Friday, October 30, 2015

Epicedium (John 11.1-44)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “epicedium.”  Some of the best parts of the Bible are when Jesus totally throws people off.  One of the great stories that I remember hearing early on in my faith journey was that of Lazarus.  Here it is, this guy dies and everybody knows that there is absolutely no way he could be anything but dead.  Jesus comes along, and turns the situation into something miraculous, and of course uses it for God’s glory.


Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then 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 to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” ~Jn. 11:40-44

My question is: what kind of faith do you have in God?  It seems that very few people believed Jesus could do what he was about to do in this situation.  But, can you blame them?  I mean, they were singing the ritualistic epicedium, and all of a sudden Jesus comes and breaks up the solemn gathering to let them know that Lazarus will rise again.  What a great story.  My prayer is that you never count God out of the equation.  If we remain faithful to him, he will continue to show us miraculous signs even today.  Take some time to ask God to do such things in your life.

Praying for you,


MO

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