John 11:1–44
Lent begins in a graveyard. In John 11, Lazarus has been dead four days. The grief is real. The loss is heavy. Martha names her disappointment. Mary weeps. Jesus himself weeps. There is no rush past sorrow in this story.
And then, in a voice that echoes through stone and silence, Jesus calls: “Lazarus, come out.” A miracle happens. But the miracle is not finished.
Lazarus emerges – alive – but still wrapped in burial cloths. His hands are bound. His face is covered. Resurrection has begun, but he cannot yet move freely. And then Jesus turns to the crowd and says :
“Unbind him, and let him go.”
Jesus raises Lazarus. The community removes the grave clothes. At the beginning of Lent, this matters.
We often think of resurrection as something God does alone: dramatic, sudden, complete. But John 11 reminds us that new life can arrive tangled. Healing can begin while we are still wrapped in fear, shame, grief, or old stories about who we are.
Sometimes we step into new life, and still can’t fully move. And that’s where the community comes in.
Lent is not only a season of personal reflection; it is a season of shared responsibility. We are called not just to seek our own renewal, but to help loosen what binds one another. To notice where someone is trying to step forward but feels restricted. To gently unwrap the layers of isolation, judgment, or despair.
We cannot raise each other from the dead. But we can help remove the bindings in which we are often wrapped.
We do this through listening, through forgiveness, through creating spaces where honesty is safe, through refusing to define people by their worst moment, through staying when things are messy. Resurrection is rarely tidy.
John 11 also reminds us that Jesus does not avoid grief. He stands in it. He weeps. He feels the weight of it. Lent gives us permission to do the same. We don’t skip to Easter. We sit in the reality of loss, trusting that even here, Christ is at work.
And when new life begins – even quietly – we become people who help make freedom possible.
This week, perhaps the question is not only, “Where do I need resurrection?” but also, “Whose grave clothes might I help loosen?” Because sometimes the holiest thing we can do is help someone else walk freely into the life God has already begun in them.
Take some time this week to sit with John 11:1-44, and reflect on the following questions:
- Where might you still feel wrapped in “grave clothes”: fear, regret, grief, or old labels?
- Who has helped unbind you in the past?
- How might you gently help create freedom for someone else this Lent?
Let’s pray:
Jesus, you call us out of what entombs us and into life we cannot create on our own. Give us courage to step into the light even when we still feel bound. Make us a community that helps one another live free. AMEN
