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Glen Eyrie, Colorado Springs, Colorado
What do you picture happening in this cave two hundred years ago? Colorado Springs wasn't a city in 1814. William Jackson Palmer, on whose property this cave is located, wasn't born until 1836.
It would not surprise me that two hundred years ago a number of Native Americans explored this cave. The Utes were known to frequent Glen Eyrie and might have been curious about what was in this cave. We human creatures are a curious lot.
Yet, for many cultures, caves serve a more utilitarian purpose. It is the place where they bury their dead. That was the case for Lazarus.
"Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it." John 11:38 English Standard Version
Death had been sealed away from Mary and Martha. The stone was the barrier between life and death. John pictures Jesus standing between life and death, between Lazarus, whose body had been laid to rest in the cave, and his sisters.
What does Jesus do when he stands between life and death?
First, Jesus weeps. He knows the power of death in our lives and its ability to separate us from the ones we love. As he weeps he shares our tears at death.
Second, he raises the dead. There is no cave and no stone that separates one of his sheep from his tender embrace. Lazarus is called out of tomb, no longer to dwell in his cave of death.
One day you and I will hear the call as Lazarus did. We will hear the call to come out of our cave of death into his embrace.
Another stone has been removed, this one from Jesus' grave, and it guarantees our victory.
Join the conversation at Praying With the Eyes on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/groups/173881749421231/
It would not surprise me that two hundred years ago a number of Native Americans explored this cave. The Utes were known to frequent Glen Eyrie and might have been curious about what was in this cave. We human creatures are a curious lot.
Yet, for many cultures, caves serve a more utilitarian purpose. It is the place where they bury their dead. That was the case for Lazarus.
"Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it." John 11:38 English Standard Version
Death had been sealed away from Mary and Martha. The stone was the barrier between life and death. John pictures Jesus standing between life and death, between Lazarus, whose body had been laid to rest in the cave, and his sisters.
What does Jesus do when he stands between life and death?
First, Jesus weeps. He knows the power of death in our lives and its ability to separate us from the ones we love. As he weeps he shares our tears at death.
Second, he raises the dead. There is no cave and no stone that separates one of his sheep from his tender embrace. Lazarus is called out of tomb, no longer to dwell in his cave of death.
One day you and I will hear the call as Lazarus did. We will hear the call to come out of our cave of death into his embrace.
Another stone has been removed, this one from Jesus' grave, and it guarantees our victory.
Join the conversation at Praying With the Eyes on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/groups/173881749421231/
(Click on picture to enlarge.)
Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2013-2014 Douglas P. Brauner. ARR.
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