January, 2, 2010
Our God brings the dead back to life. Louie Giglio highlights the spaces in our lives that God can revitalize through the story of Lazarus.
Scripture References
1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)
3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4When he heard this, 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.”
5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,
7and then he said to his disciples,
“Let us go back to Judea.”
8“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.
10
It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11After he had said this, he went on to tell them,
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”
13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14So then he told them plainly,
“Lazarus is dead,
15
and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
18Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,
19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.
20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25Jesus said to her,
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
26
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.”
29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
34
“Where have you laid him?”
he asked.“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39
“Take away the stone,”
he said.“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40Then Jesus said,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said,
“Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42
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.”
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
44The 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.”
45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
8Yes,
Lord
, walking in the way of your laws,we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
1Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
2Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.
3Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,
5“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”
6He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7
“Leave her alone,”
Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.
8
You will always have the poor among you,
but you will not always have me.”
9Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
10So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
11for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.
12The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
13They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
16At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.
18Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.
19So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival.
21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”
22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23Jesus replied,
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
25
Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26
Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
28
Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
Louie Giglio
Louie Giglio is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, comprised of Passion Conferences, Passion City Church, Passion Publishing and sixstepsrecords, and the founder of Passion Institute.