What do you think?
Rate this book
Lazarus, Come Forth!: How Jesus Confronts the Culture of Death and Invites Us Into the New Life of Peace
The raising of Lazarus in John s Gospel is one of the most dramatic and poignant episodes in scripture. While traditionally read as a story about friendship and faith, Dear shows through his extended meditations how this story summarizes the persistent theme of the Gospel. If Lazarus represents humanity, the story of his raising is about the God of Life confronting the power of death itself, calling humanity to walk out of the tombs of death--the culture of violence and war--and into the new life of resurrection peace. According to Dear, the Gospel urges us to carry on this liberating work of Jesus today: to remove the stone that keeps us trapped in cultures of violence, to call each other out of the tombs, to unbind one another and set each other free to live in peace. In pursuing this work, we fulfill our vocations as disciples of Jesus and enter the fullness of life today.
- GenresReligion
179 pages, Paperback
First published October 19, 2011
8 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
John Dear
56 books30 followersFather John Dear (The Society of Jesus) is an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence. A Jesuit priest, pastor, peacemaker, organizer, lecturer, and retreat leader, he is the author/editor of 30 books, including his autobiography, “A Persistent Peace.” In 2008, John was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
From 1998 until December 2000, he served as the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States.
After the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, John served as a Red Cross Chaplain, and became one of the coordinators of the chaplain program at the Family Assistance Center. He worked with some 1,500 family members who lost loved ones, as well as hundreds of firefighters and police officers, while at the same time, he spoke out against the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
From 2002-2004, he served as pastor of several parishes in northeastern New Mexico. He co-founded Pax Christi New Mexico and works on a nonviolent campaign to disarm Los Alamos. These days, he lectures to tens of thousands of people each year in churches and schools across the country and the world. He also writes a weekly column for the “National Catholic Reporter” at www.ncrcafe.org.
A longtime practitioner and teacher of nonviolence, John has written hundreds of articles and given thousands of talks on nonviolence. John has two masters degrees in theology from the Graduate Theological Union in California.
* BIO EXCERPT FROM http://www.johndear.org/
From 1998 until December 2000, he served as the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States.
After the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, John served as a Red Cross Chaplain, and became one of the coordinators of the chaplain program at the Family Assistance Center. He worked with some 1,500 family members who lost loved ones, as well as hundreds of firefighters and police officers, while at the same time, he spoke out against the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
From 2002-2004, he served as pastor of several parishes in northeastern New Mexico. He co-founded Pax Christi New Mexico and works on a nonviolent campaign to disarm Los Alamos. These days, he lectures to tens of thousands of people each year in churches and schools across the country and the world. He also writes a weekly column for the “National Catholic Reporter” at www.ncrcafe.org.
A longtime practitioner and teacher of nonviolence, John has written hundreds of articles and given thousands of talks on nonviolence. John has two masters degrees in theology from the Graduate Theological Union in California.
* BIO EXCERPT FROM http://www.johndear.org/
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 27, 2012
This is a very straight forward explanation of nonviolence as deployed into history through the life of Jesus. The author shows the story of Lazarus as a parallel for the awakening of humanity from the plight of violence, selfishness, discord, and strife. Lazarus, representing humanity, needs to be awakened into a new culture that involves the abolition of war, greed, injustice, poverty, executions, nuclear weapons, and environmental destruction.
The author contends that, like Lazarus, Jesus calls us all to arise from the world of violence into a new life. What does that new life look like? To quote the author, it looks like: “Laughing children, affirming parents, happy marriages, plentiful food, bountiful wine, good friends, uplifting music, peaceful days, beautiful landscapes, meaningful service, gentle compassion, daily awareness of God’s love, good graces, and fullness of life.” The author rightly asserts that this grand vision appears to disbelieving eyes as absurdly utopian; and I must say that even many purported believers often have their doubts about its attainability. But the reality is that such doubts and absurdities occur in the midst of inaction, while people all over the world are stooped under the burdens of hunger, war, ignorance, poverty, imprisonment, excessive labor, environmental destruction, neglect, greed, executions, and injustice. All this happens while many privileged Christians daily attribute their wealth and success to God’s preferential favor for them.
Millions starve and we don’t feel it. Our nation goes off to war after war after war and we do nothing about it, not even ask enough pointed questions to really know and understand why we are at war in the first place. Instead, we ignore these evils in favor of our own safety and wealth. We become content to work day after day for our paychecks, further amassing our wealth, but essentially enslaved by a culture that is characterized by violence, not only abroad, but all around us. This author openly calls us to repent for our complicity with an ungodly culture!
