When the Dead Start Walking

Sometimes this world has me absolutely exhausted. I become easily frustrated with culture and people, as well as myself and my wandering heart. I get anxious for no reason just in the unrest. I get ticked off at watching people engage in behaviors that stem from their own pain and inflict it on others.  In busy seasons, even full of goodness, I get tired, burdened, and crave more. I want more of God within me. I don’t want to be selfish. I don’t want to be easily set off. I want my interactions to be a living, breathing image of Jesus. I want the world to be changed by knowing Jesus and His goodness and by some act of insane grace, that He would use me to do it.

There are several illustrations and allusions to dead being made live in the Bible. Jesus made lots of references to such in explaining what He came to do and will do. Dry bones are brought to life in Ezekiel. Creation was life made from nothing. These intense images have always made such an impression on my heart, but lately the Lord has been bringing the story of Lazarus to mind.

Jesus’s friend Lazarus had become very sick in a town called Bethany. Lazarus had 2 sisters, Mary and Martha. They sent a message to Jesus to let Him know of Lazarus’s illness, saying, “The one You love is sick.” Jesus did not run to his aid in an instant, but stayed where He was for a couple of days. When His disciples questioned Him about going back to a city where the people had just tried to stone Him, He told them “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I’m on My way to wake him up…Lazarus has died. I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe.” When Jesus arrived in Bethany, the sisters told Him that if He had only come sooner, Lazarus wouldn’t be dead. But Jesus said to them, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, he will live.” He then cried with them and His love for Lazarus was apparent. He then had them remove the stone of the tomb, where Lazarus had been prepared for burial and placed 4 days prior. Jesus spoke his name saying, “Lazarus, come out,” and Lazarus came out alive and whole, ready to live life at a whole new level.

I’ve heard it said and truly believe that my generation is and has to be a “Lazarus Generation.” It is so easy to get so bogged down in all the wars, killing, stealing, racism, hate, division, and all darkness in our present generation. It’s easy to get frustrated by watching families be dominated by technology and not relationship, or completely shattered. It’s sickening to know of the horror that is human trafficking and slavery is being perpetrated by my generation. It’s easy to get riled up taking up for the refugees the Bible calls us to care for yet be fearful that they may be radicalized terrorists. It makes me ask at times, “Where are you God? Why is this world so jacked up? Why is my generation the one seemingly causing it to get worse?”  In essence, we could be called a dead generation, with the Church dying at rapid rates.

If we look closely though, we will see that if you put us in the place of Lazarus, Jesus wants to bring good. Jesus is moved by His love for us. Jesus is capable of speaking and creating new life within us.

But as with Lazarus, sometimes death must come so that new life can be breathed into empty spaces, and that God may be glorified. It is my prayer that, as this country and my generation lay stinking it up in the tomb we have created for ourselves by seeking out our selfish desires above all else, that Jesus is calling our name and saying “Come out!!! Wake up!!” I pray that when this resonates in our souls, we cannot ignore it but must rise up out of death and destruction and, dare I say, absolute indifference and stagnation. I pray that as we walk out of the grave, we are dripping with the goodness of God and His love for us and for each other. I pray that we rise up with eyes that may only be set on Him and hearts that burn to know Him more, the One who spoke and gave new life. God, let us be a Lazarus generation, no longer dead but alive in You and that the world be forever changed because of it.