Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

November 21– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.”

—John 12:2

Lazarus is to be envied. It was good to be Martha and serve, but it was better to be Lazarus and commune. There are times for each purpose, but none of the trees of the garden yield such clusters of fruit as the vine of fellowship. To sit with Jesus, to hear his words, to mark his acts, and receive his smiles was such a privilege that it must have made Lazarus as happy as the angels. When it is our happy fortune to feast with the One we love in his banqueting hall, let us gladly cancel all other engagements.

Lazarus is, therefore, to be imitated. It would have been a strange thing if Lazarus had not been at the table where Jesus was; after all, he had been dead, and Jesus had raised him to life. For the risen one to be absent when the Lord came to his house would have been ungrateful indeed. Like Lazarus, we too were once dead and stinking in the grave of sin. But Jesus raised us to life, and now we live! Can we be content to live at a distance from him? Should we not remember him at his table where he stoops to feast with his brothers? Oh, this is cruel! It should compel us to repent and do what he has asked of us, for his least wish should be our command.

The Jews had seen Jesus cry over Lazarus, and they said, “See how much he loved him!” Hasn’t Jesus loved us, too, with an everlasting love? If it would have been rude of Lazarus to have disregarded this love, what does it say of us over whom the Savior has not only wept but bled and died?

Come, brothers, who read this text, let us return unto our heavenly Bridegroom and ask for his Spirit that we may be on terms of closer intimacy with him. And then, let us eat and drink with him tonight. [M&E]