Last week we began a discussion of the story of Lazarus in John chapter 11. Here are some images and a bit of the background information we shared.
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This is an amazing view -- you are Lazarus!
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Vincent Van Gogh appears to have depicted himself as Lazarus in this painting -- he rendered when he was a patient in a mental hospital.
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This painting adds an interesting character -- note the father-like person at Lazarus' head.
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Lazarus is a derivation of the Hebrew name "Eliazar", which means "God heals". This seems a fitting name for a person destined to experience a kind of healing only God can provide.
Lazarus' sister, Mary, is the same one who, earlier in the book of John, anoints Jesus' feet with perfume; according to the story, in anticipation of Jesus' burial.
In his response to Martha, Jesus expresses a particular kind of indignation -- the word in question refers, literally, to a horse snorting. One commentator interprets this as Jesus' anger toward death -- that it is an inappropriate thing, not part of God's will. Of interest -- the same commentator refers to Jesus' attitude toward the money changers and livestock sellers in the temple, the gospel story for Sunday's sermon, as being the same kind of indignation toward something that is contrary to God's design and will.
This is a story rich with John's themes -- we see in the tale references to light and dark, death and life, and Jesus' full humanity and full divinity, as well as a typical misunderstanding of all these points.
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This Sunday we will focus on application of this story to our own lives.
Please remember that, in two weeks, St. Paul's will participate in "Face to Faith Sunday", with grown ups invited to join children and youth for their classes that day. This should be a really fun event and we hope, if you haven't signed up to visit a young peoples' class you might think about doing that this coming Sunday.
Thanks for being in this class! Laura and I are always blessed by our study, how much we learn each week, and for the Christ-like love and care you show for one another.
Dan and Laura
