Unbinding

When Martha had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he 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 11:28-44 

We often need help to get out of the binds we find ourselves in.  Our pride and arrogance help us to walk into dangerous, life threatening situations. Our honesty and vulnerability are the only way out. Once we are bound tight into something, we need others to help us from our self-made traps. We can think ourselves independent and not needy, but it is a delusion. We humans are desperate and helpless when it comes to saving ourselves. 

Jesus arrives late on the scene of his dear friend's death. The folks gathered around are quick to condemn, although many probably did nothing to help the sick man. We humans believe we know exactly how things are and "should be." We rarely are willing to imagine God's capabilities and desires. We get caught in limited thinking and awareness, finding comfort in the predictable. Yet Jesus is doing something new, bringing freedom from death for his friend and endless possibility for us all. We are invited to be the "unbinders", those willing to help another step away from the grip of death. We are called to be those who love others into new possibilities, with God's help.

Today, I ask God to help me help with the unbinding of others. May we also be vulnerable enough to ask for the release we need, so that the love of God might be made real today.