Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/471



I. When  Jesus  came  to  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  "  He groaned  in  the  spirit,  and  humbled  Himself,  and  He wept." (John xi.  33.)  He  acted  in  this  manner  from  a principle  of  charity,  "to  weep  with  those  that  weepM (Rom.  xii.  15),  and  to  convince  us  that  "we  have  not  a high  priest,  who  cannot  have  compassion  on  our  infirmities. (Heb. iv.  15.)  Then  He  said  to  them,  "  Take away  the  stone;  and  lifting  up  His  eyes,"  He  addressed  a prayer  to  His  eternal  Father,  to  teach  us  that  we  ought  to take  away  every  impediment  to  our  salvation,  and  always to implore  the  divine  assistance  when  we  undertake  any serious work,  particularly  the  conversion  of  sinners.

II. When the  tombstone  was  removed,  Jesus  "  cried with  a  loud  voice:  Lazarus,  come  forth." Ponder the power and  efficiency  of  that  word,  which  even  the  dead obey. For "  presently  he  that  had  been  dead  came forth,  bound  feet  and  hands,  with  winding  bands,  and his  face  was  bound  about  with  a  napkin." This man that lay  four  days  in  his  grave  is  a  perfect  emblem  of  an inveterate  sinner,  bound  and  fettered  with  evil  habits, as so  many  winding  bands,  pressed  and  kept  down  by the  custom  of  sinning,  as  if  he  were  in  his  grave,  and finally shut  up  and  enclosed  by  hardness  of  heart,  as with  a  tombstone. Such sinners  are  almost  incorrigible; hence Christ  "cried  out  with  a  loud  voice." He daily cries out  to  such,  and  is  not  heard. Fear the  habit  of sinning,  for,  as  St.  Augustine  says,  "He  scarcely  can rise  who  is  borne  down  by  sin."

III. The Pharisees  having  heard  of  this  miraculous