4th March 2022
Deader than a dodo.
So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead…”
John 11:14 (NIV)
If you are lucky enough to travel to the island of Mauritius, you can hunt high and low but you will not find any one metre high, 10-17 kg flightless birds, known as the dodo.
Thanks, however, to the latest gene editing technology, plans are afoot to resurrect the currently extinct species. If American scientist Ben Novak and his colleagues have their way, creatures like the dodo and the woolly mammoth could one day be brought back to life.1
In the Bible, there is an astonishing resurrection account. Jesus’ very good friend Lazarus falls sick and dies (John 11:14). Despite being sent for by Lazarus’ sisters, instead of hurrying to help, Jesus stays where he is for two days (v. 6). So by the time he finally gets to their home in Bethany, Lazarus has been dead and buried for four days (v. 17).
Why did Jesus delay? As a Jew, he knew that the Jewish understanding of death was that the soul hovered over the body, according to one midrashic tradition, for three days. So after four days, Lazarus’s body was decomposing (v. 39). Completely dead. Deader than a dodo. Only God could resurrect someone in that sorry state and that was what Jesus wanted to prove: that he was the Messiah, the Anointed One so that his disciples and all the other onlookers might believe (vv. 15, 42).
So Jesus stood before the tomb, had the stone removed and then ‘called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out…’ (vv. 43-44).
When Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega calls, the dead respond. How much more should we who are still alive answer his calling?
Prayer
Almighty Father, thank you for sending Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life, who died that all may live. As it says in Psalm 22:29, ‘All who go down to the dust will kneel before him’, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Study by Peter Mill
1 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazine/the-mammoth-cometh.html
About the writer:
Peter Mill is a Minister in Grace Communion International and Regional Pastor for Scotland, Ireland and Northern England
Local congregation:
GCI, Edinburgh
Gilmerton New Church
Ravenscroft Street
Edinburgh
EH17 8QJ
Meeting time:
Saturday 11:00 am
Local congregational contact:
Peter Mill
Email: edinburgh@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church