My heart sank when I realized what the Gospel reading was for this week. This story about Jesus bringing Lazarus (his friend), back from the dead; I have never liked it.
Jesus, kind of shakes things up a bit. Would we have learned as much about Jesus, had he done every miracle in the same way?
When I hear this story, I am reminded of one of my close friends who about 25 years ago had cancer. I spent a lot of time with her and her family during her treatments and illness and I prayed. Her last Christmas was a big deal; loads of presents for the kids, loads of fun and then in late January, at the age of 42 she passed away, leaving behind two young children.
So… If Jesus could bring his friend back, why not mine?
I know… I know… It doesn’t work that way, but I am sure I am not the only person who sometimes wishes that it did.
Well, the internet comes to the rescue once again. I looked this passage up, to see if maybe someone could tell me that it wasn’t really about Jesus bringing back someone from the dead, but really meant something completely different; like a special message hidden in that scripture reading somewhere for an inquiring mind to find. And guess what I found, turns out, according to what I read, that was the message after all. He really did perform that miracle and I know it was not just because Lazarus was his friend but it was nice timing anyway.
We all know that sometimes there are hidden messages in the scripture readings and Jesus doesn’t always just hand over the message very freely. It is for us to ‘figure it out’ and sometimes it takes a lot of time to ‘figure it out’ and when we finally understand what he is saying someone comes along and gives you another possibility. And we start all over again. Keeps us guessing, keeps our minds sharp and guess what? It turns out the Bible can be fun. Trying to see how many different messages God is sending us with the scripture readings.
Back to hidden messages…
Last week the Gospel reading, although very long, contained a part about mud being put on the blind man’s eyes. Why didn’t he, like in the past, just said, “you can see”.
Another time, Jesus cleanses a Leper but tells him to go to the priest and tell him what had happened.
Jesus, kind of shakes things up a bit. Would we have learned as much about Jesus, had he done every miracle in the same way? Sometimes we and the characters in the story, need it to be deeper, more about them so it is seen who Jesus truly is.
Let’s go back to the mud and the blind man. For a blind person in particular, their other senses are extra important. They need to feel with their hands and body, to sense things where most of us can just look and see. So maybe Jesus, instead of just saying the words, ‘you can see’, wanted this man to ‘feel’ what was happening. The feel of the mud, he would have understood and cleaning it off as well, then he may have been able to explain what had happened a bit better. (but then again, it sure took a lot of explaining).
When Jesus sent the leper back to the priest, it was so that the priest could attest to the fact that the man was now free from leprosy, which I think may have been a more reliable source for most to believe.
So now back to Lazarus, who unlike other situations, he took time to get to home of Lazarus and got there way too late to save him from death. He arrived 4 days after, certainly not because he just couldn’t be bothered to get there on time, but instead it was to prove a point. That he truly was sent from God.
Jesus had been to the home of Lazarus before and spent time with them. They understood a bit about who Jesus was, but it was time for them and others who would have been gathered with the family, to truly understand who he was and what that meant.
Once Lazarus steps out, Jesus asked that Lazarus be unbound of the clothes they had buried him in. I took this as, when we strip off the layers, like taking the layers from an onion, we find our true selves. We are more alive. It allows us to reach out to others more freely without that layer of doubt. We are no longer bound by layers of stuff.
If we throw off our blankets of comfort, reach out, step out of comfort zones, we call allow ourselves to believe in the true power of the spirit and be a voice to it as well.
Thanks be to God.