A man named Lazarus was sick ...
Word was sent to Jesus, “The one you love is sick.”
Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death.
No, it is for God’s glory 
so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
He stayed two more days where he was …
“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. 
Do you believe this?” Jesus asked.
“Yes Lord” was the reply …
Jesus, deeply moved, came to the tomb.
It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 
“Take away the stone,” he said.
“But [teacher], by this time there is a bad odour”
Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, 
you will see the glory of God?”
They took away the stone.
Jesus looked up and said, 
“Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  
I knew that you always hear me,
but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, 
that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 
“Lazarus, come out!” 
The dead man came out,
his hands and feet wrapped
with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
- John 11:1,3-4,6, 25-27, 38-44

We all have them: the sickly ones we love that we can’t allow to die -- those habitual behaviours that, no matter how much we are told drain us of life, continue to give the ego the illusion of life: self-criticism, overwork, materialism, people pleasing, self-reliance.

Jesus reminded Martha, and teaches us, that if we habitually trust ourselves to relationship with him and ultimately to the divine source of our happiness which he glorifies, whatever we must let die will give way to new life. Contemplative practice, our daily response to being loved and called, a gentle rhythm of stone rolling and coming out, creates for us new pathways to life free of what binds and blinds us. Life, if lived to the full, never dies.

Meditation

“John explicitly narrates events like the raising of Lazarus so we don’t lose the wood for the trees. He doesn’t want us to focus solely on the miracle, because for him, these events aren’t simply ‘good news’ for the particular individuals healed or raised or restored. They’re occasions which make God known; they reveal God’s nature, manifest the way God works and is. Glory has to do with reputation. So when Jesus says that Lazarus’ illness is ‘for God’s glory’, he means it’s an occasion for giving God a reputation for being a certain way, doing a certain kind of work. What is the reputation that accrues to God and to Jesus in the light of this event? How is God glorified by it? Essentially, this is a story signifying God’s freedom in relation to death, God’s power over death and God’s deathless life.

“From the outset Jesus assumes authority over [death]. He allows it to happen – not seeking to forestall Lazarus’ death as if it cannot be reversed. When he arrives at Bethany, he tells Martha: ‘Your brother will rise again’ – not in some far distant future ‘on the last day’, but through relationship with him. For ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ And when he comes to the tomb, he orders the stone rolled away, despite Martha’s objections. He prays aloud for Lazarus. This, he says, is so the crowd might come to believe that what’s about to happen is the work of God and that Jesus himself is sent from God. This is the moment of ‘glorification’; Jesus cries ‘with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”’ Out he comes, ‘his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth’, And in one of the most beautiful and tender commissioning’s in Scripture, Jesus commands them: ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

“This is a story of liberation. So much of human experience is bound by death – death has so much power in and over life. Think of all the ways the threat of death controls our choices, runs our social systems. Think of all the ways we fail to give ourselves wholeheartedly to life, because of fear of death and its precursors and proxies – such things as humiliation, shame, rejection, sickness, isolation, diminution. What Jesus is communicating, what he wants to make known, is that this sense of threat, this fear of death, is ultimately non-necessary. Through him, in him, we’re connected to a life that encompasses and transforms human death in all its forms. And this connection is what makes possible a whole new way of being alive now – unthreatened, peaceable, generous, joyful. ‘Unbind them, and let them go.’

“In the story of Lazarus, this gift of life beyond death is acted out – its power breaks through and is made visible in the material world to reveal God’s glory. It’s true that Lazarus will one day die again, his earthly existence will cease. The difference is that now he knows, Martha and Mary know, and we too may come to know that this dying is into life, and this life is without end.”
- Sarah Bachelard, Death Revitalised
 
To Practice
 

• The rituals we perform in preparation for our time of contemplative practice are helpful ways of lovingly stepping into our intention to consent to the presence and action of the Godly presence into which we come; lighting a candle, gentle movements, making a sign of the cross or gazing at an icon all help us to cross the threshold from focus on daily life into focus on deepening our Divine relationship. This week, having made a trip to your garden or while out taking a stroll, you are invited to allow your eyes to be drawn to a small stone. Once you have found a stone that catches your eye, take it home and place it in a container in your place of prayer. As you prepare for your prayer session, add to your ritual the removal of your stone from its container accompanying the action with the words “take away the stone.” Whether during prayer you have decided to hold it in your hand or place it close by, at the end of your practice, gently and with great love and care replace it, in its imperceptibly changed form, back into its container.
   
• Post your reflections on the community forum here.  Post prayer requests here. By clicking on the Subscribe link on the right-hand side of a thread, you can receive email notifications when someone posts a comment or a prayer request. 

1. Tuesday, 8:00-9:00 AM Central (Chicago) Time
2. Wednesday, 5:00-6:00 PM Central (Chicago) Time

• click on this link:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4459094698?pwd=b0hoeWR4dTRoL0NGV3pIUjB5MFVVQT09

• Open Zoom, click-on "join meeting," and enter meeting ID 445 909 4698. When prompted for a passcode, use COL.