LAZARUS

Everyone knows the story of Lazarus—and has been him at one time or another. After four days in the tomb, he emerges at the command of Christ. Yet one detail is often overlooked. Jesus raises Lazarus, but he does not remove the burial cloths. Instead, he turns to the crowd and commands them: “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Lazarus dwells in this moment.

The figure stands alive, but still wrapped in the remnants of death. Hands reach in from every direction, pulling away what once confined him. The image suggests a truth as relevant now as it was two thousand years ago: resurrection begins with God, but is always communal.

We are rarely freed alone. Healing, reconciliation, and renewal arrive through communities willing to help carry the weight, loosen the bindings, and call us back into life. In this work, Lazarus becomes a mirror of every person struggling to emerge from grief, fear, addiction, despair or the like—and of every person called to participate in the work of resurrection.

The name Lazarus means “God has helped.” In the end, that is the heart of the story. Divine help raises Lazarus from the tomb, but others are still asked to remove the grave clothes. Resurrection is a gift, but it is also work. We are called not only to receive new life, but to help one another live it.