What's wrong with Lazarus?

Help for superstitious and relic hungry people
12/26/02 Stephen S. Sawyer

Why did Jesus groan before he cried out, "Lazarus come forth"?
The most obvious is that he knew his beloved friend Lazarus would be harassed until the day he died again, a day which is not quite as famous.

More importantly Jesus groaned because he was contradicting himself. Whereas he declared, "Let the dead bury themselves." he now was struggling with the many implications of that dilemma.

It was necessary for Jesus to allow Lazarus to be dead for over three days because Jewish law did not recognize a human fully dead with the spirit departed until the third day. This also accounts for His choice to self-resurrect on the third day. By law, which controlled their thoughts and ideas, no one would question that the body was really dead. As a predecessor to the resurrection Jesus groaned because he knew that people would miss one of the great truths of the resurrection by overlapping the miracle with Lazarus. Many people still have the notion that there is a bodily resurrection. Believing in the bodily resurrection completely misses the blessing of understanding the nature of life after death. Part of the lesson to be learned by presenting himself visually after the resurrection was simply to encourage by proof that there was and is life after death. We arise in a quasi-spirit/material form that can be seen, apparently with permission, with mortal vision. That this new form reflects our inner nature accounts for the fact that Jesus was not recognized by his appearance but by his voice and nature.

This is problem number one: The misunderstanding that life after death is a bodily resurrection rather than a spiritual one.

Problem number two is the desire to "raise the dead" as part of spiritual ministry. Did Jesus really want to be part of satisfying the long pent-up desires of a sign and wonder seeking generation? It appears that Jesus wanted to give people "living water". The reality of Jesus' compassion surrendering to physical healing is apparent. The facts are clear that He knew that most people would not grow spiritually from a physical healing as demonstrated in the healing of the lepers. Only one gave glory to God. Jesus became surrounded by people who wanted to be released from the difficulties of life. That is not why He came nor was it his mission to make life easy for us. How and why Jesus chose to use the power that comes with divine prerogative is a mystery. We can certainly entertain guesses but as Jesus can understand our motives and read our thoughts we are not given the same privilege. Do you think Jesus would have performed any miracles if the people were smart enough to get the salvation message? Do you think Jesus would have performed miracles if humanity were spiritually advanced enough to understand the Kingdom of God? Do you think Jesus would have performed the miraculous if His own people weren't His enemies that required demonstrations of power? Do you think Jesus would have ever quoted scripture unless people would not validate His words without a scriptural cross-reference? Little did they know that every verse Jesus quoted was inferior to the truth that spilled from His Holy voice. Jesus even made reference to the inferior knowledge of the Old Covenant when he said that even the devil could quote scripture.

Is Jesus the Messiah? I don't think so. Every definition of the Jewish Messiah runs counter and contrary to the mission and ministry of Jesus. The Jewish Messiah had a mission entirely different than that of the Son of Man/Son of God. Leave the Jews alone and let them continue to await their Messiah and allow them their freedom of religion.

Problem number three: The desire to have relics such as burial clothing of someone associated with a miracle especially like the shroud of Turin. We have countless relics of bones, fabric, wood, stone, metal and other objects that hearken back to the days of true pagan worship where things not understood or too powerful to be conquered by man were worshipped. Lightning, fire, thunder, earthquakes and all other natural disasters are still being heralded as acts of God on a disobedient planet. As a race of beings we have worshipped mountains, trees, rocks and a variety of animals. The veneration of objects from time immemorial wreaks havoc on the joys that we should have by the existence of the Bible. Paradoxically the Bible is the premier example of elevating a material objects to the level of divine simply because in its very text it eschews the practice. The word of God is a living breathing experience that is allowed to flow through every man, woman and child who loves God with all their mind, heart, soul, strength and their neighbor as themselves. Bringing back Lazarus reinforced the need to preserve a physical proof of the existence of a miracle. I can imagine Jesus destroying every piece of material that he ever wrote on to prevent that very problem. We are living in pagan worship when we venerate objects and raising Lazarus made us even more hungry for relics.

Problem number four: Lazarus coming forth was truly a miracle that finally shut up the professional mourners. Those people who were invited to perform the weeping and wailing as part of the custom of burials at that time probably ran screaming with nary a dry diaper amongst them. Raising Lazarus from the dead was for an ignorant people the most dramatic of all the miracles. The naysayers could always say the blind man really wasn't blind or that the paralytic was faking it. The enemies of God could even suggest that the man with the withered hand was healed by the power of Satan because it was done on the Sabbath contrary to law, but no one could say that Lazarus wasn't really dead because it conformed with Jewish law. Why did Jesus need to demonstrate that power when he knew his own resurrection would be misunderstood my many for thousands of years?

