Unbind him, and let him go

In tomorrow's Gospel reading, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. As Lazarus comes out of the grave wrapped in cloth, Jesus says, "Unbind him, and let him go." The Very Rev. Samuel G. Candler, Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, has written of this command,

"Unbind him, and let him go!" I like these words more than I like "Lazarus, come out." Indeed, these words may be more powerful than the words "Come out!"

Because now, the community needs to assist in the resurrection. "Unbind him, and let him go." There are some people yearning to live resurrection lives. There are some folks who have been born again; they have risen from the dead!

But they are still tangled up in burial clothes. They still have the sheets and coverings of death all over them. They are still bound up in something, bound up in old bondages, old arguments, old sin.

You know what that's like. You know you are living a new life, but you seem somehow to still be in bondage to the old life.

This is where we need community. We need others. Often, it is the task of Christian community to complete the action of Resurrection. Jesus has called forth new life: Lazarus, come out!" But Lazarus still has burial clothes on.

So Jesus says, "Unbind him, and let him go." Those should be the words which are our orders every day, every new day. Unbind somebody. Where you find someone in bondage: your friend, your wife, your husband, your companion, even the stranger. Where you find someone struggling to be free, unbind them and let them go. Do not keep them tangled up in the old affairs of sin and death. Those clothes constrict and make us ill.

When we refuse to let someone go, when we refuse to forgive, when we refuse to see new life, it is we who are keeping them dead. The community has that power.

Jesus, therefore, proclaims to us, to all of us, to the Christian Church: "Unbind him, and let him go." Those are really the powerful words of today's gospel. Don't hold on to the past. Don't hold on to sin. Don't hold on to death!

Let someone go today. Release someone!

The full text of Sam's reflections on this passage is online here: Unbind him and let him go!.