Reading this book reminded me of an old song by The Monkee’s (entitled “Zor & Zam”), which asks: “what if they held a war and nobody came”? Jesus shows us how to do it. Jesus stands fearlessly nonviolent, as he openly sides with the poor and resists the systems that bring death and injustice to people. Through symbols effectuated during his life, such as raising Lazarus, making the blind man see, etc., Jesus calls all humanity to awaken from the blindness of violent interactions and insist instead upon the glory of a free and peaceful existence.
The author cites a remarkable list of others who have shown us the way: (1) Nelson Mandela, who languished 27 years in prison only because of his desire to end apartheid, (2) Dorothy Day, who lived 50 years amidst the New York homeless in order to press the City bureaucracy to do right by them (3) Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian farmer beheaded for refusing to serve in Hitler’s army, (4) Martin Luther King, Jr., who took an assassin’s bullet for resisting racism, (5) Mahatma Gandhi, who was assassinated for leading India into non-violent civil disobedience against oppressive British rule, (6) A Chinese student who stood alone in 1989 before a column of tanks in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, (7) Corazon Aquino, widow of an assassinated husband, who fearlessly lead the Philippine people in nonviolent rallies, marches, vigils, and civil disobedience until Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown in 1983, (8) Three million people joining hands against Soviet occupation, across 430 miles, over the 3 Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuanian in 1989, (9) Costa Rica’s abolition of its army in order to use its military funds for education, heath care, and employment, (10) The small band of students, known as the White Rose Movement, that were executed for leafleting and speaking out against the Nazis, (11) Ben Salmon, conscientious objector in WWI who suffered arrest, solitary confinement, court martial, 25 years imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth, hard labor, beatings, and ultimately death for refusing to enlist in the American military. (12) Dorothy Stang, a Brazilian missionary, who was shot six times and left laying all day on a dirt road, just for defending the rain forest against illegal loggers. (13) Oscar Romero, who was shot in the heart in 1980, for protesting the El Salvadorian governments use of death squads to intimidate the poor.
And yet, even amidst all of these examples, the majority of us normal people still recoil from the call. This author beseeches us to take notice of those about us who are being crucified for believing. The author calls us to understand that whenever we meet the poor, the homeless, the dying, migrants, prisoners, refugees, the disenfranchised, or any marginalized, we meet Christ. The author calls us to understand that authentic belief requires not only conversion but also response.
It is easy for us to heap our praises upon Jesus, but quite another to ourselves face death like those listed above or, in reality, to even lift a finger to end war, disarm our nation, abolish poverty, or even assume a political stance that might run counter to popular culture. “Thou shalt not kill!” “Beat your swords into plowshares!” “Love your enemies!” The spiritual journey is about learning not to resist God. The British left India. American slavery ended. The Vietnam War ended. Apartheid ended. The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union collapsed. It can be done! There is hope!
This author calls us to not be like the Crusaders who eagerly waged war and killed others in the name of Jesus; even though Jesus himself rebuked Peter for defending him from the High Priest’s strongmen. Jesus refused to allow himself to be defended by violence and his disciples’ are forbidden to rely upon violence. Jesus not only declared that God’s kingdom rejects violence, Jesus also proved it, on the cross. Through the story of Lazarus, this author very effectively demonstrates how the symbol of Christ’s life, works, and ultimate demise, combine to communicate the call for all of us to awaken into a new life of peaceful coexistence.
The author contends that, like Lazarus, Jesus calls us all to arise from the world of violence into a new life. What does that new life look like? To quote the author, it looks like: “Laughing children, affirming parents, happy marriages, plentiful food, bountiful wine, good friends, uplifting music, peaceful days, beautiful landscapes, meaningful service, gentle compassion, daily awareness of God’s love, good graces, and fullness of life.” The author rightly asserts that this grand vision appears to disbelieving eyes as absurdly utopian; and I must say that even many purported believers often have their doubts about its attainability. But the reality is that such doubts and absurdities occur in the midst of inaction, while people all over the world are stooped under the burdens of hunger, war, ignorance, poverty, imprisonment, excessive labor, environmental destruction, neglect, greed, executions, and injustice. All this happens while many privileged Christians daily attribute their wealth and success to God’s preferential favor for them.
Millions starve and we don’t feel it. Our nation goes off to war after war after war and we do nothing about it, not even ask enough pointed questions to really know and understand why we are at war in the first place. Instead, we ignore these evils in favor of our own safety and wealth. We become content to work day after day for our paychecks, further amassing our wealth, but essentially enslaved by a culture that is characterized by violence, not only abroad, but all around us. This author openly calls us to repent for our complicity with an ungodly culture!
