(What Would Jesus Do?)bracelet once. Withintwo minutes, I had failed. - PDF document

(What Would Jesus Do?)bracelet once. Withintwo minutes, I had failed. I slipped the green fabric band on mywrist and connected the clasp. I turned the band around andrealized I had put it on upside down, so I was reading something like¿(]TMM. I couldn’t figure out what that had to do with my life, so I knew theremust be a problem. The bracelet was tight on my arm, so I had to take it off toturn it over, and when I did I broke the clasp thingy and couldn’t get it to fasten ISPRING 201137yRonBenson again. So I mumbled somethingunder my breath. Just what Imumbled is not important. ButI think I must have broken theWWJD regulations. I used a littleduct tape and got it back on, butafter a while it just turned my wrista little sticky and green, elicitingimprove my behavior.Honestly, the attempt to live likeJesus—to ask “What Would JesusDo?” and then do it in every situa-tion—seems like a frustrating, fu-tile endeavor. Can I live like him?Jesus is not easy to emulate, es-pecially when it comes to the res-urrected life. How exactly do I pullFrederick Buechner said aboutbriefly and talked to him. If it istrue, there is nothing left to say. Ifit’s not true, there is nothing left tosay. For believers and unbelieversboth, life has never been the sameThe resurrection of Jesus Christchanges everything. It alters ourworldview on a cosmic scale.Everything we know about life anddeath, on that one day, the firstday of the week, was turned upsideThe resurrection answers a long-ing that seems to sit on ourhearts—the thirst for more of life.The fact of Jesus’ resurrection im-pacts the way we live and the waywe die. If we are Jesus-lovers, weAll of that is true, rock-solid andbeyond dispute for a person whoWhere I struggle, however, is inhow to live that life “to the full.”What does it look like to live abun-When I look at the gospels, oneperson’s story calls out to me foremulation—Lazarus. Here’s a guyjust like me who was dead andburied. (The Bible refers to me asdead in sin before Jesus rescueddays, and then Jesus brought himback to life. (The Bible says Godhas made me alive in Jesus). Theportrait of Lazarus is a great repre-sentation of my salvation inMy imagination goes crazy whenI think of Lazarus after that mo-ment when he was sprung fromdeath’s grip. What did he do whenhe heard Jesus call out? Whatwould he say as soon as the graveclothes were peeled away from hislips? Where would he run after hislegs were unbound? What wouldhe do with the rest of his newlife—his I have trouble doing whatJesus did. But I think I could pulloff pretending to be Lazarus. Ithink Lazarus gives us a startingplace to live a resurrected life hereand now.The Lazarus ExperimentAfter Easter last year, I encouragedthe people of our church, GraceChristian Fellowship, to live likeLazarus. We called it The LazarusExperiment: Come Awake!I’ve always bucked Lent for rea-sons of freedom, and I’ve alwayshad trouble giving things up any-way. So I decided to do somethingmy life every day. I shared the sug-gestion to our church. Lent re-moves things from our lives—wewere going to do the opposite:make an addition, based on whatwe thought Lazarus might be likelyto do once he was rescued fromFrom Easter to Ascension Day weadded something each day thatof new life.We asked, What WouldLazarus Do?Some friends suggested to methat perhaps the whole big dealwould not have been happy aboutbeing brought back from the dead.Wouldn’t he be sad at facing lifeagain? In fact, wouldn’t he havebeen majorly peeved? Perhapsonce the binding of his death-shroud was removed he pulledback his un-dead arm to slap who-was just settling down for my fifthharp lesson, sitting there on theclouds all dressed in white, gettingready to really rock the house with he resurrection of Jesus Christ changescosmic scale. Everything we know about lifeand death, on that one day, the first day of theweek, was turned upside down. onestly, the attempt to live like Jesus—to ask“What Would Jesus Do?” and then do it inendeavor. Can I live like him? Is that even possible? my awesome heavenly fingering,and then I hear you call, ‘Lazarus!Come forth!’ And I’m like, huh?!And I tell my harp teacher, ‘Oh,aren’t any stronger words you canuse up there), and I pull up myrobe and walk on down to thegate. And Peter says, ‘See you nexttime!’ And then it occurs to me,I’m going to have to die—AGAIN!(That’s all wrong, of course, be-cause Peter wasn’t at the gate yet—he was with Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb,I don’t want to be sacrilegious orirreverent. But really—about thiswhole “Was Lazarus happy tocome back?” question, I’ll just saythis: Life is life. God views life asreally good, and death as a robberand a thief. We really don’t knowmuch about what was going onwith Lazarus or where he wasI think he was happy to hear fromhis Lord, and thrilled to be backamong the living. I imagine that assoon as the grave clothes unwoundaround his ankles, Lazarus ran toJesus, fell at his feet, and laughedwhile he cried for joy. (Besides, if we did the wholethe assumption that Lazarusdidn’t want to live again, Idon’t think it would reallybe much fun. Kind of de-pressing, probably.)So, we set out to live likeLazarus—seeing our lives asa complete and utter gift ofGod’s grace, living every daywith an awareness of unde-served, unlimited, unbeliev-Several people took on theexperiment. Tricia, for in-stance, grabbed the wholeidea and ran with it, postingnearly every day on Face-book about the things shewas doing. On day twelve,when she was eating lunchat the cafeteria at