By Ken Woodley
‘Hey, Lazarus, how’s your tomb?’ I can imagine some smart-alecky cynic asking that question.
I can’t answer for Lazarus, but my tomb’s pretty much like it always is: waiting for me to climb back inside.
Back in February, I saw that Lazarus was one of two “contestants” that day in Forward Movement’s annual Lenten Madness tournament.
The competition resembles the NCAA’s March Madness. But instead of teams there are holy individuals, some of them saints. Each night two are paired against each other. The winning vote-getter advances to the next round, the best reaching the Saintly 16, the Elate 8 and the Faithful 4.
Eventually one of them will win the ultimate prize—the Golden Halo.
“Lazarus?!?!” I scoffed, “what is Lazarus doing in this competition? He never did anything. Jesus did all the work raising him from the dead.”
My self-assured and derisive judgment of Lazarus lasted all of a few seconds when I had one of those flash insights from the Holy Spirit. Something I’d never heard preached before. Something I’d never read in any theological text.
“Oh, yes,” I knew, Lazarus definitely deserved to be in the competition. He deserved to win it.
Never having risen from the dead, how could I negatively judge Lazarus? I had no idea what it took for him to partner with Jesus in this most miraculous miracle.
But in that flash of Holy Spirit-driven insight I knew that Lazarus was responsible for 50 percent of the miracle.
Jesus, remember, stood just outside the tomb and said, “Lazarus, come out.”
We can’t see into the tomb but clearly something began to happen.
Lazarus somehow heard Jesus. And, crucially, he listened. Even though he was dead.
Most importantly, Lazarus had the faith to act.
That was his share of the miracle.
Lazarus rose from the dead.
Jesus didn’t levitate Lazarus like some sideshow magician.
Lazarus came out of the tomb.
Jesus didn’t carry or drag him out.
Lazarus listened and believed.
And what an example he became, and remains, for all of us.
We all have moments when Jesus is trying to get our attention and we think maybe we “hear” something in our soul but we’re entombed by something in the world around us, entombed by something that happened, or is happening, in our lives, and the words of Jesus go missing.
I know that has happened to me more times than I’d like to remember.
And because we don’t listen there is no way we can act on what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us.
We remain blind to the miraculous possibilities of what might have been all around us.
As blind as Bartimaeus.
The healing of Bartimaeus is another of the very few times we actually know the name of the person Jesus heals.
Bartimaeus, the blind man begging outside the gates of Jericho. Bartimaeus, who hears a voice and knows it is Jesus even though he cannot see him.
A blind man who can see the truth about Jesus far more clearly than so many of the people who have perfectly fine vision. Voices are raised against Bartimaeus. He is rebuked for calling out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.”
Bartimaeus doesn’t listen to what they are shouting at him and continues pleading with Jesus, who stops and tells those around him to call Bartimaeus to come over to him.
Bartimaeus doesn’t slowly get to his feet. He jumps up, throwing his cloak aside, and runs to Jesus, who asks him a very simple, very direct question: “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Rabbi,” Bartimaeus replies, “I want to see.”
Then, as so often happens, the pleading sufferer is healed. But it’s not Jesus acting alone. It’s a partnership. It’s teamwork.
Jesus doesn’t tell Bartimaeus, “Go, I have healed you.”
No, not at all. Jesus says, “Go, your faith has healed you.”
Bartimaeus needed to do more than just hear what Jesus said. He had to listen. And then, most important of all, Bartimaeus had to have the faith to act upon what he had heard and listened to.
Just like Lazarus.
Hearing and listening are not the same thing. Anyone who isn’t deaf can hear. Hearing is an involuntary act. We hear things all the time. Sounds and noises all around us.
Birds singing. Sirens racing down the road.
Maybe even the voice of God.
But listening requires effort and concentration.
Bartimaeus didn’t just hear Jesus.
Like Lazarus, he listened.
And so he understood. He comprehended so deeply that his faith was fully engaged, allowing his vision to be restored.
These two stories speak directly to us because there is a bit of Lazarus and Bartimaeus in each of us.
Many of us have some kind of tomb in our lives: the tomb of anxiety, the tomb of addiction, the tomb of having been abused as a child, the tomb of loneliness, the tomb of not being able to fully believe that God really loves us just the way we are.
There is an infinite variety of tombs and so we remain dead to the new life that is waiting just beyond the tomb’s darkness, out there with Jesus in the light.
Jesus waiting, wanting to get our attention, hoping we will hear, praying we will listen to him.
Waiting to be our partner. Wanting to be our teammate.
Waiting and wanting us to act.
Easter was four Sundays ago. Our own resurrection awaits each of us at the end of our lives. But there are other tombs for us to rise from during our lifetimes and Jesus is standing next to every one of them.
No matter how many times it takes us to finally leave that tomb forever.
I hear him calling to me now. It’s time for me to listen.
Maybe today, I’ll keep walking into the light with Jesus and not look back into the darkness.
Maybe some day the world will, too.
