jesus: Untie him, and let him go.

 

A couple of thoughts today:

One, I love how the Voice translation makes this story into a script for a play.  You can image actors and actresses embodying each role.  Go back, re-read, using different voices.  For example, in verse 16, Thomas, the Twin says, “Let’s go so we can die with Him.”  You could read that with the voice of Eeyore, or you could read this with confidence, or with a bit of fear caught in the back of your throat.  Second, I encourage you to pay attention to the fierce faithful women: Mary and Martha in this passage.  March is Women’s History Month and this week I will share more about Mary and Martha.  For today, enter playfully into this telling of Lazarus’ story, let the words wash over you.

 

Prayer: God, untie us during this season of Lent from the “shoulds” and the “have tos” and all the demands/decrees we put on ourselves.  Help us pay attention to the stories we tell ourselves about our lives.  Do we believe that our story is a drama or comedy or tragedy?  As we open our sacred imaginations to Lazarus help us find ourselves and You in these words.  Amen.