Tuesday, June 30, 2020
![EphraimHighlited[1]](https://thenoontimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ephraimhighlited1.jpg?w=287&h=300)
The Raising of Lazarus and the Retreat to Ephraim
We hear and read this story so many times. It holds the brief verse, “Jesus wept”. It tells a story which holds so much hope. It is followed by the simple fact that “Many . . . believed in him. But some of them went away to tell the Pharisees, and told them the things that Jesus had done . . . So from that day forth their plan was to put him to death”.
We realize that because of this, “Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but withdrew to the district near the desert, to a town called Ephraim; and there he stayed with his disciples. . .”
We see that the chapter closes with these words, “the Pharisees had given orders that, if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, so that they might seize him”.
I am not thinking about the story in this chapter that we know so well, how Jesus calls Lazarus to stand erect and to come forth, which he does. No, I am thinking about the aftermath of the story, about how the structure plotted against this man who came to release people from bondage and to heal. When we peek into the next chapter we will see that the Sanhedrin also plans to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. They must project their own need to plot and conspire upon these two friends. I want to focus on the hope-filled story of Lazarus; but I am thinking about how from time to time in my own life, I retreat with Jesus to Ephraim.
I finally came upon a reference to this small town in the HARPER COLLINS NRSV STUDY BIBLE. In the footnote we are told that its location is uncertain, and we are referred to 2 Samuel 13:23 and 1 Maccabees 11:34. It may be located near Bethel; it may be the town also known as Aphairema. Perhaps it is appropriate that we have no clear name and no clear latitude and longitude for this place; because within each of us there is an Ephraim. Each of us has a quiet place to which we retreat when we have tried to do something good or for which we know we will suffer. (Meeks)
Perhaps it is the instinct for survival in human beings that causes so much anger and jealousy. Perhaps it is an inborn desire to lay out territory or to strive for fame and wealth. The temple leaders did not like the fact that Jesus was drawing off revenue when believing Jews turned to him for what the priests could not provide. We will never truly know what was in the hearts of the men who connived against Jesus rather than offer themselves to him as open, honest and sincere men of God. We will never know if it was pride, fear, envy, or sloth, but what we do know is that Jesus went with his disciples to Ephraim to recover, to re-group, to regain before he began his pilgrimage into Jerusalem for the last Passover.
So let us come together when we mourn, let us gather to pray when we celebrate, let us set off to Ephraim to find respite with Jesus and the other disciples. Let us retreat for a while to gather resources before stepping again on the path of the pilgrims who journey to Jerusalem to atone, to repair and to give thanks and celebrate. Let us find refuge in Ephraim where we know there is safety in the Lord.
Meeks, Wayne A., Gen. Ed. HARPERCOLLINS STUDY BIBLE (NRSV). New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1989. Print.
Adapted from a reflection written on October 13, 2007.
To read about The Tribe of Ephraim, click on the image above or go to: http://www.israel-a-history-of.com/tribe-of-ephraim.html
To read about Ephraim in scripture, go to: http://topicalbible.org/e/ephraim’s.htm
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