Talking to a Friend about Lazarus

I was talking to a friend this morning about the situation with Lazarus. It's one of the basic miracles - that Lazarus was dead, rotting actually, and Jesus "cured" him, bringing him back to life. My friend thinks it's all mental - our perceptions of what's happening here, and therefore there really isn't a solid reality.

I suspect my friend's right about the mental part - yes, there are charlatans out there claiming they can perform hands on and other types of miraculous healing, and yes, James Randi and other skeptics perform a great service when they unmask that sort of fraud. But the existence of the frauds out there doesn't negate that spontaneous "healing" is possible. And I beg to differ with my friend - the fact that people are wandering around deluded doesn't negate that reality exists.

Reality exists. I think the way Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead was by seeing that reality in all of its perfection, by looking beyond the illusion of the rotting body to see Lazarus as he always was - the perfect man. "And behold I saw the perfect man." What looks like healing is a dropping off of all illusions.

Then it would be possible to walk on water, walk through walls, defy the laws of gravity, and heal everyone, starting with ourselves - not from the perspective a deluded, pretend state, but from a point of true grounding in what actually is and always has been.

At least I want to entertain the idea of that reality for today - hold that possibility in mind and celebrate it.