The Lazarus Demand
Graeme Mundine and Jonathon Inkpin* explain that the Lazarus demand
of Jesus, with its dual challenge - calling those caught in the powers
of death to new life and calling all of us to unbinding the ties of
death on others - speaks powerfully for Indigenous Australians. It
is about family and the pain of community experience; about a brother
who is lost and sisters who are hurting; about the need for renewed
identity and the power of the suffering heart. It is a message for
us all.
* Graeme Mundine is Executive Secretary of the
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission
of the National Council of Churches in Australia and Dr Jonathan
Inkpin is an Anglican priest who lectures in Church History at
St John's College Ministry Centre, Morpeth NSW, and coordinates "The
Decade to Overcome Violence" programme for the National Council
of Churches in Australia.
Artwork  used with permission.
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