Be Astonished
Pastor Garrett said something interesting in his sermon yesterday morning: that the miracle stories in the Bible should elicit astonishment in us -- and that astonishment is a combination of belief and disbelief. If we believe it easily, then it's not really astonishing. The response we should expect from ourselves and others is not , "Well, of course," but "Wow . . ." Which is the response I have to the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Wow. This may be the pinnacle of the miracle stories of Jesus, right? Bringing a man back to life. It had to be an amazing thing to witness! "I can't believe what I'm seeing . . . but I'm seeing it, so I have to believe it." One detail in that story that stuck out to me recently is that Lazarus came out of the grave still wrapped up in his grave clothes. Jesus had to tell people to take them off of him. Right now, in the midst of Eastertide, that little detail reminds me of my butterfly lessons. If you...