AMEN
By Ken Woodley‘Hey, Lazarus, how’s your tomb?’ I can imagine some smart-alecky cynic asking that question.
I can’t answer for Lazarus, but my tomb’s pretty much like it always is: waiting for me to climb back inside.
Back in February, I saw that Lazarus was one of two “contestants” that day in Forward Movement’s annual Lenten Madness tournament.
The competition resembles the NCAA’s March Madness. But instead of teams there are holy individuals, some of them saints. Each night two are paired against each other. The winning vote-getter advances to the next round, the best reaching the Saintly 16, the Elate 8 and the Faithful 4.
Eventually one of them will win the ultimate prize—the Golden Halo.
“Lazarus?!?!” I scoffed, “what is Lazarus doing in this competition? He never did anything. Jesus did all the work raising him from the dead.”
My self-assured and derisive judgment of Lazarus lasted all of a few seconds when I had one of those flash insights from the Holy Spirit. Something I’d never heard preached before. Something I’d never read in any theological text.
“Oh, yes,” I knew, Lazarus definitely deserved to be in the competition. He deserved to win it.
Never having risen from the dead, how could I negatively judge Lazarus? I had no idea what it took for him to partner with Jesus in this most miraculous miracle.
But in that flash of Holy Spirit-driven insight I knew that Lazarus was responsible for 50 percent of the miracle.
Jesus, remember, stood just outside the tomb and said, “Lazarus, come out.”
We can’t see into the tomb but clearly something began to happen.
Lazarus somehow heard Jesus. And, crucially, he listened. Even though he was dead.
Most importantly, Lazarus had the faith to act.
That was his share of the miracle.
Lazarus rose from the dead.
Jesus didn’t levitate Lazarus like some sideshow magician.
Lazarus came out of the tomb.
Jesus didn’t carry or drag him out.
Lazarus listened and believed.
And what an example he became, and remains, for all of us.
We all have moments when Jesus is trying to get our attention and we think maybe we “hear” something in our soul but we’re entombed by something in the world around us, entombed by something that happened, or is happening, in our lives, and the words of Jesus go missing.
I know that has happened to me more times than I’d like to remember.
And because we don’t listen there is no way we can act on what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us.
We remain blind to the miraculous possibilities of what might have been all around us.
As blind as Bartimaeus.
The healing of Bartimaeus is another of the very few times we actually know the name of the person Jesus heals.
Bartimaeus, the blind man begging outside the gates of Jericho. Bartimaeus, who hears a voice and knows it is Jesus even though he cannot see him.
A blind man who can see the truth about Jesus far more clearly than so many of the people who have perfectly fine vision. Voices are raised against Bartimaeus. He is rebuked for calling out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.”
Bartimaeus doesn’t listen to what they are shouting at him and continues pleading with Jesus, who stops and tells those around him to call Bartimaeus to come over to him.
Bartimaeus doesn’t slowly get to his feet. He jumps up, throwing his cloak aside, and runs to Jesus, who asks him a very simple, very direct question: “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Rabbi,” Bartimaeus replies, “I want to see.”
Then, as so often happens, the pleading sufferer is healed. But it’s not Jesus acting alone. It’s a partnership. It’s teamwork.
Jesus doesn’t tell Bartimaeus, “Go, I have healed you.”
No, not at all. Jesus says, “Go, your faith has healed you.”
Bartimaeus needed to do more than just hear what Jesus said. He had to listen. And then, most important of all, Bartimaeus had to have the faith to act upon what he had heard and listened to.
Just like Lazarus.
Hearing and listening are not the same thing. Anyone who isn’t deaf can hear. Hearing is an involuntary act. We hear things all the time. Sounds and noises all around us.
Birds singing. Sirens racing down the road.
Maybe even the voice of God.
But listening requires effort and concentration.
Bartimaeus didn’t just hear Jesus.
Like Lazarus, he listened.
And so he understood. He comprehended so deeply that his faith was fully engaged, allowing his vision to be restored.
These two stories speak directly to us because there is a bit of Lazarus and Bartimaeus in each of us.
Many of us have some kind of tomb in our lives: the tomb of anxiety, the tomb of addiction, the tomb of having been abused as a child, the tomb of loneliness, the tomb of not being able to fully believe that God really loves us just the way we are.
There is an infinite variety of tombs and so we remain dead to the new life that is waiting just beyond the tomb’s darkness, out there with Jesus in the light.
Jesus waiting, wanting to get our attention, hoping we will hear, praying we will listen to him.
Waiting to be our partner. Wanting to be our teammate.
Waiting and wanting us to act.
Easter was four Sundays ago. Our own resurrection awaits each of us at the end of our lives. But there are other tombs for us to rise from during our lifetimes and Jesus is standing next to every one of them.
No matter how many times it takes us to finally leave that tomb forever.
I hear him calling to me now. It’s time for me to listen.
Maybe today, I’ll keep walking into the light with Jesus and not look back into the darkness.
Maybe some day the world will, too.