Called From Death

By Cal Cook

The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday is another long one! I’ve unknowingly ran over the last three Sundays and I wonder if I’ll end up doing it again? It started with Nicodemus and then the Woman at the Well, last week’s reading of the man born blind was even longer than the previous two…this Sunday’s Reading is long as well! Couple that with a long O.T. Reading and think I need to cut something…

These passages from John have been wonderful though…each speaking of some barrier separating us from God, that Jesus sets us free from. First our own arrogance and righteousness, then our own sin and what others think of us, last week we have been delivered from Spiritual Blindness by the Light of the World! This week we see the Great I Am calling us and freeing us from even death…

John 11:25-26 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. 

All so that the power of God might be seen in us…that’s what Jesus told the Disciples last week. The man had been born blind so that the power of God might be seen in him. We too are called from death to resurrection so that the power of God might be manifest in our lives…and not just once, but over and over again. While reading commentaries on this passage from John, one person wrote:

But Jesus did not raise Lazarus or us alone. He enlisted some to roll away the stone (verse 39). He commanded others to "unbind him and set him free" (verse 44). In raising Lazarus, Jesus not only restored him, but called the community around him to complete what he had begun.

Now I admit we need to be a bit cautious about this statement…especial the first sentence! The power was all Christ’s, the Glory was for God alone…yet we are called to participate. We are called to share in the work of Christ. Jesus said:

John14:12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Through the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit we are called and even commanded to participate in His work. We are to share in His ministry, rolling away the stones, calling forth and unbinding others even as we are unbound. We are to remove barriers between others and Christ, we are to call them to new life, we are to unbind the things that hold them down…yet all the power, all the Glory belongs to God and God alone.

It’s an awesome privilege, and an awesome responsibility! It’s an awesome call…that God could use someone like me…someone like you…to bring others to new life. If we could only open our eyes to the greatness that is, all around us. If we could only see beyond the impossibilities of what we can do and see the realities of what God can do! Lord open our eyes…and lead us with your call…