Finishing God's Miracles

The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." (John 11:44)

I find these words both instructive and compelling. They seem to me a parallel to Jesus' command to roll away the stone. What I see here is a need for us to be much more aware of the obstacles that we need to deal with blocking our freedom and also our responsibility for helping others around us.

Jesus had access to all power in heaven and on earth. Yet He did not step in to miraculously move the stone away from the tomb. He let those standing around know that it was their job to cooperate with Him to prepare the way for what only He could do for them. Likewise, Jesus could have had the wrappings fall off or disintegrate or some other means to set Lazarus completely free before he emerged from the tomb. After all, when Jesus Himself was resurrected not long after this story no human assisted Him in removing similar bindings from His body. Somehow He was set free from the tomb and from His grave-clothes without help from others. Quite possibly the angels may have provided that service, but in this instance Jesus asked those standing around to take the responsibility.

Just as the stone in front of the tomb represented a major obstacle in the way of Jesus intervening in behalf of Martha and Mary, so too the bindings around the body of Lazarus represented yet more obstacles that needed to be dealt with. Note that Lazarus was helpless to set himself free just about as much as he was helpless to bring himself to life from the dead. Lazarus was dependent on others to come to his aid both in removing the stone as well as removing the bonds restricting his freedom of movement.

God had restored life to the rotting corpse of Lazarus and likely had miraculously restored it back to pristine health and vitality. However, God did not miraculously remove the encumbrances that still severely restricted the ability of Lazarus to function normally. It was up to others to come alongside him to cooperate with God in restoring Lazarus to full freedom and wholeness and functionality.

I believe there is great significance and meaning and instruction in this miracle for us to learn. How many times does God intervene in someone's life miraculously only to have that person become discouraged as old baggage continues to weigh them down and restrict their freedoms. Too often others around them are reluctant to come to their aid and may even feel confused about why there are still problems. We too often assume that after a rebirth experience that a person should not have so many problems. But just because God has miraculously brought life into our lives after being dead in our sins does not mean that there will be no baggage from the past that must be dealt with.

Furthermore, a person encumbered by baggage from their past, both emotional, spiritual and/or physical, often does not have the capacity to deal with all those problems alone. It is the duty of the body of believers to not only celebrate the new condition of a person brought to life by Jesus but to come close to them for as long as it takes to assist in unwrapping them gently in love and helping them be completely free, not just alive in Christ.

How many people have become discouraged and may even have given up on their new life in Christ because they discovered that there were still many problems hemming them in restricting their ability to live freely and joyfully? Many are confused and baffled after accepting Jesus and receiving new life from Him to discover that there is still a lot of baggage from their past still causing problems and tripping them up. But woe be to fellow believers if they fail to come to the aid of such and sympathetically work with them for as long as necessary to assist them, protect them and help deliver them from the lies, the pain, the leftover residue of their past life until they are totally free in Jesus. It is our duty to remember that all of us have similar problems, that all of us have residual wrappings that continue to hamper our freedom and peace and joy in Christ and that we are all responsible to help each other in the process of being set free from the baggage and restrictive bonds of our previous life of sin.

It is not a sign of failure or lack of conversion to discover that we have things that continue to bind us and hamper our freedom in Christ. Just as Lazarus was fully alive inside the bindings but outward appearances didn't make that so obvious, so too we must be extremely careful not to criticize and condemn born-again siblings who are still trapped inside baggage from their past and in need of further deliverance. What is needed as much today as it was with Lazarus are loving friends who will see past the ugly outward appearances wreaking of the smell of death, to joyfully come to their side and help release them in the name of Jesus so they can enjoy fuller freedom. Rather than stand around in a daze wondering what we should do or questioning why some still have so many problems, Jesus tells us we should go to them to offer our assistance, to bless them, to love them and to help set them free in His name.