Unbind him
Lucie Spiers
Standing in the ante-chapel of New College, Oxford is the last major carving by the sculptor Joseph Epstein. A formidable piece capturing the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, this figure holds us in the moment that Jesus calls him out of the grave. Its head is turned as though listening; poised between death and new life, burial and rebirth, at the moment when a heartbeat would spill breath back into him. At first sight, this sculpture captivated me with its uncomfortable tension, presenting us not with a triumphant and rejoicing Lazarus, but a man pinioned, arrested in motion, urgent for life.
In the raising of Lazarus, as we witness Jesus’ divinity, we also see his humanity. This man is the good friend and intimate of Jesus, with whom he and his sisters, Martha and Mary, shared a close relationship. When Lazarus fell ill the women had such faith in Jesus that they called for him to come, ‘he whom you love is ill’.
But Jesus waited two days before he answered their call. He could have prevented the death of Lazarus, but he knew that this illness would not lead to death, instead it was ‘for God’s glory, that the Son of God might be glorified through it’. In this miracle we see prefigured not only the resurrection of Christ but also the new life of each baptism and the resurrection of all. By delaying his arrival, Jesus shares in our intense pain, grief and loss at the death of a loved one, weeping for Lazarus and perhaps for his own journey which will lead him to the cross.
When even in the midst of her grief Martha declares her faith, saying ‘even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him’, Jesus replies ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.’ He raises Lazarus from the dead, calling loudly, 'Lazarus come out!’ and Lazarus emerges, still wrapped in his grave clothes for Jesus to then say, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’.
Epstein’s sculpture is an unsettling reminder of what Jesus’s followers encountered at Lazarus’ tomb, and the enormity of what they were asked to do. As they do Jesus’ bidding, they overturn the old law, for they touch what is ritually unclean; through this they accept the new law of the new covenant. They act as agents of Lazarus’ release from death, unbinding him from the vestiges of the imprisonment and darkness of the tomb. We too as followers of the risen Christ must seek to liberate others, knowing from experience that we can be ‘dead’ even in the midst of living; hoping for a call to life and a community that will help raise us up.
As we journey through Lent let us pray for all those who grieve, like Martha and Mary, for all that has been lost during this pandemic, and let us pray for ourselves too - what is it that we need to be unbound from? For faith in God will liberate us. Faith in He who called light out of darkness; who calls us, as he did Lazarus, from death to urgent new life.
