Resurrection - The Making of a Dangerous Man

On Easter we can celebrate His resurrection while experiencing our own

Because of the Resurrection of our Lord we, like Lazarus, can become dangerous - where people notice there is something different about us, not because of who we are but Whose we are.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - On the Monday of Holy Week, the end of the Gospel reading from St. John states, "The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

"And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him." (John 12:9-11)

Just think about it. We know little about Lazarus other than he was the brother of Mary and Martha. We don't know if he had a craft, was a leader in the town or was prominent in the synagogue. His greatest Biblical feat was dying, which allowed him to experience a miraculous resurrection.

Word spread quickly about this marvel; dead three days, Lazarus was now alive and everyone wanted to see him and to touch him. His fame and that of the One who brought him back to life was so great that the chief priests wanted to put this good man back in the tomb for good!

It all began when Mary and Martha had sent for the Teacher, the one who had been spoken of as a miracle worker. He was a friend of Lazarus, but didn't get there in time to heal him from the sickness that led to the tomb. According to custom, Lazarus body was prepared with spices, wrapped, and laid in the grave.

Jesus was late. Arriving at the well with his disciples, Mary and her company of mourners met him. She came right to the point. "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died." What an indictment! You weren't here to offer a miracle for a friend.

He asked to see where Lazarus had been buried. The crowd followed behind as He walked and wept.

As the crowd stood with Jesus, He did something very strange. He directed that the stone that sealed the grave be removed and He called out to the dead man. "Lazarus, come forth!"

What was more astonishing, he did!

Again, imagine standing there and watching this man wrapped in cloth shuffling out of the grave, still bound. Lazarus was alive but not ready to be among the living. One more thing had to be done.

Standing in front of the Teacher, Lazarus must have been a sight. Still wrapped as a dead man, he couldn't move very well. He was bound by the same linens that accompanied him in death.

Jesus called out again, this time instructing those nearby to remove the grave clothes. "Loose him and let him go!"

What a party they must have had. Tears were turned to laughter. Lazarus was alive. Mary and Martha beheld a miracle, as death could not even hold back the power of the Son of Man.

While we will not experience this kind of resurrection here on earth, we can and do experience a spiritual resurrection that changes us as well as giving us grace to live this new life.

St. Paul underscores this in the sixth chapter of his Epistle to Romans. "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

"For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

"For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

"For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:4-11)

Through baptism all of us have been brought from death to life. Coming forth from the baptismal waters, we are born again into resurrection.

We, too, can become dangerous like Lazarus - dangerous to the forces of evil and those who follow them and embrace the culture of death. We can remind those whose lives are filled with hopelessness that there is the hope new life while culture works hard to keep them wallowing in spiritual death.

St. Paul writes, "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." (Romans 8:11)

When I was a young man in the Navy, I encountered some people who really loved God and lived each day in deep devotion. Growing up Episcopalian and I had pretty much wandered away from my faith and had little to do with the church. These young Christians ignited something in me that helped me embrace for myself the promises that had been made over me in baptism. It was a major turn around for me where I once lived only for myself and now I wanted to live only for the Lord.

This commitment brought about an incredible amount of grace from the Lord with major changes evident in my language and lifestyle. These changes must have become evident to others as they drew responses.

One day, for example, as I was leaving my ship on liberty, the operations officer called out to me and asked if I needed a ride. I acknowledged that I did. He took me into Honolulu, which was the opposite direction he needed to go from Pearl Harbor.

As we were riding along, he asked me about the change he saw in my life and wanted to know why. I proceeded to tell him about my devotion to Christ and the difference He had made.

How our enemy, the Devil, hates to hear such testimony. How contrary to the culture of death is our message of life.

The grace I experienced at that time was not a passing fad or merely a temporary experience. Almost four decades later my love and devotion for Christ has continued to be a significant part of my life. Truly, there are ups and downs, but my desire to love for Him and follow His calling in my life has not changed.

Our resurrected Lord is calling out to everyone as He did to Lazarus. In the tombs we have fashioned, His words echo loudly, "Come forth!" Once out of the grave of sin and spiritual death, we can also deal with the grave clothes of concupiscence that we have brought with us. Through the Sacrament of Confession, our Lord speaks through His priests declaring, "Loose him and let him go."

The Lord is looking for dangerous men and women today; those who are willing to truly live for Him not just near Him. He is looking for those who, in response to His words at the Mass, "This is My body given for you," reply with conviction, "And Lord, this is my body, given for you."

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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