Grave Clothes…
“And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” John 11:44
We see that Mary (the same Mary who had anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair), and her sister Martha, sent a message to Jesus saying that the one you love (their brother Lazarus) was very sick. The Bible says the two sisters waited anxiously for Jesus to come and heal their brother, but Jesus stays two days longer until he knows Lazarus has died because “Jesus is the Resurrection” and He knows He will raise Lazarus from the grave! After all, “Lazarus is just sleeping,” Jesus says. When they all arrive, Lazarus had already been dead four days and he was beginning to stink! Jesus goes to the tomb with his disciples along with everyone else and calls loudly, “Lazarus, come forth!” “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes.” We can be “alive” and still be “dead,” bound with “grave clothes.” Some people are in bondage to their past… a bad experience, an alcoholic father, a mother who abandoned them, or a husband who was unfaithful. These things “keep us in grave clothes.” We cannot be happy; we are despondent; we want people to feel sorry for us. But, no one can come near “the Resurrection” with grave clothes on! We get “loose” from the past and from those things, which make us unhappy! Today, we need to “shake off the grave clothes,” before we start to “stink!” Jesus wants to clothe us with “the joy of the Lord!” Blessings! Sherry