The Meaning of Cloth

John 11:30-44

The story of the raising of Lazarus reaches its crescendo in the final verses of today’s reading. “When [Jesus] had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’” (John 11:43-44). Here is what I find most interesting in these verses: Jesus has just healed his friend Lazarus from death—so to speak—by raising him and releasing him from his tomb. But Lazarus is still “bound with strips of cloth” and his face is still “wrapped in a cloth.” So Jesus tells those who were there to “Unbind him, and let him go.” Why is it necessary for John to mention the cloth that binds Lazarus? Is it really important to the story?

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that, even though he’s been raised, Lazarus must return to living his earthly life. Yes, Jesus has freed him from the tomb, but Lazarus must now go back to the day-to-day circumstances that challenge all of us, and to do so he’s going to need his hands and his feet and his head to be unwrapped. Even after Jesus has raised him Lazarus will still face death and the resurrection that will follow because Lazarus is still human. There is another place in John’s gospel where cloth is used at the time of death. After Jesus’ resurrection John tells us that Peter “went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself” (20:6-7). This is a subtle signal to us. The resurrected Jesus did not need to be unbound or let go in the manner that a healed Lazarus did. The cloth, set aside as it was, tells us that something entirely different has happened here. Jesus is now beyond death and is no longer constrained by human life as we know it. Indeed, he is our hope and our confidence for all that awaits us.

So there is meaning to be found in the presence of cloth in John’s gospel. Those who believe can look forward to a new sense of freedom in the resurrection, a new life unbound, one no longer hindered by all that faces us in this life.

Prayer: O God, we offer our thanks and praise to you this day for all that you promise to us in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.