(a poetic reflection on John 11:30-44)
Daily Office reading for Friday, September 9, 2022: John 11:30-44
“Unbind him, and let him go.”
I can’t even imagine
what it would be like
to suddenly awaken
from the slumber we know as death,
eyes shielded by a gauze burial cloth,
hands bound,
legs and body completely wrapped
in what anyone in Lazarus’ world
would have known as traditional burial linens.
Would I think someone made a mistake?
Would I think it was a bad dream?
Would I wonder if I had arrived on the other side?
What does it feel like to wake up to the sound of Jesus calling your name?
I also have to wonder
when the time finally came
for Lazarus to die again
if he could face it
without fear,
without anxiety,
without regret or remorse,
and with a spirit of hopefulness, anticipation, and trust.
And perhaps he heard the voice again, calling him to come to his friend Jesus.
“Unbind him, and let him go.”
Maria Evans splits her week between being a pathologist and laboratory director in Kirksville, MO, and gratefully serving in the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri , as Interim Priest at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hannibal, MO.
