‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Luke 24:7
Chad Westerholm, who is a missionary in Mozambique, told the story of baptizing a man with the unusual but biblical name of Lazarus. One week later, Lazarus tragically died of AIDS.
When people die in Lazarus’ village an age-old tradition is upheld. Upon the occasion of the death, a funeral occurs. Funerals are familiar to all of us, but it is what happens after the last rites there that is a bit unusual. After a person passes away, all of the family and the friends of the deceased arrive at the house of the mourning family. The houseguests stay for three days and basically eat all the food of the bereaved family.
After the third day and all the groceries are pretty much gone, the visitors leave. That is the tradition. It never changes. The inconvenience of insensitive company is expected and tolerated. Everyone learns to live with the way it has always been. You lose your love one, and then you lose your resources. And it might totally be that way today except for the death of Lazarus.
When Lazarus died, the Christians in his village decided to undo the past and start a new way of doing things. A funeral took place as in the past, but they changed what happened after the memorial. Three days after the death of Lazarus, the believers went to his grave and placed a cross upon it. After this ritual, they gathered all the food they could muster up and took it to the house of Lazarus’ grieving family and gave the goods to them. But that wasn’t all of the grace shown. The church members also pooled their money together taking a collection to take care of the new widow. A new Christian tradition was born in the village. And people took notice of it.
But more than anyone else, Lazarus’ family noticed the difference in the Christians and everyone else when it came to how death was approached. And on that third day, the wife of Lazarus and all of his family were baptized into Christ. They were simply amazed by the love that was shown by the Christians. Their graciousness had to be explained. And it was Jesus that made the difference in their actions. And as a result, it was Jesus in whom the family believed.
It is all about the third day, isn’t it? In Mozambique the non-Christians left on the third day after they had taken all they could. But on the third day, the Christians showed up with all they could to help. It is all about the third day, isn’t it? It is the day Jesus showed up to tell us that there is hope and life.
It’s still all about the third day. It was for Lazarus. There is no cure for AIDS, but there is one for death. It’s all about the third day.
