John
W. Dixon, Jr., Art
as a Means of Thinking and of Grace
As is common throughout the Bible, the Gospel account of the raising
of Lazarus is a masterpiece of compressed, concentrated narration in
words.
Now
Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where
Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling
her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing
that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
Then
Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying
to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her
also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; and he said,
"Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come
and see."
Jesus
wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of
them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have
kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came
to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
Jesus
said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead
man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for
he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not
tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
So
they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father,
I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou hearest me always,
but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they
may believe that thou didst send me."
When
he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out."
The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his
face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and
let him go."