work, shetook a pat of butter andstuck it in her purse. A mem-ory of her Grandpa and hislove for “free” butter hadToday, seeing the little goldenfoiled pad of butter sitting inthe bowl on the counter, Igrabbed it. I remembered eatinga meal with my Grandpa andsharing the importance ofREAL butter, and I explained to T he resurrection answers a longing thatseems to sit on our hearts—the thirstfor more of life. ere are some tips for your LazarusExperiment:  Think of moments when you are thrilledwith being alive, and do those things. Challenge yourself to do somethingbeyond the norm. (I think Lazarus mighthave enjoyed skydiving or a fastrollercoaster!). Think outside of yourself. There are amillion different ways to shower grace onunsuspecting people, and it’s the mostfun you could ever have. Ask God to show you some ways youcould celebrate new life in Christ.Here are some specific examples. Use anythat fit you, but be sure and craft thesewith your own personality. Use this list asa springboard. (Thanks to lots of friendswho helped with this list).1. Sit in the sun. 2. Eat a cupcake. 3. Give a stranger flowers.4. Set aside an hour just to daydream.5. Call a friend you haven’t talked to in tenyears.6. Spend a few hours at a bookstore orlibrary.7. Cheesecake!8. Help a friend with their car, theirplumbing or their painting.9. Take a mini-vacation.10 Hike a new trail.11. Go on a leisurely drive.12. Read to a child. 13. Alfredo—any kind of alfredo! 14. Talk to your grown children withoutgiving any advice. 15. Plant a garden inside.16. Look at photos with your spouse.17. Walk down the street and give afriendly greeting to everyone you meet.18. Start a new journal.19. Take a nap.20. Buy new walking shoes. And use them!21. Watch a sunrise and/or sunset frombeginning to end. Extra credit if water isincluded. ial butter.I could be wrong, but I thinkLazarus would have relished hismemories and relished even more theopportunity to make moreAs the experiment began to roll,even people outside our church gotthe bug. They started posting theiractions and reactions on Facebook,as did I, and pretty soon lots ofothers were asking questions:What’s this Lazarus thing? Whatare you up to? Please explain so wethe experiment early on, eventhough she didn’t attend Grace.Kaye knows more than I do aboutwhat Lazarus may have beenfeeling—Kaye is a cancer survivor.As the experi-ment came toa close, she re-flected on herslowed down tosmell the roses,favorite perfume. During and afterchemo, I abandoned perfume becausenow, towear it again and let every whiff re-Here are some items from my ownDay 1: I took a walk in the grassDay 5: At an intersection be-tween Bay City and Freeland, atout, run around the car, and jumpback in. I did it alone, but withcars waiting behind me. TheyDay 8: Windows rolled down—fifty degrees—bright orange sunsetin front of us—Juke Joint playingthe blues loud on the radio—Jono(my son) and I boogie-in’ freelyDay 17: Told the proprietors ofBig Apple Bagel that they make theDay 20: Fished with my son Jere-my. Waved at boaters in the river. Day 25: Burned incense while Iprayed in my office. (I know,Day 31: Kissed a beautiful(My wife! And I do meanDay 40: Enjoyed a second help-ing of the best homemade falafelever, made by my son Gary.I should warn against makingThe Lazarus Experimentual to stick on our vests like somany Sunday School pins. Whatwe don’t need is another way to at-tempt to prove to God we’re wor-life over death, the victory of resur-rection, the profound gift of gracein the promise of everlasting lifebecause of Jesus. That’s why oneday my entry read:Day 15: Took the day off fromOn her last day of the experi-ment, Tricia offered these insightsto those who were following herMany of you played along and I lovedthat! I learned from you and I was en-couraged by those that shared wordseither on Facebook or face to face.Your comments kept me going.Lazarus had the privilege of beingraised by Jesus. I’m not that differentfrom Lazarus. I’m not even close toperfect, but I’ve been given new life inJesus. It is for HIS glory that I wantmy life to continue and have purpose.Just like Lazarus.My guess is that once you getstarted, you’ll come up with allkinds of ideas. If you’re looking fora way to celebrate new life, join uson Facebook. Look for The Lazarus, or check my website atwww.ronbenson.net. We’ll be pro-viding tips, giving updates andpooling our experiences. Mostly,Jones, Henry and Casey were sit-ting in a bar discussing the wordsthey would like to hear spokenCasey says, “I would like them tosay ‘He was a wonderful familyman—he always supported hisHenry says, “That’s lovely Casey.But I would like to hear them say,‘He was a great man in the com-munity—he undertook a lot ofprojects to make his community aJones says, “That’s very nice,Henry. But I would like to hearthem say, ‘Look! He’s moving!’”We all want life. Jesus offers it tothe max, and Lazarus is a living,breathing example. So this Easter,ask yourself the question: Whatwould Lazarus—post-dead, second-time-around, grace-empoweredWhat Would Lazarus Do?finds himself living as if he were adead man. He is grateful to a lovingfamily who keeps him awake, and toa church that reminds him how to re-ally live. He writes and pastors fromFreeland, Michigan I have trouble doing what Jesus did. But I think I could pull off pretending to be Lazarus.I think Lazarus gives us a starting place to live a resurrected life here and now. S o, we set out to live likeLazarus—seeing ourgift of God’s grace, livingevery day with an awarenessof undeserved, unlimited, K do about what Lazarusmay have been feeling—Kaye is a cancer survivor.