"And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." John 11: 44.
A man's resurrection does not accomplish everything. Lazarus had received the new life, but he retained the relics of the old corruption; he rose from the dead bound with the graveclothes. The command, "Lazarus, come forth!" had to be followed by another mandate, ''Loose him, and let him go!" It is ever so. When we are lifted into the life of Christ we present at first a most incongruous spectacle. We are like Nebuchadnezzar's image - one part gold, the other clay. We profess to be risen from the dead, and yet we show traces of the sepulchre. Old habits linger; old weaknesses remain. So far as clothing is concerned, there is at first no difference between the risen Lazarus and the dead Lazarus; the difference is all within. But that is an enormous difference. You and I may meet on one landing of a stair. Outwardly we are on the same level - one height above the ground. But our intentions are opposite; I am coming down the stair; you are going up. Mine is a movement toward the earth; yours is a resurrection movement. So was it with Lazarus. He was on a level with the past in point of apparel. Measuring by the eye you might have said, "Judas seems as good as he." But Judas was putting on his graveclothes; Lazarus was about to take his off; the one was coming down, the other was going up, the stair.
'My brother, do not measure thyself by thy garments! Thy garments may be of earth long after thy life has come from heaven. Be not dismayed that when thou hast crossed the Red Sea, when thou hast heard the sound of the timbrel, when thou hast listened to the triumph of Miriam's song, thou hast not left Egypt all behind! Be not dismayed that beyond the sea there lies, not the immediate Canaan, but the dry, parched land of the desert! Be not dismayed that on thy walk to the New Jerusalem thou art met by the unhealed lepers of thy heart! Though old tempers rise, though old jealousies crop up, though old pride reappear, though moments of old doubt return, say not that thy faith is vain! Knowest thou not that the enemy lingers in the suburbs after the city is taken! Is it not written, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light!" Thy light is the last thing to be given; it is to follow thy waking, to follow thy rising. When thou risest from the grave, hand and foot and eye are still bound; thou canst not run, thou canst not work, thou canst not see. God's first gift to thee is the power to feel, yea, to feel pain; thy new like thine old birth is but a child's cry. But the cry is the cry of enlargement; the pain is the pain of convalescence. Yesterday, the graveclothes were no barrier to thee; to-day, they are; therefore, to-morrow thou shalt hear the mandate, ''Loose him, and let him. go!"
Amber Nelon Thompson sings "We Shall Behold Him!"
No comments:
Post a Comment