Saint Benedict Episcopal Church

Remember Lazarus? Martha and Mary’s brother, Lazarus? A few weeks ago, we heard the story of Lazarus and how Jesus restored him to life. Think back on that story for a minute. When Jesus calls, “Lazarus, come out!”, Lazarus is restored to life and comes out of his tomb. Poor Lazarus is still wrapped in the binding cloths of the grave. I think of that old scary movie I saw when I was a child: Return of The Mummy. Have you seen it? I see Lazarus standing like that mummy, arms akimbo, head and face, arms and legs, whole body tightly wrapped in strips of white cloth. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, could hardly move, except with a weird kind of shuffle. Now, consider the disciples. There they were: open-mouthed, wide-eyed, stunned, maybe scared to death themselves. What on earth were they seeing? This man, dead for four days, was up and moving, still wrapped in the cloth! They’d seen Jesus do a lot of stuff. But this? This was…..their heads must have been spinning. And then they heard Jesus’ next words….”You go unwrap him.” WHAT? US? You must be joking! We can hardly breathe ourselves right now. Are You sure you mean us? “You go unwrap him.”

Sin, whether it’s missing the mark or outright rebellion and transgression, separates us from God. God is always with us. Without God, we can’t exist. God never leaves us. His Image, the Divine DNA, is in all of us. We can fail to experience His Presence. We can be unable to recognize His Grace and Love. Sin does that to us. We die. We die to ourselves because we cut our self off from being fully human, whole and authentically who we are created to be: children of Light. We die to others because we can’t see the Divine Image in us and in them. We cut ourselves off from an awareness of the Source of life, God. Jesus calls to all of us, to you and to me: “Come out!” Come out of your darkness and isolation. Come out of your fear. Come out of your separation. Come out of scarcity. Come out to justice, abundance, grace, life. Come out!

So, we’re all Lazarus. “Come out” Jesus calls to each one of us. But, we’re also the disciples! “You go unwrap him” Jesus tells us: You lovingly help each other get rid of old habits, confining attitudes, binding fears that keep us from moving, living, breathing, jumping for joy, doing, being. “You go unwrap him.” That’s what community is, I think: helping each other be authentic, helping each other know the forgiving and healing Love of Christ, encouraging each other in our journey. That is what our ministries are about. That’s what church is about. As we live into this Eastertide, as we emerge from our places of separation, Jesus calls us to help and support each other toward Kingdom Living. New life, abundance, joy, light await. Come out! (Want to talk about this? See Deacon Zula)