My ten-year-old grandson called me, wanting to talk. While we were chatting, I asked him about church and what he’d learned. 

“Nana, we studied Lazarus. You remember that story?”

Of course, I said I did after he gave a me a pretty complete rundown of the Biblical event.

He went on to tell me that he was one of the volunteers to get “dressed in grave clothes.” For that, the other kids wrapped the volunteers in toilet paper and when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave, the volunteers broke out of the toilet paper and were set free.

In the middle of telling about being wrapped, my grandson paused the story to say, “Nana, the toilet paper was all new, not used.” 

I struggled to hold back my laughter and didn’t say, “Thank you for the clarification.” 

His story had me pondering the account of Lazarus—especially the part where Jesus approaches the grave.

“When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.” John 11:33-35

Everyone was weeping at the loss of Lazarus. Jesus wept, just as he wept over Jerusalem. Just as we all should mourn or weep for those who are lost in sin. When a person we know is separated from God, we shouldn’t judge, but instead we must mourn over their sin and bring their name before God in the hope they will turn their life over to Jesus.

All those who were crying over Lazarus still had doubts. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary said the same thing when she came to Jesus at Martha’s bidding. Many of the Jews who followed Mary to Jesus said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man, also have kept this man from dying?”

When we see people we love following a worldly path, we often have doubts about whether they will ever come to know Jesus. Can God reach a person who is this awful—a person who has this many problems? But, it is not for us to know, it is our gift to pray for them and see what God can do.

Jesus followed Mary to the tomb and had them roll away the stone, over their protests that the body would smell. Then He prayed asking that the people there would believe. Then He called Lazarus:

“When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”” John 11: 43-44

Perhaps the greatest work Jesus gave us is found in the words, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Lazarus came out from the tomb still bound by the grave clothes. He couldn’t break free on his own. He needed the help of others.

This is not always a pleasant business. There is a stench involved, the hanging on of some of the old lifestyle. It must be removed with care. 

When someone we know gives their life to Christ, we must come alongside them. While it isn’t good to be intrusive or judgmental, an encouraging word, an invitation to coffee, a prayer with them or for them, is always a positive step. Don’t shy away from them just because some of those old grave clothes are hanging on—old habits are hard to break and may take time.

While my grandson’s remark about the toilet paper was funny, in reality it might have been more realistic to use dirty toilet paper. It is the stinky stuff that we have in our lives that needs removed. Jesus has called us to Him. We can break out of those grave clothes. And we have the privilege of helping others to put off the old and put on the new.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17