Unwrappings (Rom. 6; Jn. 11, Luke 24; Heb. 12)

The wrappings of Christmas permeate everything. Trees line hallways at school, wreaths hang from the ceiling tiles and doors, and presents have been placed on and under the tree for distribution. The music is festive. Christmas cheer oozes and anticipation builds as the semester nears its end, yet the pangs of death’s sting have invaded our hallways and classrooms bringing sadness to mix with the joys of Christmas.
 
Death’s recent invasion makes me think of other wrappings as I pick up and read Romans 6 today. Much of the literature I teach in the upper grades speaks toward the idea that death is inevitable, inescapable. It is inevitable because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23, NIV), but through Christ’s work to justify men, in Him righteousness and hope (and life) may be found. Paul’s words in Romans 6:11-14 remind that us many people who claim to be in Christ walk around like dead folk trapped inside their graves, choosing to live in rottenness instead of newness of life (Rom. 6:4). While death is inevitable, through Christ, it is not inescapable.
 
Wrappings make me think of Jesus at Lazarus’s tomb. When he arrives four days after Lazarus’s death, Jesus does not leave him dead inside the tomb, surrounded by the rotten stench of decaying flesh. When Jesus arrives at the tomb, He orders the stone to be rolled away, to much protest by his sister Martha (Jn. 11:39). The rolling away of this stone foreshadows the one that will soon be rolled away from Jesus’ tomb by angels (Luke 24:2) and the work that He will do for those for whom He has come to die, for those trapped in sinful bodies wasting away from the sin that so easily besets them (Heb. 12:1). 
 
Jesus gently reminds Martha of what He has taught her, that belief results in seeing God’s glory (Jn. 11:40). Then Jesus looks up and speaks obvious, thankful truth to God in prayer before calling out to Lazarus to come out of the tomb (v. 41-43). Lazarus obeys Jesus’ voice, comes to life, exits the tomb, and presents himself to Jesus still trapped in his graveclothes (v. 44). 
 
Lazarus does not choose to stay in the tomb when Jesus resurrects his dead body. Tombs are for dead people, and he has been made alive again. He does not choose to stay wrapped tightly in the clothes that no longer fit, clothes bearing the stench of death and decay. He awaits Jesus’ order to those standing around stupefied: “Take off the grave clothes, and let him go” (v. 44). Lazarus is no longer a slave to death. He has been set free.
 
Lazarus does not re-enter his tomb each night to rest there. The verses that follow make it clear that he walks around as a living testimony to God’s glory and resurrection power; otherwise, why would the Jews watching many come to Christ as a result of Lazarus’s resurrection feel so threatened by him and want him dead? 
 
Paul’s words in Romans 6 echo Jesus’ words to Martha. His words remind the Roman Christians that if they want to see God’s glory, they too must believe, just as Martha is reminded by Jesus to believe when faced with the reality of her brother’s death. 
 
Belief leads to action as faith and grace accomplish their work.
 
The Romans (and all who claim to follow Christ) must walk out of the stench of deadness and into the newness of life in Christ. They must daily choose to no longer wear death’s stinky clothes but instead choose to unwrap them and put on robes of righteousness, of life in Christ. The battle with the flesh and its deadness is real. Paul speaks of not letting sin reign or rule in our mortal bodies, of not allowing it to make us obey its passions and lusts, of not continuing to present our members to sin as tools of unrighteousness.
 
At Jesus’ call, in the face of death, we must act like we too have walked out of the tomb alive and present ourselves as tools useful to God, righteous, free from the pervasive love of the trappings of sin and its power to rule our lives. We have delivered from slavery to sin, unwrapped, free to be used by Christ, believing we will see God’s glory even in the midst of the trials of this life. 
 
This reminder to daily walk in God’s grace, in the newness of life that Christ has given, in HIs calling to believe, requires a daily unwrapping of the gift he has freely given. Jesus’ gift is a present far too precious to be left unwrapped.