Resuscitation vs. Resurrection

It’s interesting, if somewhat annoying, to watch medical dramas with people who actually know something about medicine.  They love pointing out the inconsistencies or incorrect procedures that are depicted on the small screen.  Most of the time I have no idea what they are doing on the screen, let alone if it is wrong.  I do know that using a “crash cart” to shock someone’s heart back to beating has great dramatic effect and is done way more often on TV than is usual in a hospital setting.

Regardless of the accuracy of the portrayal, it is awesome to witness someone considered “dead” to be “alive.” In fact, a “crash cart” is part of the miraculous abilities that modern medicine offers us.  Through human intervention, we can bring the dead back to life, hopefully offering them a second chance at living well.

The key phrase in the last sentence is “through human intervention.”  That is the difference between resuscitation and resurrection.  This is an important distinction as we engage our Gospel lesson this week about the resuscitation of Lazarus (John 11:1-45).  I have heard this story be referred to as the resurrection of Lazarus and that is absolutely incorrect.  Only Jesus Christ has been resurrected (more on that later).  Yes, Lazarus was believed to be dead by his sisters and community.  Yes, they placed him in a tomb and left him there for four days.  Mourners had gathered and wept at their lost – even Jesus wept. 

And then Jesus prayed to God that Lazarus may be healed.  Jesus, a human male, intervened in the process of death.  No, he did not have modern medicine, but Jesus did have faith in the power of prayer. Jesus asked that God offer healing to the mortal body of Lazarus from whatever was wrong with him (I will resist the temptation to offer other hypotheses of Lazarus’s medical condition).  The point is that Jesus intervened in the most powerful way he could, and Lazarus as healed – he rose from the dead.

Lazarus was not, however, resurrected.  Resurrection is only something God can accomplish.  There is no human intervention and the person is restored to a newness of life that we have only ever witnessed in Jesus Christ.  That newness includes: Jesus’ wounds are not healed; people who know him well did not recognize him at first; and he is able to appear in a locked room without going through a door, but is still able to eat the same food as the disciples. 

The story of Lazarus’s death is a foreshadow of Jesus’s death, but it is not the same.  In part, it helps us see the importance of the power of prayer, although we have to remember to pray for strength to face the reality of the situation as well as for healing (which may not be physical). The elation and belief of the community strengthened their faith in Jesus’s message and, hopefully, allowed them to deal with his death by (eventually) accepting Jesus’s testimony that God would resurrect him.  If Jesus could intervene and help heal Lazarus after 4 days, surely God could act and raise the Christ after 3 days.  And God did. 

But we are not there yet in our Lenten journey.  As much as our culture loves jumping to the happy ending and saving lives by miraculous means every week, we must acknowledge the reality of death.  It is sad, heart-breaking, even painful, to be separated from our loved ones.  Sorrow and grief are real.  While we believe in the resurrection of the dead, it has not happened yet, accept for Jesus Christ.  However, we live in hope and faith, trusting God to fulfill God’s promises and never leave us comfortless, even in the midst of our sorrows.  

As we prepare to walk the sacred way of death with Jesus once more, it offers us the opportunity to deal with our losses, mourn our dead, and acknowledge the unjust systems that crucified Jesus, some of which still exist today.  We cannot intervene in this story and change it, but I don’t want to.  It is the greatest story ever told.  It is how God reconciled us to God, showing us just how much we are loved - completely and unconditionally. 

In Christ,

Rev. Valerie+

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