Opening Prayer:
Creator of all, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in study. Open our minds and hearts. By the power of the Holy Spirit, unite us in faith, hope, and love. Help us to be faithful to the gospel and to walk humbly with you. Grant us your peace as we grow in wisdom and understanding. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
John 11:1-45 From your perspective, what was the purpose of raising Lazarus? What does this event mean to us today?
The raising of Lazarus marked a turning point in the ministry of Jesus. This last sign was a double-edged event that brought many persons to belief but also launched the plot to kill Jesus (11:45-53). From that moment, Jesus curtailed his travel. He retreated to Ephraim (11:54), spent another week in Bethany (12:1), then headed to Jerusalem for his last days. (12:12) John highlights the way Jesus made his message known with signs—the first his changing water into wine, the last the raising of Lazarus. Jesus was life incarnate and brought life to all he encountered. Every human contact up to the point of raising Lazarus included offering persons a fuller, more wholesome, more joy-filled life, though not everyone was willing to accept it.
Romans 8:6-11 With what are we preoccupied that keeps us from fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives?
Several centuries later, Paul contends that the children of God are still in the same state as those in Ezekiel’s time, though God’s spirit remains available to bring about restoration and renewal. Paul tells the Romans that, through the vivifying power of the Holy Spirit, there is a way to a new and better life. Opening one’s mind to the Spirit of the resurrected Christ represents a new beginning, transforming all though and action from self-centered to God centered.
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Name some situations in your life or church or our society that are comparable to a valley of dry bones.
The function of prophecy at this crucial moment in Israel’s history is epitomized by this passage explaining the estranged, then mended, relationship between God and humanity. When we are lost and cut off from the land of the living, God can “open our graves” (37:13) and bring us back to life. Ezekiel’s mission was threefold: (1) the opening of the graves signified the awakening of a politically and religiously dead people to renewed national and spiritual life; (2) the covenantal clause, to “put my spirit within you” (37:14), anticipated a higher moral and spiritual life than the nation had previously possessed; (3) the promise of land, “your own soil,” provided new hope to God’s people. They would return home at last. Lent can be a time of spiritual dryness when we are called to examine our hearts, repent of the sin that has caused it, and look forward to the new vitality of Easter. God can breathe life into our spirits and move us from a “weariness in well doing” to a renewed commitment to active discipleship.
Closing Prayer
God of all consolation and compassion,
your Son comforted the grieving sisters, Martha and Mary;
your breath alone brings life to dry bones and weary souls.
Pour out your Spirit upon us, that we may face despair and death
with the hope of resurrection and faith in the One
who called Lazarus forth from the grave. Amen.