Reading this book reminded me of an old song by The Monkee’s (entitled “Zor & Zam”), which asks: “what if they held a war and nobody came”? Jesus shows us how to do it. Jesus stands fearlessly nonviolent, as he openly sides with the poor and resists the systems that bring death and injustice to people. Through symbols effectuated during his life, such as raising Lazarus, making the blind man see, etc., Jesus calls all humanity to awaken from the blindness of violent interactions and insist instead upon the glory of a free and peaceful existence.
The author cites a remarkable list of others who have shown us the way: (1) Nelson Mandela, who languished 27 years in prison only because of his desire to end apartheid, (2) Dorothy Day, who lived 50 years amidst the New York homeless in order to press the City bureaucracy to do right by them (3) Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian farmer beheaded for refusing to serve in Hitler’s army, (4) Martin Luther King, Jr., who took an assassin’s bullet for resisting racism, (5) Mahatma Gandhi, who was assassinated for leading India into non-violent civil disobedience against oppressive British rule, (6) A Chinese student who stood alone in 1989 before a column of tanks in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, (7) Corazon Aquino, widow of an assassinated husband, who fearlessly lead the Philippine people in nonviolent rallies, marches, vigils, and civil disobedience until Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown in 1983, (8) Three million people joining hands against Soviet occupation, across 430 miles, over the 3 Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuanian in 1989, (9) Costa Rica’s abolition of its army in order to use its military funds for education, heath care, and employment, (10) The small band of students, known as the White Rose Movement, that were executed for leafleting and speaking out against the Nazis, (11) Ben Salmon, conscientious objector in WWI who suffered arrest, solitary confinement, court martial, 25 years imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth, hard labor, beatings, and ultimately death for refusing to enlist in the American military. (12) Dorothy Stang, a Brazilian missionary, who was shot six times and left laying all day on a dirt road, just for defending the rain forest against illegal loggers. (13) Oscar Romero, who was shot in the heart in 1980, for protesting the El Salvadorian governments use of death squads to intimidate the poor.
And yet, even amidst all of these examples, the majority of us normal people still recoil from the call. This author beseeches us to take notice of those about us who are being crucified for believing. The author calls us to understand that whenever we meet the poor, the homeless, the dying, migrants, prisoners, refugees, the disenfranchised, or any marginalized, we meet Christ. The author calls us to understand that authentic belief requires not only conversion but also response.
It is easy for us to heap our praises upon Jesus, but quite another to ourselves face death like those listed above or, in reality, to even lift a finger to end war, disarm our nation, abolish poverty, or even assume a political stance that might run counter to popular culture. “Thou shalt not kill!” “Beat your swords into plowshares!” “Love your enemies!” The spiritual journey is about learning not to resist God. The British left India. American slavery ended. The Vietnam War ended. Apartheid ended. The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union collapsed. It can be done! There is hope!
This author calls us to not be like the Crusaders who eagerly waged war and killed others in the name of Jesus; even though Jesus himself rebuked Peter for defending him from the High Priest’s strongmen. Jesus refused to allow himself to be defended by violence and his disciples’ are forbidden to rely upon violence. Jesus not only declared that God’s kingdom rejects violence, Jesus also proved it, on the cross. Through the story of Lazarus, this author very effectively demonstrates how the symbol of Christ’s life, works, and ultimate demise, combine to communicate the call for all of us to awaken into a new life of peaceful coexistence.
January 5, 2014
Though broadly sympathetic to Deer's views, and largely in agreement with the understanding of Christian mission he puts forward, I found this somewhat lacking as a study of the Lazarus narrative. Deer embellishes the story with details that simply aren't present in the text, and presents a view of Martha that is problematic to the point of borderline misogyny.
As a call to action it's powerful. As a source of stories of non-violent action it inspired me. And, quoting Wes Howard Brook, Deer's book introduced me to an exciting new interpretation of foot washing. But as a case for a particular reading of John 11 it fell somewhat flat.
As a call to action it's powerful. As a source of stories of non-violent action it inspired me. And, quoting Wes Howard Brook, Deer's book introduced me to an exciting new interpretation of foot washing. But as a case for a particular reading of John 11 it fell somewhat flat.
April 14, 2013
Powerful book on the call for social justice and peace through nonviolence. A call to nonviolence towards self, in relationship with others and interactions with the world at large. The teachings of Christ, through the story of Lazarus compells us, each of us, to live fully, become unbound and work towards justice.
July 14, 2013
He uses the story of the resurrection of Lazarus in Book of John to make an impassioned plea for pacifism and non-violence. Although a bit strident and hyperbolic, he does make some good points.
July 10, 2015
A different perspective on the story of Lazarus emphasizing the turning from a culture of death to a new life of peace.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews