When Lazarus came out of the tomb, do you think his graveclothes still stunk? Ponder that for a moment. He had been dead for four days. Nobody wanted that tomb opened (well, nobody but One). Lazarus stumbled out still wearing the linens in which his community had bound him less than a week prior. I'm certain they were still white... but oh, the smell! See, I believe he did. Stink. The "deadness" of Lazarus had affected everything around him and his own sudden transformation had done nothing to erase the damage of his previous malodorous state.
That's us, often enough. We live like the world, smell like the world, think like the world, and then Jesus finds us, or we find Him, or we encounter one another. I still do not really understand how that works. But once that happens, we are alive (for the first time, really) and ready to go! Only we still have these darned graveclothes on. And they still stink. Our co-workers don't know the new us. They only the know the old, and know the mess we made last week. All of the scars of our previous relationships are still visible. The signs of yesterday do not simply vanish when we come to life. Jesus demonstrated that in the pysical when He bade Thomas touch His hands. The scars of the past are there, but only for testimony.
It is difficult to get rid of graveclothes. Our friends often act like we are still dead, which makes it all-too easy to act the same way. We end up stinking up the place 'just like we used to' and sometimes even get depressed at our lack of growth when, in truth, it's not that at all! We just have some graveclothes to remove yet. Jesus told those around Lazarus, "Unbind him, and let him go." Notice, He didn't tell Lazarus to wrestle himself free. Jesus charged those around him with the task. As the church, that's our job. Discerning graveclothes and helping people get free of them is our duty. How valuable is our time with other Christian brothers and sisters whom we can trust enough to tell us there's still something about us that still doesn't smell quite right. In our culture, that is grounds for "unfriending" and finding a new church. Right? If we grow up a little, we might find that the Life of God smells so much better than what we've grown accustomed to.
