New Year’s feels so long ago.  I was thinking the other day how we are still in January, the first month of a brand new year.  Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the “new” has already worn off.  We know it’s inevitable, this fading of excitement.  Whether it happens within the same 30 days or months following, eventually the bright light of anticipation and hope for promises and resolutions starts to dim.

Regardless of how I feel though, the Truth of new and more is still there, waking me every morning and wrapping me in the dawn of mercy I don’t deserve.

And I can’t get the story of Lazarus out of my head.

John 11:17, 21-26, 38-43 NIV

vs. 17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

vs. 21-26 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus,” if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”  Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the day.”  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (italics mine)

vs. 38-43 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.  It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.  “Take away the stone,” he said.  “But Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days.”  The Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone.  Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.  Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Resurrection in Greek is “anastasis,” meaning a raising up, or rising.  Literally, “to cause to stand up on one’s feet again.”  (Strong’s)

I have this mental picture of Lazarus walking out of the tomb…I see him dressed like a mummy, arms outstretched like something out of a science fiction film.  Can’t you almost hear the gasps of the crowd?  Imagine: A man dead and buried for FOUR DAYS literally walks out of his grave with new life and new breath.  A man who has both tasted death and (I assume) the glory of Heaven, now walking and talking with his Savior as if the “end” never took place.

I think it’s hard to associate with stories such as these…it is for me anyway.  It seems like Bible-time and present-time are so far away from each other.  And yet, isn’t this the same Jesus?  Isn’t this what Jesus does for us, giving us new life and new breath?  Isn’t this the same Jesus that raises us up and places us back on our feet again?  Only he has the power to overcome the dead and buried.

Our sin gave us a death sentence, but he gave us pardon and freedom instead.  Grace unlocked our shackles and removed our chains, giving us a robe of righteousness in exchange.

Maybe we put old dreams and old hopes to rest long ago, certain they no longer possessed any form of life.  And Jesus, in his resurrection power, brings the refreshment of his presence.  And we can be certain the redemptive work isn’t finished and we can be certain He is enough in the meantime.

Or perhaps, there are old wounds….wounds that never really healed.  Scars seem to stretch the length of our soul, and decay has robbed us of our joy.  These wounds lie in the deepest crevices of our hearts, unseen to everyone but the great Healer.  But healing is surely found.  It’s found in his nail-pierced hands and in the stripes he bore on his back.  He endured the weight of injustice, sickness and pain.  All so that we wouldn’t have to.  He is faithful to put back together all that has been torn apart.

So, yes.  It is the same Jesus, my friends.  It’s the same Jesus that raised Lazarus from the dead.  It’s the same Jesus that defeated his own death and rolled away his own stone.  It’s the same Jesus that calls out to you and me and says, “Take off the grave clothes.”   

There is new life and new breath for us here.  May we live it.  May we breathe it.