wordsout by godfrey rust
The sailing of the ark  < 33 of 45



33

The Bible says Jesus loved Lazarus so much
that, hearing he was ill, he stayed away

just long enough for him to die. The sisters'
grief turned to anger and confusion, knowing

that it need not have been so—Mary
fell at his feet with a sullen

ignorant rebuke: "Lord, if you had been here...”
And we are Mary. Her four days' despair

has been drawn out in us for two millennia,
the word we sent remains unanswered while

those that are loved go to their certain
deaths—he will come again

when it all seems much too late, shouting
"Come out" to a bound and stinking world.


The story of the raising of Lazarus is told in John 11.

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