Near Death Experiences (John 11:30-46)
Death isn’t something we like to think about very much. It’s hard. It’s confusing. It reminds us of things we don’t like thinking about and things we don’t like feeling: that we don’t have control. That we are mortal. That our bodies will fail. That we can’t love someone enough to keep them alive. We feel pain. Loss. Helplessness. Anger. So we avoid thinking or talking about it.
And yet, when his friend Lazarus dies, Jesus doesn’t avoid it. Instead, he takes time to grieve, and to connect with those grieving around him. And he confronts it - he stands between death and Lazarus, and declares that life wins.
Because death isn’t the end of the story. We may be helpless to combat the forces of sin and death that are leveled against us, but Jesus can take each of us in his strong arms and carry us through death, into life, where no one can snatch us from his hands.
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