The resurrection of Lazarus takes him back to his old life while the resurrection of Jesus takes us “beyond” grief, struggle and even death. It is deeply transformative and as Christians, it is our life’s hope and goal. This year, we feel as though we are truly sitting in a tomb of doubt and sadness and it becomes easy to hope for the resurrection of Lazarus. We want to get “back to normal” but God is not calling us “back” at all. God calls us forward.
In this time of such uncertainty, we should look to what we know and trust: God’s spirit in our lives, God’s call for us to care for one another, our abilities and resilience that have brought us through the past, and the love and support of our community that is with us in spirit even more deeply, as we must physically distance ourselves.