All Saints and All Souls Observed
Collect
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Reading
From John 11:32-44
“Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.””
Reflection
We get in John 11 one of the most compelling stories in the gospels. Two sisters, Mary and Martha, come to Jesus, hoping he can save their brother, his friend, Lazarus.
When he doesn’t get there in time, the sisters blame Jesus for not protecting him from death. But Jesus isn’t focused on what he was unable to do. He was focused on what he could do now: restore Lazarus to life.
I love this story because we know that feeling. We know what it is like to blame someone, Jesus or God even, for something they could have done something about.
It is also very familiar to watch them get mad at Jesus for taking his sweet time to get there, even though he couldn’t get there in time if he wanted to. Jesus was still days away when Lazarus only had hours.
That emotion that stems from anguish is intoxicating.
When we learn that a loved one has a potentially-fatal disease or begins the descent into dementia, we as the ones who love and care for them begin to experience their death long before it arrives. We begin to mourn their passing, even as they are next to us, very much alive. This is the oddest of griefs, but one all of us will experience.
Jesus, however, offers a different sort of release from this. Not a release from death itself, or from feeling pain, but from the extremeness of it. And more importantly, the confusion of it.
Jesus encourages us to live – to engage with the moment we’re in. Which means, in times of growth and happiness, we push ourselves toward gratitude and generosity. And in times of grief, we also move toward living out the moment. Not to hide from it or avoid the feelings that may feel so overwhelming, but to let them in.
The story ends with the most stunning image of the dead being brought back to life. But it doesn’t end with the transformation. It ends with an act of restoration and wholeness. Because Lazarus is wrapped up and dressed for death, not life. He needs the wrappings removed by those who love him.
“Unbind him, and let him go.”
We know Jesus’s words to Mary and Martha are words for us, too. For the living in the midst of grief. So we all might truly live.