Mega-Metaphor – John 11: 43-44

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.”

Please forgive me if I am reading too much into this passage, but I think that there might be a living metaphor here for us. Lazarus has gone where no man wants to go. He is dead and buried, decaying in the flesh. He has become a perfect symbol for the effects of sin on the human condition.

Into the darkness where his body lies, decaying, comes Jesus’ voice: “Lazarus, come out!” At the command of Jesus, the corrupted flesh of the dead becomes new again. The heart starts beating again, the brain functions again, and the body moves. In coming back to life, Lazarus becomes the symbol or metaphor of what Jesus wants for all people: to come back to life in Him.

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