Lazarus

Lazarus…the poem

1.      His heart was held by a strong bond of affection to the family at Bethany
And for one of them his most wonderful work was wrought
But then sorrow entered the peaceful home where Jesus had often rested
Lazarus… the friend of the healer was sick
His sisters seeing the violence of the disease
determined to remain confident till the end
For he that had shown himself able to heal all manner of disease was a friend
They believed he will be with them in their distress
So it was needless to send for an urgent request for his presence
A  simple information of the situation will do
And so the message was simply; “he whom thou lovest is sick”
They had thought he will immediately show up on hearing their message
Holding on to the spark of life remaining in their brother,
Anxiously, they waited for the master
But… the messenger returned alone.

2.      Their heart seemed broken,
For in their time of distress they seemed to have been forsaken
His only word of comfort was this “this sickness is not unto death”
But Lazarus died!
Had the master lied?
Even his disciples thought he was cold to this family at Bethany
For two days he remained in the place where he was
It seemed he had dismissed the message from his mind
Doubt began to trickle into the minds of his disciples
They remembered that the same Jesus had let his forerunner
Languish in prison and die a violent death
He had warned them of trials and persecutions
So now they wondered if he would abandon them in their own times of trial
Then suddenly, when his disciples had forgotten the family at Bethany
He said “our friend Lazarus sleeps lets go wake him”

3.      Back at Bethany, from a distance,
He could feel every pang of anguish at the home of Lazarus
He could tell the sorrow of their rent hearts
As their brother was taken over by his strong foe…death
It was harder for Martha to take
For she had thought, had Christ been in the sickroom or anywhere nearer;
Death could not have aimed his dart at Lazarus in the presence of the life-giver
But in the midst of the despair
He knew, that for the sisters, for Lazarus, and for himself a victory was lurking in the air
He stayed in a quiet place by the wayside
He did not wish to meet his sisters in the scene of confusion
On hearing the news of the arrival of Jesus
Martha hastened to meet the master
Her heart was filled with conflicting emotions
He had not been a friend in their time of need
At this point she could almost say against all she had ever believed
That Jesus was not a friend indeed
But on seeing the face of the master
His calm in the midst of the turbulence
Though time had passed by
There was still love and compassion in his tender eyes
But grief still surged through her hearts
She could not hold herself back,
She said “if thou were here before my brother will not have died”
But his heart broke more
When she managed to mutter little hope in such hopelessness,
Saying “even now whatever you ask of God, he will give thee”
Jesus looked at her sorrowful and careworn face
And said “Thy brother shall rise again”

4.      He groaned in the spiritas they were troubled
He read the hearts of all assembled
It was a mournful scene
Lazarus was much beloved,
And his sisters wept for him with broken hearts
While those who had been friends
Mingled their tears with those of the bereaved sisters
Seeing that his friends could mourn over the dead,
While the savior of the world stood by
Jesus wept
He wept not for Lazarus, for he was about to call him from the grave
But he wept for their unbelief,
For they murmured among themselves;
“Did he not heal the sick, restore sight to the blind,
hearing to the deaf, and made the lame walk?
Now he weeps for he is helpless”
The whole of the world had forgotten the lone message earlier brought by the messenger
“This sickness is not unto death” and though Lazarus had died, Jesus could never lie
So with his eyes watery, his heart broken, and his voice mild and bold he said
“Where have you laid him?”

5.      On hearing this all of nature became agitated
Anxious for what his next words might be
The devil dispatched more of his cohorts to ensure one thing
That the master’s tears remains for loss and shame
And the anxiety increased even more by reason of his next words
“Take away the stone”
Now even Martha who wanted Lazarus the most objected to this
“By this time he stinketh” she had said
Four days ago, his heart had stopped to beat
His lungs were deprived of oxygen
Rigor mortis had set in and his muscles had stiffened
His colour was pale
His cells had died, starting with the brain cells and then the skin cells
His body bloated up and then collapsed leaving a flattened body with creamy flesh
And then the body fluids seeped into the soil
Grave wax had started to form in the fashion of cobwebs
Gases of purification emitted a foul odour, and of course, the flies came
And fly eggs hatched into maggots in and around his body
Eating up his decomposed remains
And the flies ate up the maggots
And the entire circle of life is set in process by yet another death
Lazarus was too dead to be seen again
So it was fair for Martha to say “by this time he stinketh”

6.      But there laid the body of Lazarus
The silence of the master insisted that his command be obeyed
Every single sound the stone had made while it was being rolled away was heard distance of miles away
Great was the silence
All of Bethany was at a standstill
And there was Lazarus, wrapped in tomb clothes
In the rocky grave, cold and silent in death
The cries of the mourners hushed,
You could hear the wind brush gently through the trees,
You could even hear the birds flap their wings
All expectant, standing around the sepulcher
Waiting to see what was to follow.
He lifted his eyes to the heavens
And then he says the most mysterious words yet to all that watched
“Father I thank you for you have heard me”

7.      Everybody wondered what he had said that the father had heard
So though they listened hard for what he had just said,
They forgot what he had said four days ago
“This sickness is not unto death” but though Lazarus died, Jesus had not lied
This the father had heard and for this he was thankful
Then with the calm and confidence of a king
He spoke to him that was dead as though he were alive
His voice was loud and clear
His words were gently and filled with power
“Lazarus come forth” he said
The sound echoed in the midst of the silence for all of Bethany to hear
But not just Bethany heard, all of Lazarus heard the masters call
The soil suddenly became moist and all of his body fluid which had seeped into the soil returned to his flesh eager to heed the master’s call
The flies which had flown far away from Bethany, suddenly felt a force as that of gravity pulling them back to Bethany and to the sepulcher of Lazarus, there they gave up the maggots they had eaten
The maggots in turn found their way back to the decomposed body and gave up the dead cells of Lazarus
All of nature stood still,
The circle of life began to tick anti-clockwise
The dead heart began to beat
The dried blood began to circulate
The stiff muscles began to flex
Grave wax fashioned as cobwebs melted back into tissues,
Tissue to tissue, bone to bone
Colour was restored to the skin
Finally his spirit was restored to his body
And out of the grave, Lazarus came hopping out
In obedience to the master’s call
For his sickness was not unto death, though he died the master could never lie
Now even death is not the end
For beyond death is the resurrection and the life
He that believeth on him, though he were dead yet shall he live again.

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