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| Image by Hindol Bhattacharya |
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A Greeting
It is you who light my lamp;
the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
(Psalm 18:28)
A Reading
When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man
have kept this man from dying?’
(John 11:34-37)
Music
Meditative Verse
The unfolding of your words gives light.
(Psalm 119:130)
A Prayer
Quiet and Gentle God, allow your stories to seep into us, stories that show your love enacted by ordinary people. Be with ordinary people, who make a commitment to be loyal to you and to each other, so that through them blessings overflow into the lives of all who once were empty.
- Pastor Steve Hoffard for Lutherans Connect
Verse for the Day
For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling,
so that I may walk before God in the light of life.
(Psalm 56:13)
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In today’s brief reading, Jesus has arrived in Bethany to find Lazarus has died. The sisters have expressed their disappointment that he did not come sooner (see Day 2) and Jesus is moved. This part of the chapter almost distracts us from the miracle of the raising of Lazarus with its intense emotions in all who are present. Mary weeps, the mourners are weeping, and Jesus weeps. The writer of the gospel has distinguished the word “dakyro” (weep) for Jesus from another more common word that means to lament and mourn. Jesus is not actually mourning, but crying in empathic response to the women. He knows that he will raise Lazarus, but in this moment he has come face to face with the pain he has caused. He is living in the crossways of the human Jesus and the divine Jesus. He is experiencing what we all do when we feel we have done something hard for the right reason that deeply disappoints another, and he knows also that the journey to the Cross is beginning. The chapter is drenched in words of love and the pain of human disappointment. But it is only from this very dark place where love and grief are inextricably woven that real transformation can unfold. Seeing Jesus weep, the Jewish mourners remark on how much he loves Lazarus. The word used is ‘agapao’ which is a love that is both spiritual and tender, a deep caring. The same word is used in verse 5 when we’re told “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus”. Sometimes the most difficult choices we have to make are with people we love the most. But coming together at a table can be a place where those emotions can begin healing again. Whatever anger and frustration and sadness and regret the four friends have experienced that day, they will now gather and break bread together. What are some emotions you are feeling or anticipating as you prepare to gather with those you love? How can you invite Jesus to hold them with you? The love Jesus has for each of us is the same as the love he has for his friends — because we are the friends Jesus laid down his life for. The transformative power of God’s love lives in the risen Jesus that fills us with love every day. How can that love uphold you as you navigate the highs and lows of the coming days?
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LC† Gathered at the Table is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto,
supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
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