Nonviolent Atonement: Four Questions on the Raising of Lazarus
Jesus is coming to terms with what he must do to heal the human species. To get us to see love he must show love by allowing us to do to him what we do to each other and then forgive us.
.. This week I have been disturbed and agitated. I have four sisters and three of them visited the fourth that lives in Arizona and suffers from traumatic brain injury and dementia. My three sisters were there to seek power of attorney, assess the situation, and provide care in the four days they had. They sent a picture and it shocked me. Knowing my sister’s history, the picture became a symbol for me of how many in the world are treated. She has only one eye, having been assaulted in the 80’s, and was looking at the camera with an expression that I experienced as despair and profound fear. It released a complex of emotions I still haven’t sorted.
.. In my agitation I said until we have a gospel that addresses this we don’t have anything worth sharing. I told them, for me, this is a picture of humanity in the grip of death. They let me vent.
.. When Martha objected to Jesus’ opening the tomb he replied “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” Martha clearly didn’t believe but still it happened. Effervescent life isn’t based on Martha’s belief. It’s based on God’s desire that Lazarus, my sister, you and I and the one’s we’ve lost, all continue but with new and resurrected bodies.