40 DAYS and 40 NIGHTS

John 12:1-8

1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

There are few passages so packed with beauty and truth as this anointing scene at Bethany. Jesus has resuscitated Lazarus, which often gets misinterpreted as resurrection. But the very fact that Jesus could do this points to “the resurrection and the life” that Jesus embodies. And let’s be clear – Lazarus will die once again. The fact that he has been brought back to life however is a threat to the established order of things. No longer can the Roman authorities threaten dissidents with death. Without death as a threat, the followers of Jesus are free to live life to the fullest.

Life to the fullest is dramatized here with a beautiful domestic scene with a family again reunited, and where the one who had no place to lay his head experiencing a home with all the fixings. Nowhere else is Jesus more “at home” than with his three beloved friends.

Where do you find home? Where do you find life in it’s fullness?