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.

"Unbind Him and Let Him Go"

Acts 15:12-21
John 11:30-44
In the readings for today from Acts and from John we find Jesus and James making similar statements though in much different situations. In Acts, James concludes the discussion in Jerusalem about how to include gentile Christians—those who have not converted from Judaism—into the church. He cites some very specific prohibitions, based in large part on their universality. Furthermore, he says, for centuries these words have been read aloud on the Sabbath in every city, meaning that it is not unreasonable that even gentiles would have heard them and recognized their value (Acts 15:21). In doing this, James frees gentiles Christians from other proscriptions of the law, like circumcision. Unbound now, in a way, these believers are free to live as full participants in the life of the community.

When Lazarus responds to Jesus call to come out of the tomb he is still dressed as a corpse for burial, that is, with hands and feet bound and his face covered with a sheet. “Unbind him and let him go,” Jesus says to the bystanders (John 11:44). And in doing so Jesus frees Lazarus from the snare of death—for a while—and sets him free to live as God intends him to live.

How do these words apply to you and me? First of all, like the gentile believers and Lazarus, too, we have been freed from the bonds that have clung tightly to us, so tightly that we can hardly move nor see where we are going. And secondly, in light of our salvation we are now free to live as new beings—like the new Christians that the gentiles became, and with the newness of life that Lazarus had before him. In the film “V For Vendetta” much is made of the fact that once one has stepped close to death there is no longer a need to fear it. I would suggest that for Lazarus, at least, once one has stepped so closely to new life there is no need to fear life or death any longer. In Jesus Christ we, like Lazarus and the gentile converts before us, have been unbound and set free.

Prayer: Lord, many things weigh us down and cause us to stumble. Help us to let go of all that binds us, and help us to become the people you have created us to be. In Jesus’ name. Amen.