I have read a few of the books containing stories of people who have died and returned. Some say they were gone for an hour or two. A smaller number were in their out-of-body experience for 4-8. They're very interesting accounts.
There's an ancient story, too, that tells the same kind of story. It's from John's pen (John 11) in the days of Jesus when a man in Bethany, two miles outside of Jerusalem, died and returned. The Christian singer Carman has composed a song depicting a provocative perspective of John's account to help us modern people consider the amazement of what happened. The song is below.
It had been a week or less since Jesus had left Jerusalem, escaping a fate of stoning. In fact, Jesus had left the country (of Judea). The scholars of the Talmud and the important political circle leaders had determined they needed to kill Jesus. Jesus had decided to bring his teaching to their country. As long as he had stayed out in the outlying regions of Judea like Samaria, Galilee, Tyre and Sidon, Caesarea Philippi, and the Decapolis, the important Jews didn't see Jesus' teaching as anything more than an ever-buzzing, irritating gnat. But, Jesus had brought the fight to them. So, they were ready for him. They actually would have killed him about the same time he arrived in Jerusalem, but he had mysteriously disappeared and had left Judea. They figured he would return because Passover was only about a month away. They waited for his return.
After a week or so outside of Judea, Jesus received a message from Bethany, a village just two miles out of Jerusalem. There weren't too many people who knew where he was, so he knew the message must be important. It was. His great friend and brother of two women, also his great friends, had died. The fact that Jesus didn't respond right away seemed all right with his Twelve because they knew the Judean establishment was up in arms and might kill them too since they followed Jesus' teachings.
But two days after the message had come to them, Jesus told them that Lazarus needed to be awakened from his sleep, so he was going to Bethany to do that. Fact check: Jesus was not in Judea so he wouldn't be killed. Who in his right mind would risk his life to go wake someone else up? Well, alrightee then. Let's go even if we have to die with him was Thomas' response. I'm sure he was a bit tentative about that.
Verses 21
εἶπεν οὖν ἡ Μάρθα πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν· κύριε, εἰ ἦς ὧδε οὐκ ἂν ἀπέθανεν ὁ ἀδελφός μου
(Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, If you had been here, my brother would not have died.)
Verse 22
καὶ νῦν οἶδα ὅτι ὅσα ἂν αἰτήσῃ τὸν θεὸν δώσει σοι ὁ θεός
(Even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask him for.")
Verse 23
λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός σου
(Jesus said to her, "Your brother will get up.")
Verse 24
λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ Μάρθα· οἶδα ὅτι ἀναστήσεται ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ
(Martha replied, " I know that he will get up on the last day's resurrection.")
Martha clearly was asking Jesus, very politely of course, to bring her brother to life again. But, what she heard Jesus saying was a reference to a time when all humans would live again. She had heard him say that many times. She just hoped that Jesus would valued their friendship enough to give her special consideration. Her heart was crushed. She didn't know Jesus had come for the express purpose of waking Lazarus up. And she couldn't comprehend who was standing in front of her when Jesus told her, "I AM - The one who gets people up and gives them life. The one who believes that will live even if he dies!" (verse 26). She resigned herself to the fact of Jesus' presence being a condolence visit and went back inside of her house, telling Mary that the Teacher was asking for her.
Verses 32
Ἡ οὖν Μαριὰμ ὡς ἦλθεν ὅπου ἦν Ἰησοῦς ἰδοῦσα αὐτὸν ἔπεσεν αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς πόδας λέγουσα αὐτῷ· κύριε, εἰ ἦς ὧδε οὐκ ἄν μου ἀπέθανεν ὁ ἀδελφός
(Mary came to where Jesus was, saw him, and fell at his feet. "Lord," she said, "my brother would not have died is you had been here.")
Verse 33
Ἰησοῦς οὖν ὡς εἶδεν αὐτὴν κλαίουσαν καὶ τοὺς συνελθόντας αὐτῇ Ἰουδαίους κλαίοντας, ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι καὶ ἐτάραξεν ἑαυτὸν
(Jesus was deeply moved inside and disturbed in his spirit when he saw her and the Jews that had come with her grieving)
Mary said the same thing Martha did when she had greeted him. But, Jesus didn't respond to Mary. At the inner core of his spirit, he saw Mary's despair and non-understanding of the situation. He saw the mourners gathered who didn't have a clue either as to who Jesus really was. They were mourning the "loss" of someone they couldn't revive and would never see again. They couldn't see what "life" meant. They could only think in terms of Martha's statement that Lazarus would rise the same as they would "some" day way in the future. They couldn't fathom God, I AM, in flesh among them, who had ended the dimension separating them from himself. They couldn't enjoy that togetherness because they didn't have a reference for its frame. Martha's words showcase to the modern reader the realization Jesus was having.
