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Day 302 or October the 29th. I am the resurrection

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and the life. Our thoughts today come from John

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chapter 11 verse 25. Jesus said to her, I am

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the resurrection and the life. The one who believes

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in me will live even though they die. Now the

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big picture surrounding this verse. As John approaches

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the last week of the earthly life of Jesus, he

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records the instance of Lazarus being raised

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by Jesus after he had been dead for four days.

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Just imagine being a witness to this. John is

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the only one who records it, and I, for one,

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am very glad he does. It just goes to show how

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many good and helpful things the Gospel writers

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could have written down when the raising of a

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dead man isn't included. He underlines how long

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Lazarus has been dead, just in case you may suspect

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that he'd only just fainted. John tells us more

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about the events in the upper room than all the

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other Gospel writers added together. It begins

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in our passage today and runs for a total of

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five chapters. It's John alone who tells us of

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Jesus washing the disciples' feet, and also many

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more details not included in the other Gospels.

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And now, today's action step. Having proved he

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has power over death by raising his friend Lazarus

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from the dead, Jesus then justifiably declares

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that he is the resurrection and the life. No

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one else could make such a claim, but ironically,

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when Jesus does, it's then that the religious

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leaders of his day determine that he must die.

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It's a grave issue, but I always find myself

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laughing at the futility of declaring death on

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a man who has just proved he has power over death.

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I'm sure you've heard people say that they don't

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believe Jesus was anything more than a superb

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teacher and example. Well, I, for one, would

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not want to be associated with any superb teacher

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who claimed to have exclusive power over death.

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I would steer well clear. Having said that, if

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Jesus does have the power of life and death at

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his command, we would be foolish to ignore him

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when he says, Come to me.