Lazarus is a symbol for new life. His sisters Mary and Martha were devastated when he died, and wept bitterly to Jesus about the loss.

"Lord, if you had been here he would still be alive," Martha sobbed. Jesus wept too. Because He loved him. 

Then Jesus approached the tomb and shouted aloud for all to hear.

"Lazarus, come forth!" The crowd hushed at the command. Lazarus had already been dead for four days. The stench would be appalling. But a figure swathed in white grave cloths emerged from the darkness, and stood before Jesus. 

"Loosen him," Jesus invited. 

When this story was enacted in church the children who hurried up to unwrap the man bound by gauze seemed eager, rather than afraid. I was relieved to see who was hidden inside the wrappings. It was a friend. I smiled to see his face. 

The minister asked us to wonder about our own trappings, and how we can take the first step away from habits that bind us. He urged us to absorb the image of the Lord weeping beside us. With us. From love for us.

The image of those children reaching up to tug off the fabric, as if they wanted to, moves me. Maybe there really are people who hope for us to be free, whom we can't even notice yet.

Perhaps they will be the first to smile when we begin to clearly see out, and they can look in. Because they love us.

They might even be crying.