Jesus was deeply disturbed in his spirit and emotionally distraught. And that is putting it mildly, I'm sure. The realization was so devastatingly sad to Jesus. I AM in the flesh, and they still mourned grievously for their brother's "loss" four days after his death That brought Jesus to tears. He decided to bring belief to their faltering awareness levels and to show the splendor of I AM.
He asked to be led to the tomb's entrance. Martha was told that the Teacher was going to the tomb with Mary. She met them there in time to hear Jesus ask for the stone to be removed. Jesus took in the scene at the grave once more with everyone's disbelief on full display.
Verse 38
Ἰησοῦς οὖν πάλιν ἐμβριμώμενος ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔρχεται εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον· ἦν δὲ σπήλαιον καὶ λίθος ἐπέκειτο ἐπ’ αὐτῷ
(Jesus again was disturbed inside when he approached the tomb. It was a cave with a stone placed against it.)
He turned to Martha. She hadn't gotten it even after their conversation. "Lord he'll stink after four days in the grave," was all she could say. She should have been ecstatic. She herself even said she knew that God would answer his requests. She had no faith, no understanding. Her mind was void of who I AM really was. No, she hadn't understood, at all.
Verse 40
λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· οὐκ εἶπόν σοι ὅτι ἐὰν πιστεύσῃς ὄψῃ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ
(Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you trusted, you would see God's splendor?)
Then Jesus turned his gaze to the skies above him while some men removed the stone.
Verse 41
πάτερ, εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὅτι ἤκουσάς μου
(Father, Thank you for having heard me.)
Verse 42
ἐγὼ δὲ ᾔδειν ὅτι πάντοτέ μου ἀκούεις, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ὄχλον τὸν περιεστῶτα εἶπον, ἵνα πιστεύσωσιν ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας
(I have always known that you hear me, but I am saying this for the sake of this crowd for them to believe that you sent me.)
His father was ready. He, the father's son, was ready. The people weren't ready, but they were soaking in every action, every word. They were simply spectators, not believers, pretty shallow followers trying to hang on to the smallest shred of a promise of things to come.
Then it happened.
Verse 43
καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκραύγασεν· Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω
(After he said this, he shouted, "Lazarus - out here!")
I can't imagine! Lazarus' form appeared in the entrance of the tomb. He lived again.
The morsel so full of flavor in this story is the one that troubles me the most. Oh, I love this episode from John. It gives me hope. It tells me more about Jesus' own humanity. But the flavor that lingers is the two mentions of Jesus' state of mind (verses 33 and 38). After conversing with Martha, after hearing Mary say the same thing Martha did, after seeing all the ones there to comfort them grieving so hard with the two sisters, he was emotionally distraught. It was true that he was deeply moved, but it was equally true that he was I AM, and they didn't recognize what he was about. That had brought tears to his eyes and a disturbance to his spirit.
I am certain that I have been no better than Martha. I have heard Jesus' words. I have known what he was about.
And yet, people around me die, and I'm sad and sorry for their losses. Can I not fathom that father and son are the ones that get people up and give them life? I think I would be different in how I lived if I did. I think my life would have a buoyancy to it. I think I wouldn't see "loss," but tremendous grace. I wouldn't see a passage of one life to another life but no dimension difference at all. I doubt I would even miss the one I lost so intensely but would have visions of that one so clearly walking in splendor.
I AM is not here face to face with me now. But, I have this story from John. If I understand it, then I should be on the other side of Jesus' words to Martha, one who believes that Jesus is I AM and that I am alive now and alive again more existentially with him after passing through the portal of this world.
It disturbs me that Jesus was disturbed enough to shed tears because no one at that time and place understood that HE WAS giving life. People sleep. They get up. He gets me up every day and even when the time comes for me not to get up to the scenery around me here, I have gotten up to a scene of unimaginable splendor in a more face to face dimension with I AM - son and father.
[The Greek text used is the Nestle-Alland 28th edition.]
[Songs are written by the composers mentioned in the song - Carman and Peg Angell.]
[Introductory art by Lemon Swindle. Photograph of tear from blog Desiring God
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/jesus-wept--2.]
[Translations from Greek are my own.]
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