Lazarus, The Symbol

SAT., JULY 22, 1995, 11:50 PM
FARM, STUDY

As John tells the story…and you and your early morning “comrades” did chew on that in this mid-week… Lazarus died and was entombed, and I, as Jesus, brought him back to the fullness of life again. Whether this actually happened is not as important as the truth that it illuminates. This is the truth that death, while obvious as a physical phenomenon, is not a spiritual reality, when I am involved. Lazarus is the symbol that I make possible the continuation of life, in the spirit. Lazarus’ body certainly died, again, sometime after the time of the story, but this was of no consequence. Life continues when your hand is in Mine.

In the story I deliberately delayed going to the village where Lazarus, Mary, and Martha lived. I knew his body was dying, and I knew when it was no longer functional and therefore was entombed. I wanted to show forth that most obvious of physical miracles… bringing a dead person back to the fullness of life again. Therefore I had to do a “long distance prelude.” My life-giving power, which, as Jesus, I had from Me, the Almighty Giver and Taker of life in the flesh, had to affect Lazarus in the tomb so that his body, unembalmed, would not deteriorate. This was preferable to restoring rotting flesh and deteriorating organs. It was prevention, usually preferred over treatment.

When I arrived everyone was certain that Lazarus was dead. The text even notes that there would be a smell. The folks there were aware of what dead bodies were like. Therefore what I did was seen as a miracle, which I called the Power of God. I had that Power, and I was free to use it, when I felt it was right to do so.

Lazarus came forth, not just living again, but fully functional. The symbol is that the life that continues after bodily death is really full life, wellness and full functioning supreme. If there was more acceptance of this truth there would be much less sorrow and much less in the way of resources wasted on funeral “stuff.”

Oh, I recognize that there are instances when a death is truly premature and unexpected, and where there is genuine mourning for the loss of relationship and for what the earth life could have been, if it had been extended. Because most who die, in your culture, are relatively old, there is less legitimacy in extended mourning. As I have told you before I can distinguish between honest grieving for the one who had died and a more selfish “poor me” response.

At the scene of Peter’s accident when you were told that he was “deceased” you didn’t hang around there. This was because you were assured, in your spirit, and Lenore in hers, that Pete’s spirit was on its way to a better place for him. (You have wondered, since, if his spirit was actually above the accident scene, observing you observing his body. You shall know that for sure when you come across.) When you heard of the experience I gave to Marylin (and didn’t I exhibit My spirit of fun in choosing her to be assured of Peter’s continued life, in fullness and joy?!) you could then cry, in happiness, for his good fortune.

Lazarus was a symbol that when you are in My presence you are fully alive. As Jesus, My body, in flesh and blood form, is no more on this earth, but it certainly is in spirit form, which is the “real reality.” When your spirit, in its spiritual bodily form, comes into My presence you shall experience life at its best. Increasingly you will realize, admit, and even attest, that when you are hearing Me, initially or in the rereading of Teachings, you are experiencing life at its best, in the eternal sense.