Come Forth!

“Jesus 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, [Mary and Martha]‘Loose him, and let him go.’” John 11:43-44.

There have been times in my life when a resurrection was badly needed. Life presented a tomb through its circumstances and I wrapped myself in graveclothes. One strip of linen that bound me was being judgmental towards others. Another strip that kept my hands from moving was the belief that I could be a hero for others. The binding around my ankles was wrapped with self-focus and a lack of setting boundaries when helping others. Thankfully, God will never allow any of His children to stay bound and dead in their self-made tombs. He will call for a resurrection and we must do our part to ‘come forth!’ Nobody is going to come in and get us and carry us out of the tomb. It is our responsibility to take that first step in faith even if we are still bound. We either believe God for whom He says He is or we do not. Even Jesus did not go into Lazarus’ tomb to carry Him out, but simply commanded him to take the first step. Our expectation that others will rescue us is as faulty as believing a drowning man can be saved by a person who cannot swim.  When Christ calls, we are each responsible for our own faith and responses to God.

Each session of Griefshare, I am amazed at the courage and strength these people possess to come forth out of their tombs of sadness and despair. They respond to the promptings of God to walk through that door at the church and present their graveclothes for unbinding. Through 13 weeks one strip of anger is removed one week, while another strip of guilt is removed another week. They respond to the desire to be resurrected in joy, healing and life when life seems to be cold and cruel. Although they are also bound, they tenderly reach out to help their fellow tomb dweller unwrap a strip through compassion. They wrap their arms around each other and peel back a strip of hopelessness. As they reach out to ‘loose’ each other, I see their own strips of linen fall away and drop to the floor.

The times I see the unwinding of grief in its purest form is when the person is reaching out to another allowing the Holy Spirit to do its work. They do not keep their eyes focused on their own graveclothes, but rather reach out their arms as Jesus instructed and ‘Loose each other and let each other go.’ We must respond to the pain of others to move us out of our own selfish focus. I love what Jerry Goebel says about our passage of Scripture as stated in Lazarus Awakening. ‘The work of Jesus is to bring life; the work of the congregation is to unbind people from the trappings of death…Unfortunately, most of us would rather observe a resurrection than actually participate in one.’

If Mr. Goebel would come to our Griefshare class on any given Sunday, he would witness this passage in its purest form.