What would the conversation look like? The amazement. The confusion. He had been dead…as a door nail. What’s a door nail by the way?…ok I digress. The look of shock, the spirit of disbelief in his sister’s eyes. They had been there when he had breathed his last. They had mourned his passing. The sting of death still lingered in their hearts and minds like the peeling blister on a sunburn. This emotional roller coaster had just careened into the station though their stomachs and emotions still lingered somewhere behind them on the track.
It had been four days since he had died. Four long and agonizing days. How his sisters had wept bitterly. How little they had slept…was this all a dream? Could this really be happening? What goes on in the spiritual realm when someone dies? What did Lazarus go through in those four days of death? Did he see a great light? Did he have an out of body experience? Was he in heaven? Oh how little we know about the life to come.
Sitting at the table with a deadman, what must his sisters have wanted to ask. “Did you see any family there?” “Did you meet Yahweh?” “What was it like?” Idle curiosity must have played a factor in this postmortem interval family reunion. After four days in the tomb, in his final resting place, he was hungry. Sitting at the table with nourishment (evidence and a source of all preservation of life) of water and food Lazarus, who was now reanimated. He longed to soak up his sister’s presence once more. They lingered together. Isn’t it interesting how we miss the company of those we love when we have been far from them? Death, though only separated by this thin membrane of a veil, had separated these loved ones from each other…now it had been torn with the authority of Jesus’ words; “Lazarus, come forth!”
What did Lazarus experience at this call? Not only did his deceased bones reanimate, but with it organs, blood circulation and brain function reignited as well. The impossible became possible. The very breath of life exhaled and inhaled into dormant unusable lungs of a corpse.
What could he tell his family of such an experience? What did this deadman have to say? Jesus, the life bringer, had raised him from the dead…he had kicked the bucket, shuffled off his mortal coil…he was completely and totally devoid of life. Lazarus had experienced the mystery of the great beyond and his sisters would undoubtedly hang on his every word in his retelling…wouldn’t you? We read of stories of children and adults who have experienced something when they had “died” and were then resuscitated. We are truly a curious creation aren’t we? We want to know what is next. What comes after this life. Some ask if there really is something after this life. I doubt Lazarus would have had any other doubts about the existence of the hereafter.
Do you have doubts? We all do from time to time. Perhaps Jesus needs to breathe some life into our doubting hearts. Perhaps we need Him to call us forth from our caves or tombs of doubt. I often find myself like Thomas longing to physically touch his nail wrecked hands and feet. I long for the tangible frequently when faith has pushed off from the docks of reality and the “real world”. Please tell me I am not the only one? Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying I disbelieve, but I am saying that I often find myself on those docks of belief watching faith ship off without me aboard. I long yearn to be aboard but something has stopped me. In a very real sense I am the deadman in need of being resurrected. My faith needs resurrecting daily. Don’t think ill of me…it’s a principle of momentum.
Momentum has a way of pushing and driving something forward…if I stop, momentum stops. In application of this principle, if I stop my prayer life, if I hit the pause button on my devotion life (my quiet times with the Lord), if I halt my daily conversations with The Father…I have lost momentum, and in this loss I am once again a deadman. I am once again in need of reanimation. I need to be called forth. Am I alone in this? Please tell me I am not. I doubt I am. I think you may relate to me. This is my confession of a deadman…Jesus, call me forth again!
-Just a thought.
Pastor's Ponderings 
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