How else did raising Lazarus from the dead interfere with the advancement of the Kingdom of God? How about the "New Thing" that has been prophesied for so long. Raising Lazarus from the dead is the prototype for putting old wine in a new wineskin.
Nothing could be more radically wrong than for the old Church to keep wailing and prophesying for the "New thing" to come forth! The assumed purpose of raising Lazarus is tantamount to the belief that the "New Thing" resides within the walls of the Church and that it can be summoned forth from its own grave.

Make no mistake about it; the "new things" are here. They are recognized by many but not by the powers that be who have been trained and raised for such a day as this but will not bless the new thing because they are still trying to resurrect something dead without the power of divine prerogative to "raise it".

It is time to let the dead bury themselves.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with "Churches". They offer shelter to those who would worship the living God in group fellowship. However, mortals being what they are, they invariably build and are ensnared by their own traps. Our need for safety and security coupled with our ancient instincts to be part of a tribe allows a primitive and fear based aspect of our humanity to overshadow the joys of simple membership in the Kingdom of God. We have been making rules from day one. We have been punishing those who don't follow the rules from day two. We have started new groups with new rules since day three. We have accused the first group of being wrong on day four. We have splintered group one and two into forgiving and non-forgiving groups on day five. We have created partial alliances with other groups for strength because our talents were divided on day six. We rested and thought we had done a pretty good job on day seven. By day eight a storm arose and we howled in fear praying that we would be protected from the unknown. On the ninth day somebody took credit for making the storm go away and we made him High Priest. On the tenth day the storm came back that the High Priest said that it was our fault and we now had to make sacrifices to this angry God until the storm went away. On the eleventh day we were all afraid of the High Priest because he and he alone could speak to this angry God and determine our fates. On the twelfth day the real God showed up and changed the rules. On the thirteenth day the High Priests decided that there weren't enough rules because they were no longer needed so they dismissed God and asked him to come back another day.

God is back. God never left. God is still not angry. God still has one rule. It is the same rule he delivers every time he shows up in one of his friendly children. LOVE

What is love? Love is unselfish service to others. Love is an unselfish desire to do good things for other people. Love is being and doing. God is love. Loving others is God-like. Love is a single coin. It is all you need to become everything God requires of you.
On one side the coin says: Serve Man by Loving God….On the other side it says: Serve God by Loving Man…both sides are a mirror finish. As the coin is used more and more the only thing you will be able to see is the words because the surface will be to dull and too scratched up to see your self. It is then that we are able to give the coin away to others and now become the mirror in which they clearly see themselves. As we get older and more scratched up those to whom we have given our most precious possession have asked us for another coin and we smile and tell them we are the coins and we need only to give ourselves to others…there is no longer a need for the physical token lest it become a relic and be given more value than it has. There is no spiritual archaeology that venerates objects that contain truth. There is only truth and it is very simple. The truth always is.

The current prophets are right. There is a "New Thing" happening in the body of Christ. but there is no object veneration allowed. The "New Thing" has faces and objects but only the truth is venerated. The vessel is no longer holy. The vessel never was holy. The vessel never will be holy. The vessel is any person or object that contains truth. The problem with the church structure is that it has windows and doors that close as well as open and the vast majority of kind people inside really don't welcome everyone as brothers and sisters in Christ. The rules for membership leave "different" people out. Good vessels praise the wine. Old vessels still try to convince the wine drinkers that they had something to do with its success. The old wine is bitter in taste and attitude.

The old wine has oxidized and become expensive vinegar. It is so old that it is declared a perfume, a national treasure and a holiday celebrating its ancient vintage. The celebrants raise their glasses with a toast recalling wistfully the days when the wine was new and full of health giving vitality. They also pray that God will restore the old wine and make it new again. God will not do that. God is watching as the old wineskins burst in their attempt to possess and store the new wine. God is watching the old caretakers repair the breech and sop up the new wine spilled around the world. They put the new wine, intended for the ground upon which it escaped, back into the old skins. As the soil and wine mixed together settle the stewards wait poised as if cliff side and then a mold forms on the surface. They cheer loudly and full of jubilation proclaiming the new wine grows within the old wineskin.

The new wine skins are of the earth. These new vessels no longer seek to store the wine but to drink it all and in the presence of the light of truth within them springs forth seedlings that do not belong nor could they survive in the old skins. The new thing, this new wine, is the living presence of God expressed through the lives of those who can no longer bear the smell of the musty mildewed wine. They refuse to venerate the old wine or the old wineskin.

