John 11:38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Jesus knows he’s going to raise Lazarus from the dead, yet he appears to be deeply moved by his death. Yesterday was All Saints Sunday in the church, a day when we remember our loved ones who have gone ahead of us in death. And while I have faith that Jesus will raise them up on the last day, the grief remains and is very real. Lord thank you for the promise of resurrection. Console those of us who mourn loved ones we’ve lost. Amen.