“So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.” Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.” When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days.”
John 11:14-17 NLT
A pithy, out-of-the-corner-of-his-mouth, comment from Thomas to the other disciples perhaps made them chuckle, but it illustrated the underlying fear that they felt about returning to Judea. Not a sensible decision was their thought because Jesus had, not so long ago, left there under the threat of being stoned to death for what the Pharisees considered was His blasphemous teachings. The Pharisees couldn’t dispute the miracles but they violently objected to Jesus’ claim that He did them in God’s name. But Jesus was on a mission and nothing was going to stop Him returning to see His friends. While Jesus and His disciples had been away, Lazarus had become more and more ill, and had finally died. His distraught sisters made the arrangements for his burial and it was in a tomb, probably hewed out of rock, and sealed by a stone placed over the front, that Lazarus’ body was incarcerated. In those days a body was washed and wrapped in a long length of cloth complete with spices before it was buried, and Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days before Jesus turned up.
After death bodies start to decompose, a process in which the cells, starved of oxygen, start to break up and dissolve, and the naturally-occurring bacteria in the body go on a feeding frenzy. In cold climates the process takes a while, but in a warm place like Israel, decomposition accelerates. So after four days, Lazarus’ body was well beyond any form of recovery, even through the most advanced medical techniques available today, let alone two thousand years ago. So to everyone present in Bethany, there was no doubts about Lazarus being dead. Graveyard dead. Modern claims that perhaps Lazarus wasn’t really dead but had just fainted or was comatose, denies the intelligence of the people in Bethany. They knew that dead means dead.
It is a fact of life that everyone one day will die. It was Benjamin Franklin who apparently uttered the phrase “In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes”, a rather sardonic observation that continues to apply today. But no matter how hard people try, and how much they spend on surgical or medical remedies, everyone will die one day. We all will have to face it. To many people the thought of death is to be avoided for as long as possible. Perhaps they suddenly face the reality at a loved one’s funeral or on a hospital visit. So before it is too late, it is advisable to do things like make a will, or take out life insurance, protecting our loved ones and leaving a legacy in line with our wishes. Some people even organise their funerals, picking songs or hymns, and so on, but in the end there is an end to a person’s natural life.
It is sad that people generally give no thought to what happens after death. According to the Bible, after death our bodies die but our spirits live on. On the cross next to Jesus’ a thief was told by our Saviour that he would soon be with Him in Paradise. Obviously his body wouldn’t go there because, after the custom of that time, it would have been disposed of on the rubbish heap in the Valley of Hinnom, a place where executed criminals were thrown after death. So our spirits live on and end up either in a place of comfort – Heaven – or in a place of discomfort – Hades. Jesus told the story of the Rich Man and another man called Lazarus, who was a poor beggar who sat at the Rich Man’s gate. After they both died, the poor man, Lazarus, was comforted “in the bosom of Abraham” but the Rich Man ended up in a place of torment. We can read the story in Luke 16. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord”. He had no doubts where he was going to end up after he had died.
So when we die our bodies are discarded and our spirits end up in a holding place. Lazarus was “graveyard dead” and we can assume that his spirit was in one of them and probably the place of comfort. The issue for human beings is about where their spirits (souls) go when they die. We pilgrims have a message of hope for a future with Jesus. We mustn’t keep such good news just to ourselves.
Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for Your promise of eternal life with You. Please help us to share it with those around us, people with ears receptive to the truth. In Your precious name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 