How many times in life have we wished for a second chance?

Today we'll be talking about someone who had one.  Lazarus. His account begins in John chapter 11 1-4

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.  It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.  Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

We learn 2 things here, Lazarus was Mary's brother, but more than that... Jesus loved him

I want to focus more on verse 4.

The sickness Jesus was referring to WAS literal death. Lazarus got a second chance to live verse 45 "many who went to visit Mary saw what Jesus did and believed him"

I'd like now to read chapter 12 verses 1-3

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.  Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

Lazarus, the very same man who physically died was able to recline with our savior less than a week before Jesus' own physical death.

It's clear he took his second chance at life and used it well.

What does this have to do with us? Everything.

Could you imagine how Lazarus must have felt eating this meal with Jesus, especially knowing the context behind this opportunity?

Ours is the same.  We partake to remember Jesus' sacrifice which saves us from spiritual death, so we can have a second chance... and many more. Also Jesus is here among us. But only in spirit until our physical death, when we will recline with Jesus for all of eternity.

Mary's sacrifice of the perfume was a sweet smelling aroma, how sweet must the aroma be of God's people as in unison we memorialize our Savior?