Death and Resurrection

Readings:
I Kings 17
John 11:1-44

Focus:
John 11:25-26a:"Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever has faith in me shall live, even though he dies; and no one who lives and has faith in me shall ever die.'"

It was through Jesus' death that the punishment for our sins was laid on him instead of us, and it was through his resurrection from the dead that God's power and victory over death were shown. But beforehand these things were also shown in prefiguring events pointing to Jesus' ultimate death and resurrection. When Elijah stays with the widow and her son, the boy becomes ill and dies, but Elijah prays and God raises him back from the dead. And when Jesus' friend Lazarus dies, Jesus comes and raises him back from the dead. These things foreshadow Jesus' own resurrection. Jesus is so moved by the death of Lazarus and the grief of his family that he weeps. God truly loves us and cares about our sorrows. That is why he provided Jesus' death instead of ours, so that we don't have to take the punishment for our sin; if we have faith in him, we can live even though we die, and if we live and have faith in him, we shall never die.