LAZARUS IS US!!

 

Lazarus is us, each and every one of us—the dead Lazarus stinking in his tomb (John 11:39, ”But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 'by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days'") with his feet and hands wrapped and bound and a cloth over his face is us.  Lazarus is also us when Jesus calls out, "Here!  Outside."  Lazarus is also us when he wakes up and is confused where exactly he is (he was dead when he was put in the tomb), and moves haltingly to the sound of Jesus' voice.  

I think it's fairly easy to imagine how Lazarus came out of the tomb, his tomb.  He blindly shuffled and stumbled along using his body, mostly his shoulders and hips since his hands were bound, to feel his way along the inner walls of the cave where he had been entombed, always moving as best he could toward the sound of Jesus' voice.  See John 11:43, "Jesus called out in a loud voice."  Note that the verb "called out" is the same Greek verb (kraugo) used a few short days later by the crowd calling out to crucify Jesus.  Note also that Jesus called Lazarus by name.  Lazarus in death had not dissolved into the universe to become some anonymous, amorphous, indistinguishable chunk of matter and energy.  He had retained in death his individual character.  We are also, each of us, Lazarus as he shuffles to the door of the tomb, where Jesus' orders the bystanders (as He will someday order the angels) to "untie him and let him go."

 

This is what Jesus' mission on earth was all about—his ministry, his crucifixion and resurrection—calling our stinking, dead bodies out of the grave (where we deserve to be), be it a spiritual or a physical grave, having us untied us and letting us go free.  Lazarus would later die once more, but when Jesus calls him out the next time he won't die ever again.