Lazarus, come forth!

 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."  As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.  Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.  Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."  Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, "Where have you laid him?"  They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"  And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."  Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.  And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."  Now when He had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"  And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.  Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go." 

- John 11:28-44

Yesterday we read that 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."  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.  Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."  The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?"  Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?  If anyone walks int he day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.  But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."  These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."  Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."  However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.  Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.  Nevertheless let us go to him."  Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."  So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.  Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.  And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.  Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.  Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."  Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?"  She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."  As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.  Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.  Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."   We recall from yesterday's reading and commentary that while Martha, typically meeting the duties of hospitality, went out to meet Christ as He approached their home, Mary remained dutifully in the position of mourning, which was sitting inside the house and receiving other mourners.  But when the Teacher has come and is calling for her, Mary arose quickly and came to Him.

Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  My study bible remarks that Mary approaches Christ with the identical words which Martha used (see yesterday's reading; verse 21).  It notes that while Jesus engaged Martha with words, here He engages Mary with works -- the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, "Where have you laid him?"  They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"  And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"   John tells us that Jesus wept, and also that He groaned in the spirit.  These are signs of Jesus' full humanity, given to us just before this final seventh sign is revealed in the Gospel.  My study bible comments that these aspects of Jesus' behavior show that He had fully taken on human nature and was as subject to grief as any other man.  Weeping, it says, is the natural response to the tragedy of death. 

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."   Although Martha's faith had increased, culminating in her confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (yesterday's reading, above), she still has yet to understand Christ's will and His power.  The spices and oils that were used to anoint a dead body could only prevent the stench of decomposition for a short time.   Many icons of the raising of Lazarus show the mourners covering their noses, which illustrates both the decomposition of death and also that many did not believe it was possible for Christ to perform this sign.

Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.  And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."   The Gospel emphasizes the whole point of the signs and Christ's mission:  faith.  And this is faith of a specific kind, as all the signs of Christ point to the same reality:  that the Father always hears Christ, who was sent by God the Father. 

Now when He had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"  Jesus calls Lazarus to come forth out of the grave.  My study bible notes that He does so not in the name of the Father, but by His own authority.  It is an expression that makes evident to the people that while Christ has been sent by God the Father, He fully possesses divine authority in Himself. 

And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.  Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."   There is a spiritual interpretation given to this image of Lazarus who came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face wrapped with a cloth.  Many patristic commentators see it as an indication that he will need them again, that Lazarus' resurrection continues an earthly life which will end again in death.  Christ's graveclothes, on the contrary, will be left in the tomb (20:5-7).  Christ's Resurrection will transfigure human nature (unlike that of Lazarus, this seventh and final sign of the Gospel in today's reading).  Christ will never die again.  My study bible adds that this sign not only prepared the disciples to believe in the Resurrection of Christ, but also confirms the universal resurrection to come, proving that Christs has the power to fulfill the promise given to Ezekiel that all the dead will one day rise (Ezekiel 37:1-13). 

This image of Lazarus appearing and walking out of the grave, dressed in his graveclothes, has fueled imaginations of human beings for the centuries in which it has been commemorated in the Church.  It seems a frightening and strange image, and one which no doubt would provoke extreme awe and even terror if we were to truly encounter its reality.  So unforgettable it will be, as witnessed by many apparently prominent and well-respected people from Jerusalem, that it will seal the fate of Christ, who, in the following verses of the chapter, Caiaphas the high priest -- in an unwitting prophecy of Christian faith -- decides "should die for the people," so that the whole nation shall not perish (11:49-52).  The raising of Lazarus, this seventh of seven signs given in the Gospel of John, will determine that the leaders will plot to put Jesus to death.  Effectively, the fact that Christ has now given life will convince the leaders that Christ must be put to death.  That is an extraordinarily ironic pill to swallow, but one that illustrates the reality of disbelief, of human capacity for betrayal and short-sightedness, and the complete darkness of selfishness.  Consider what these leaders fail to understand about Christ, the One sent because God so loved the world, and we can then begin to consider what darkness does and is, and what selfishness is.  Yet, in the perspective the Gospel gives us on judgment, it is perfectly illustrative of the principle that we determine our own judgment basd on our own acceptance or rejection of God's love and mercy.  Let us consider that there could be no greater sign of God's love and presence with us than this seventh sign of the raising of Lazarus, life for human beings where there was death.  As stupendous as the sign is, so is the extremity of the response of the leaders, who react with the decision to put Christ to death (under the leadership of Caiaphas), supposedly to suppress and evade Roman hostility in response to the extraordinary sign by Jesus.  It affirms the wisdom of Christ, that no sign or proof on demand would have convinced those determined in their malice, envy, and hatred that He was sent for their good and out of love for them, for this is the real nature of faith.  Our response to the grace of God reveals who we are, and our capacity for living in that love.  So much depends on what we put first what we love most.  We know that there are those among the leadership in Jerusalem who are believers in Christ, and the names of those -- specifically Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea named in John's Gospel -- who will publicly make affirmation of their faith by participating in the burial of Christ (19:38-42).  Both are prominent members of the Council.  But Caiaphas, in his capacity as high priest, has other ideas -- and so is also revealed to us the importance of the love of God in leadership, as is so frequently encountered in the stories of all of the Bible (see 8:42-47).  In the image of Lazarus, and in the response to come under the leadership of Caiaphas, we are invited to consider the extraordinary power to give life -- not to prolong, nor to revive the use of an organ, but to truly give life -- and where that life comes from, what character and qualities come with it, and how we are given to know the work of our God in the world through the One who was sent to us.  We are also given a picture of response.  We may not consider our every day reality to reflect such stupendous subjects and happenings, but each day -- even in the mundane decisions of life -- we can see reflected back to us the effects of rejection or acceptance of God's grace and of God's love.  We know what it is to be loved and shown mercy and kindness, especially out of the love we learn from Christ.  And we also know full well the destructiveness of selfishness, and of malice and hatred, which we can also see around us all the time.  Let us consider, then, this seventh sign and why it has been given to us.  The giving of life itself will, perversely, as is fitting to illustrate darkness, result in the decision to end the life of Christ.  Let us consider what it is we throw away when we reject the love of Christ at work in our own lives, when faith means nothing but an impediment to what we think we stand to gain.   It is the example that cements Jesus' teaching that we must each follow Him in taking up our own crosses, for "whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 16:24-25).