The Weight of Miracles

What happened to Lazarus after Jesus brought him back from the dead? Did he get back to life with renewed wonder and passion, was it all light? Or like those once visited by Death, did he wake up on dark nights, a cold hand on the back of his neck reminding him to return?

Did people treat him differently, this man who had been where no one has returned from? Did the weight of this miracle pull down his shoulders, isolate him from the rest?

And did he realize that he was just placed in Jesus' path so that people would recognize the Messiah? That it could've been anyone else in his place, it did not really matter? That his resurrection was perhaps not deserved, but just accidental?

And then you come across this German poem.

Immortelles
for Lene Nimbsch

"We saw Lazarus arise and walk. Took off.
And was not seen thereafter.
No one saw him die the second time."

Th Garden of Epicurus and Other Poems
Ulla Hahn

Oct 2004