All Saints’ Day (observed); 7 November 2021; All Saints’ Day, Year B (RCL); Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44.
The story of the revivification of Lazarus is a complicated one, with many details that beg questions: Why does Jesus delay for two days after hearing that Lazarus is sick? When Thomas says, “Let us also go and die with him,” who is the ‘him’ — Jesus or Lazarus? In this passage, the translators do us a disservice. Jesus is not “greatly disturbed” (twice), but in the Greek, he is indignant (twice). Why? And why is Lazarus twice called “the dead man”?
Continue reading “The resurrected life”