We went to Catholic church this morning to hear the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This story, among others perhaps, is one with which I have a difficult time. I think any reasonable, empirical-evidence-demanding human would agree--it's a tough story to believe. In the natural course of worldly events, people do not die, lie in a tomb for four days, and emerge as anything other than a decaying corpse and wafting stench.
This action is one of the proverbial last straws for the Pharisees. "We have to kill this guy--his love for social rejects is too frickin' powerful." I do wish I could have been a fly on the wall in so many historical moments --but not the least of which is the closed door meetings with Pontius Pilate and the Pharisees when serious negotiations were going on between powerful enemies against the common threat to their respective power. And we can gauge Pilate's power over the Pharisees because he wavers on the punishment for Jesus. His real, honest-to-God power backing of the Roman Empire against the Pharisees' regional authority is clear in the moment he displays his (at best) disfavor of or (at worst) indifference towards Jesus' execution.
It's not even clear to me how close Jesus and Lazarus were. The scriptural writers tell us that Lazarus' sister, Mary, "anointed [Jesus] with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair" Jn 11:2 (an action, incidentally, that would have had her burned at the stake 1200 years later or committed to an insane asylum in the 20th century), and that "it was her brother Lazarus who was ill." In this synopsis, it is Mary who has established conscious contact with Jesus in the past --Lazarus only by way of being related to her. And yet, Jesus loved him.
Once again, Jesus' friends are baffled by his desire to show love to someone in need. Like, "Bruh--we're not going anywhere. Lazarus may be a cool guy and all, but they're actively trying to stone you in the streets these days. Let it go, man." We are told that Thomas (the doubter, I presume?) says to the disciples, "Let us also go to die with him" Jn 11:16. No faith in the mission. C'mon lads--let's go die with him. Jesus, in deed, laying his life down for a friend who is ALREADY DEAD. Risking literally everything to seize on the opportunity to make more believers.
It's this precursor to Easter that demonstrates the true meaning of the holiday, the season: new life. Whatever it is that holds you back. Die to it. Whatever fears are present and keeping you from actually living your life. Die to them. It is only through a kind of death to what is that we can be reborn to new life. What was Lazarus' thing? Was he just a drain on the resources of his family? A non-food gatherer? Did Lazarus, like many of us, just insist on being taken care of by the people in his life? What did that guy have going for him that was worth saving? We never know what Lazarus did to earn Jesus' love and we never know what was so special about this person that Jesus made his way through murderous streets to bring him back to life. I guess it doesn't matter. God wasn't finished with him yet.
Resurrection.
New Life.
Death to fear/sin/torment/isolation/addiction/despair/fear.
Emergence into faith--light--openness--truth--hope--service--faith.
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