43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Not long ago a person came to visit me who is a Christian and has been for many, many years but who still nevertheless deals with the problems of substance abuse and addiction. In our conversation, it was obvious that the standard Sunday morning church message was of no help because most of the sermons this person was hearing were about the need to get saved and go to heaven. This person was already saved and going to heaven. But this person was also still in a world of hell.
Today's Lesson is the raising of Lazarus. Standing at the tomb, Jesus says, "Lazarus come out." But it is not Lazarus who comes out. The Bible says that it is "the man who died" who came out of the tomb. Lazarus was still buried underneath the garments of death. He was no longer in the grave, but he was still dead.
"Unbind him," Jesus says, "and let him go."
We can be saved from here until when the cows come home. But as long as we are still trapped in the garments of death, we are not yet alive and not yet the people Christ is calling us to become.
During the Baptismal Rite, just as the candidate is lowered beneath the waters, the minister proclaims that we have been "buried in sin and raised to new life in Christ." That new life is available here and now in this world. It is the power of God to raise us to this new life and the power of God to set us free.
And we can be free indeed.
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