Those given the responsibility of carrying the new wine often remain silent in the presence of those prophesying its existence. For the prophets who proclaim the new, ever do so only on the leading edge of the past. They, through no blame, remain within their limited vision just as surely as John the Baptist remained behind the veil. This time the prophets won't be stoned and give up their lives for their vision. The tragedy is this: For the first time in the history of Christianity the prophets will do the stoning. This time they will be the ones who cast the first stones at the bearers of the new thing. Through the mists of uncertainty the prophets only know the "New Thing" must arrive but they will not be given the ability to see it because they want it to be familiar and acceptable. They know it is here but they don't know it is here. They know that it is new but they don't know just how new it is. And when they discover what "it" is the olden prophets will create the first martyrs of the "New Wine".

The old prophets, while honorable and necessary, are not prepared to become that which they most despise, the killer of the prophets. It will be the mourning and repentance of the death of the "New Wine" carriers that will finally usher in the "New Thing". The old prophets will mourn so loudly that the entire world will hear. They will mourn because they fear they have destroyed the new wine and been tricked into killing that which they prophesied into being.

The "New Thing", this "New Wine" has been spilled on every country and every nation for years in part and with thanks to the bursting of old wine skins. The mighty nation of spiritual warriors world-wide is already, though unconsciously, prepared to unite in global response to the misuse of the name of God and the tribes that have falsely invoked the Creator to lend his name, as a stamp of approval, to events that have no love.

Only vessels of unselfish love can carry the wine. There have been fairy tales and legends for centuries that have understood parts and attempted to tell this same story. People listen to the voice of God as if it is a fairy tale that amuses but doesn't need to be taken seriously.

Since the earliest civilizations people have grown up with bits of "New Wine" upon which they created vast societies. The "New Wine" has been around since the first man and woman made unselfish moral choices. It lives within their vessels and is passed on from generation to generation. The "New Wine" is patient even though some of its carriers succumb to the strain of impatience. The "New Wine" can be diluted and compromised but it cannot be eliminated. It still carries with it the truth which will surface one day. Impatience to make the "New Wine" come forth delays its progress. Perhaps centuries are lost when worthy vessels of the new wine surrender to impatience.
And those who carry this golden liquid know that one day it may again become encased and bottled, enshrined as in glory to a past venerated era, becoming dormant once again and thence to be freed again even in greater glory in some distant future.

All these things and more were spoken of by Jesus of Nazareth. He has kept his promises to us. I believe it is nothing short of a miracle that Jesus entrusts the truth and future progress of the Kingdom of God to all of us and has done so for so many generations.

The new wine smells different from the old wine and is therefore not easily recognized by the "noses" of the past vintage. The new wineskin doesn't look the same as the old and is often dismissed as being a false vessel….this is particularly true since there are many false new wineskins. This reluctance keeps many honorable leaders of Christianity from tasting the "New Wine" because they are afraid. This is the great dilemma of the carriers of the ancient wine. Upon whom can they entrust their generations of invaluable experience without being seduced by false prophets. This same dilemma was revealed two thousand years ago by Jesus when he spoke about the parable of the talents. The church today needs pursue truth fearlessly and not bury it for fear of offending the Master. There is a reckoning and an interest expected by the Master. The church is nearing the time when after centuries of new wine offerings the Master will determine who has been faithful and who has been fearful.

There is no easy way to release the beauty and value of the old wine represented by its vast contributions. The old wine skin is afraid to be empty. But this is simply a figure of speech. The old wineskin has been empty for over two thousand years. Every religion, regardless of its origin, founder and god-head has been influenced by the new wine for it has been poured out on all flesh. It is no longer acceptable for the old wineskin to claim ownership of the new wine. The old wineskin knows how to recognize true wine for it too was once new and fresh and many of the stories of its power and beauty can be found in books. The problem still occurs that the guardians of the old don't like the way the new thing looks and don't want to hand over control. However they will decrease and the new wine will increase regardless of the power, money and traditions that the old wineskin controls.

It would be far better to embrace this reality and give over control lovingly like IBM did to all of the clone machine companies and let them have the freedom to grow in the presence of the old wine (IBM). IBM became even stronger when it gave itself away. Christianity should not fear losing control because they never were in control, just caretakers. The true gospel of Jesus of Nazareth slumbers within the cocoon of the old wineskin and will emerge victoriously regardless of how mankind might delay its appearance. The true gospel of Jesus of Nazareth is and has been living and growing outside the old skin for thousands of years. Many men and women have lived this revealed truth without smacking the old wineskin like a piñata. That has changed. Even the new prophets of the old order are beating the old wineskin to tatters and crying out for "Lazarus to come forth!" That is the lesson to the great prophets of today's old order. Lazarus is dead and will not come forth. The new wine will not resurrect Lazarus because the dead bury themselves.