John 11: 1-45: "Unbind him, and let him go."

After Jesus summons Lazarus from the tomb, he asks the witnesses to complete the miraculous resurrection by unbinding Lazarus and setting him free. Writing about this story in a recent issue of the Christian Century, Stephanie Jaeger connects it with our own calling to help liberate our neighbors both from the bondage of personal sins and from "systemic sins" like entrenched poverty and injustice.

Rev. Jaeger, who lives and works in Chicago, emphasizes the urgent need for such “unbinding” in her own neighborhood: "It’s a place where race and class matter. If you are an African-American man on the South Side of Chicago, you have a better chance of going to jail than you do of going to college. This is a sin that binds all of us, whether we realize it or not."

If we’ve been paying attention to recent statistics and news stories about racial disparities in education, job opportunities, and the justice system here in Dane County, we know that Rev. Jaeger could be describing Madison as well as Chicago. Should we despair over this realization? Do we believe it is God’s will that all our neighbors should be released from the bondage of endless poverty and injustice? What part might God be calling us to play in his wonderful work of healing and liberation?