Sick in Sin
Recently I came across a little book written in 1909 by the well-loved Nazarene preacher "Uncle Bud" Robinson. I have shared about Uncle Bud before, in a different set of devotions - you might want to have a look at those.
This book is called The Story of Lazarus. Uncle Bud points out that the life, death and resurrection of Lazarus is a great metaphor of the Christian life. He says in the preface: "There is no condition in life but what Lazarus covers the ground."
So let me take you through his brilliant thinking in the next two weeks of devotions. This week will be quite heavy, because we're going to talk about how the descent of Lazarus into the grave paints a picture of what sin does in our own lives.
Lazarus: A Type of the Whole Human Family
The very first mention of Lazarus is in John 11:1, which says: "Now a man named Lazarus was sick." John doesn't write about Lazarus's achievements or his standing in society, but just that he was sick.
Uncle Bud sees in this sick man a picture of every child born into this world. He writes: "Lazarus, as a sick man, is the type of the newborn babe. When the child is born into this world it comes to us with the carnal mind in its heart and is unwell morally. Lazarus was unwell physically and the child is unwell spiritually."
This is what we call original sin - what Robinson calls "the carnal mind." Every human being enters this world carrying it. This is our inheritance from our father Adam, who sinned in the Garden of Eden.
So we are not born neutral. We are born unwell.
Born Unwell: The Reality of Original Sin
Uncle Bud points out that King David said this in Psalm 51:5: "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Paul said something similar - "we were by nature deserving of wrath." (Ephesians 2:3)
Parents know this, don't we? You don't have to teach a small child to be selfish or to grab what belongs to someone else. It comes naturally - because we are born with this sickness, our sinful nature already at work in us.
Now, Uncle Bud is careful to point out that the newborn child is not yet guilty of sin - it has not yet reached what he calls "the years of accountability" and has not yet made any sinful choices. But it carries within it the seeds of the disease - an inner pull away from God and toward self - and that disease, left untreated, is fatal.
The Disease Is Fatal - But There Is a Doctor
Note the very next verse after we meet the sick Lazarus. It says that "the sisters sent word to Jesus, 'Lord, the one You love is sick.'" (John 11:3)
The good news is that even we sick human beings are loved, and that there is a Healer who can save us from the effects of our sin-disease.
Today, humble yourself before God and see yourself in Lazarus - sick, thanks to an inherited sin-disease. But don't despair. Jesus loves you and is on His way!
The story of Lazarus reminds us that sin doesn't just kill - it binds us. We are powerless to save ourselves.