What would life have been like for Lazarus after he was raised from the dead?

He would have had notoriety. Were social media available, he would be considered an influencer. Where else would you go for information about what happens when we die. Questions like, “what was death like” would have been asked.

One would think that Lazarus would have new perspective on the idea of “don’t sweat the small stuff” after dying and being brought to life. Unfair criticism, threats, wealth, and social standing, the things we get bothered by, would likely have little, if any, effect on Lazarus. 

John tells us that the Jews wanted to kill him because of his testimony of being brought back to life (see John 12:10). Lazarus had to go through life with a target on his back from the leaders of his community. 

While I have never heard a sermon proclaiming this thought, I wonder if Lazarus should represent the paradigm for the Christian life. Paul tells us that Christians have been raised to a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17) even though we have not yet experienced physical death.

If I am truly raised to a new life, then the little things that throw me off, the little things that I allow to push me toward shame or condemnation, should be inconsequential. My frame of reference should be like Lazarus’ knowing that death, hardship, and the opinion of others are shallow threats.

I wonder if, after experiencing death and resurrection, Lazarus had a renewed sense of who God created him to be and much of the junk that marred the image of God in him was burned away. He was given a new, true identity in his relationship to Jesus and the new life Jesus had given him.

I want that for myself. Many people have tried to define who I am, and in my idolatry, I have let them. I call it idolatry because I have been more concerned with what people think about me than what God thinks about me. I have allowed them to chisel away at the image of God in me.

This is not to say that I should not listen to feedback about my behavior, but that feedback needs to be put through the lens of Scripture so that I am more concerned about what God says. 

This was not modeled in my church-going family. This was not modeled in the churches we attended. In fact, it was overtly taught in my family that we needed to be very concerned about what people thought of us. We needed to dress a certain way, and we needed to act a certain way, and we needed to talk a certain way. 

The only problem was that this “certain way” was not based on Scriptural principles, but was based on a legalistic church culture. This is a lot like the Jewish religious practice in which Lazarus grew up and which Jesus came to confront.

What I want to adopt is a Lazarus perspective. His perspective of what really mattered would have been shaped by a glimpse into eternity. I am guessing that he put everything through the grid of what prepared him for reuniting with his savior, Jesus.

I’ve been a Christian for a long time, and I am a long way from being fully yielded to this perspective. But it is my hope, and I believe the evidence proves this out, that I have made progress and will continue to draw nearer to Jesus as I allow the wrong perspectives and the wrong voices to have diminishing influence in my choices.

I will strive to have the Lazarus perspective.