Grave Clothes

By

Pastor B.J. Knefley

Many are familiar of the Bible story of Lazarus, the man that Jesus raised from the dead. The story can be found in John 11. Many, if not most, focus on the fact that Lazarus was dead and already placed in the tomb. In other words, he didn’t just die, he had been dead for a while and probably started to have an odor. When Jesus called his dead body out of the grave, he came out of the grave with the clothing that he had been wrapped in. Think about that for a moment.

Have you ever thought about what grave clothes might look like or smell like? The entire body was wrapped. Depending upon how long the person had been dead for would determine their condition. Remember, in the story of Lazarus it had been three days and the tomb had already been sealed. Undeterred, Jesus spoke to a dead body, and it came to life. But that’s not my point. I want to focus on the grave clothes. What happened to them? If you read the text, you’ll see that Jesus told the people to remove them. Not Lazarus, but the people, his family, and friends. Not sure about you, but I think that might be a dirty job. It sort of reminds me of changing the dressings on a wound. Yuck! That’s nasty, but they did it anyway.

So, what’s the point? I think that God is still in the business of creating a new life out of our old, but the grave clothes, the stuff that causes our life to stink, for that we need the help of others. That’s where community comes in. We need help with our anger, hurts, fears, damaged emotions, abuse, struggles and the list goes on. It’s the stink that’s left over from our old life that needs changing.  Jesus shows us that it takes others to help us to be free. Perhaps that’s why some are still bound up in their old stuff. No one has come alongside them to help them unwrap their stinky grave garments. Think about it.