Ezekiel 37:12-14/ Romans 8:8-11/ John 11:1-45
No matter what we want to say about appearances, we can’t deny that looks are important.
We may not be that vain as to want to look gorgeous or glamorous, but in all modesty, we would want to look pleasant.
So, if we have the “plain Jane” kind of looks, we certainly won’t let it remain like that.
Otherwise, the beauticians will be out of work, and the beauty and skincare product companies will go out of business.
So, to maintain the looks, going for facial and hairdressing are like the minimum requirements.
And it is not just the ladies who go for such things.
The men are catching up. Gone are the days when the “rock-face” is in. That era belongs to actors like Charles Bronson.
The “in” looks belong to actors like Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom and Tom Cruise, with smooth looks, as well as great hairstyles like David Beckham.
So, it’s like “I live, therefore I must look good”. And it is not just when we are alive and well that we want to look good.
Even in death, we would also like to look presentable for others when they come to pay their respects.
So, when we are alive, we need beauticians; when we are dead, we need morticians. In any case, both will make us look good.
But for the Lazarus that we heard about in the gospel, he didn’t have to look good upon his death. (Maybe there were no morticians around at that time)
The dead person was wrapped up, the hands and feet bound with bands of cloth, with a cloth around the face. That was how it was described in the gospel.
The reality of death was traumatic (and it still is) and hence all signs of death must be concealed and wrapped up.
There is nothing good to look at in death. It only evokes grief and pain and sorrow.
But when Jesus called out to Lazarus and when he came out of the tomb, Jesus said to the people: Unbind him, let him go free.
Obviously, to show that Lazarus had come back to life, not only his hands and feet must be free from the binds of cloth, his face must be uncovered.
It was not just to show people that he looked good even after four days in the tomb; it was for the look of life, that Lazarus was raised from the dead and was alive.
Jesus was not some kind of skilled mortician that made a dead man look good and alive.
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead; Jesus raised Lazarus to life!
Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. And He said: If anyone believes in me, even though he dies, he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
So, do we believe this? Can we believe this? And if we believe this, then what does it mean for us?
Back in 2008, there was this Japanese movie titled “Okuribito” or “Departures” (of course there are English sub-titles)
The movie is about the historic Japanese “encoffining” ceremony in which professional morticians ritually clean, dress and prepare the bodies before they are placed in the coffin.
Morticians and undertakers are a necessary occupation, though not necessary a preferred one, whether in Japan or elsewhere.
The story is about an unemployed cellist who went back to his hometown with his wife and through some confusion and desperation took on the job as a mortician, though he initially detested it.
He was beset with nausea, and he was also humiliated when strangers on the bus detect a stench on him.
Even his wife rejected him when she found out about his profession, because she didn't want to be touched by a man who touched the dead.
But he knew he had to continue. He realized that he was providing a service that had become meaningful to him.
It was a sense of fulfillment as he saw the relatives of the deceased feeling the consolation and having a closure with death and moving on in their lives.
One particular scene that was profound was how the face of the deceased was made up with exquisite attention to detail.
In some ways, that movie portrayed the mortician as someone who prepares the deceased in a dignified and respectable way for the afterlife.
So if we truly believe in Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life, then we would want to let Him prepare us for the afterlife by the way we live in this life.
And that means we have to face the ugliness and brokenness that we see in ourselves and in others.
Yes, the wages of sin is a slow spiritual death that is expressed in the ugliness and brokenness of our lives.
But Jesus calls out to us, heals our ugliness and brokenness and He unbinds us and frees us from the fear of death.
And like the mortician in the movie “Departures” we are also called to give people respect and dignity and help them rise to a life of meaning and fulfillment and to look at life with hope.
Yes, the Lord has forgiven us our sins and heals us and calls us to live a life in Him.
Let us celebrate this new life in Christ and may that new life be also shown on our faces.