Unbind, and Let Go

Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 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 for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. 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.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 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.’ John 11:30-44

Yesterday, the longest reigning monarch passed on. She lived through incredible events, served with distinction and kept family, country and church together. She was a faithful lay woman who headed the church. She was bound by rules and custom, and took seriously the weight of her crown. The burdens of her life are now lifted, and she has loosed her bindings and is set free. We Americans, and all those in the former colonies, have a range of emotions about English royalty. But no-one can deny her faithfulness and sense of duty. She had tea with many but we all relished when she had tea with Paddington Bear. She also was very human, as we all are, yet she loved and lost in the public eye. May her life well-lived teach us all how to live.

Gracious Creator, source of all authority

you gave life and liberty to all people

and gave some power to rule over others

we thank you for the life of Elizabeth

who served you, her church, and her people well.

May we let go of the need to bind others

may we let go the prisoners and the captive

give us your heart to love fully and well

and to be those who love with your heart. Amen.