I am captivated by the story of Jesus teaching in the countryside when he receives word that one of his closest friends, Lazarus, has fallen very ill. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand why, but He doesn’t seem compelled to rush home to help. A couple of lines later, He tells the twelve guys in his inner circle matter-of-factly that Lazarus has “fallen asleep.” This is such a peculiar interpretation of Lazarus’s condition because by the time Jesus finally arrives on the scene, Lazarus has been dead four days.  The Gospel tells us that Lazarus was already wrapped up and buried: “laid to rest in a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it.”

Read my full post here at the Catalyst blog.