Why Jesus Didn't Unbind Lazarus

I'm Michael link and welcome to the Depositum where we explore the depths of christian theology through ai
 Please note the voices ahead are ai generated. We vet each episode but ask that you listen with both faith
 and reason
 Let's dive in
 Welcome to the deep dive
 Today we're stepping into
 Well, what might be the most emotionally charged moment in the gospels?
 We're looking at john chapter 11 the raising of lazarus right and if you think this is just a miracle story
 You know about a man waking up in a tomb you are missing so much of the real drama
 It's so much more exactly. It's not a spectacle when you dig into the commentaries you see
 it's this master class on
 God's timing the two natures of christ and surprisingly the authority of the church
 It's that intersection of just raw human grief. Yeah, and well absolute divine authority
 Yes, and that authority it starts in a really strange way with silence the delay the delay
 Lazarus is sick his sister sinned for jesus and you just expect him to drop everything but he doesn't into the disciples
 This must have looked like I don't know negligence. Well, yeah and certainly to mary martha
 Let's just listen to the account in john chapter 11 verse 6 when he had heard therefore that he was sick
 He still remained in the same place two days two days. He just stays put that feels so cold, doesn't it?
 On the surface, it feels incredibly cold, but the commentaries explain this as a specific
 Strategy of faith a strategy. Yeah, if jesus rushes in and cures a fever. He's a great healer
 But by waiting until death is undeniable until it's been four days
 He changes the entire game
 The goal wasn't just to prevent death. It was to utterly conquer it. So the delay is actually a setup
 It's a setup for a much greater revelation of who he is
 But that doesn't make it any easier for the people living through it
 We feel that when martha runs out to meet him
 She's just heartbroken you can hear her pain in john chapter 11 verse 21 martha therefore said to jesus lord
 If thou hadst been here my brother had not died if you had been here
 That is such a raw human thing to say it is and the commentators note that her faith right here is actually
 It's a bit weak. She believes he could have healed a sickness
 But she doesn't grasp that he is the lord of life itself, right?
 And this is where it gets so interesting because jesus doesn't just you know offer her a hug
 He challenges her he offers her dogma right in the face of the grave. He he challenges her in john chapter 11
 verses 25 and 26 jesus said to her
 I am the resurrection and the life
 He that believeth in me, although he be dead shall live
 And everyone that liveth and believeth in me shall not die forever
 Believeth thou this that question
 Believeth thou this he puts her on the spot and that question forces everything to shift for her
 She stops looking at the past at what could have been and she looks at who is standing right in front of her
 And she just nails the answer here it is in john chapter 11 verse 27. She sayeth to him
 Yay lord, I have believed that thou art christ the son of the living god who art come into this world
 That's an act of perfect faith
 It is before the miracle even happens, but even with that faith the grief is still there
 I mean, it's crushing the scene shifts mary comes out the neighbors are weeping
 It's total devastation and jesus sees this and the scripture says he groaned in the spirit
 And it's right here that we get the shortest and maybe the most powerful verse in all of scripture
 John chapter 11 verse 35 and jesus wept he weeps
 Why?
 If he knows what he's about to do, why the tears? This is the mystery of the two natures
 As truly man
 He felt the crushing weight of their grief. Those weren't fake tears
 He was truly mourning with them, but as truly god as truly god he was preparing to destroy death itself
 He enters into their sorrow before he removes the cause of it
 He shows his humanity right before unleashing his divinity exactly
 So get to the tomb the stone is rolled away and then comes the command
 This is in john chapter 11 verse 43 when he had said these things he cried with a loud voice
 Lazarus come forth and he comes out
 But and this is a part I think we gloss over the miracle isn't actually finished yet
 No, not at all. Lazarus is alive, but he's all tied up listen to john chapter 11 verse 44
 And presently he that had been dead came forth bound feet and hands with winding bands and his face was bound about with a napkin
 Jesus said to them loose him and let him go loose him and let him go
 Why didn't jesus just do that part himself? I mean
 He raised him from the dead surely a few strips of cloth or no problem
 This is such a critical point
 The church fathers like saint augustine and saint gregory they see a hierarchy at work here a hierarchy. Yes
 They explain that god alone gives life. That's the first miracle
 But it belongs to the ministers of the church to loose and to absolve so christ gives the life
 And the disciples representing the church are commanded to give the freedom
 It's a direct parallel to the sacrament of confession god forgives, but the priest acting for the church unbinds the sinner
 That's powerful. So he doesn't want us just walking around alive, but still bound precisely the restoration is a two-step process
 life from god
 Freedom through his church. What an incredible journey from the silence of that delay to the freedom of the unbinding
 It really teaches us that god's delays aren't denials and that his restoration is a work that involves both his divine power
 And our cooperation so as we wrap up, here's a thought for you
 Lazarus came out of the tomb alive, but he was still bound by his grave clothes
 What grave clothes are you still wearing old habits past guilts?
 That you need to let the church loose you from a vital question to ask. Thanks for listening
 We'll see you on the next deep dive