Dead Men Walking

BreakPoint WorldView » May 2009

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." John 11:43-44 (NIV)

Listening to the news, we are tempted to think that escaping the recession, eliminating the threat of terrorists, and doing something about health care, will produce an American renaissance. Far from it! Injected discreetly into the folds of our landscape is a deadly toxin—an American gulag that now imprisons one out of every 100 adults. Like “dead men walking,” inmates are sealed in the tombs of society without a future and without hope.

In March, The Pew Center on the States released its annual report on the state of prisons in the U.S. We lead the world with over 2.3 million behind bars. One out of every 100 adults is behind bars, and one out of every 31 is either behind bars or on probation or parole. And worse, of the 700,000 prisoners leaving prison this year, 50 percent will be back within three years!

The failure is beyond mere crime and punishment. It is due to the breakdown of families, a lack of moral training in the formative years, the widespread abuse of drugs, two decades of laws that intentionally incarcerate more people for longer periods of time, and prisons that are merely warehouses—burying prisoners behind cell walls. Society and even many of their own families have given them up as dead men.

How should followers of Jesus respond? With action and hope!

I am reminded of Jesus’ stunning miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was a lost cause when Jesus arrived. Already dead, he had been wrapped tight in grave clothes and laid in a tomb now sealed by a large stone. Jesus asked the disciples to roll away the stone. There was a protest that the corpse would stink! But they honored Jesus’ request—and all “life” broke loose! Jesus called to Lazarus to come out—and he did, still bound in the grave clothes. The disciples were ordered to remove the shrouds of death. Now Lazarus was not only alive, but also free.

As my friend Ron Nikkel, president of Prison Fellowship International, recently reminded me, it is only Jesus who can bring people from death to life. I cannot. But, I can help move a stone away so that the dead can hear Jesus as He calls them. I can help remove shrouds of death that encumber others from walking in their new life in Jesus.

At Prison Fellowship we labor in the tombs of society. Most want nothing to do with those inside. They do not want to go near them because the odor of their crimes is repulsive. Many feel the justice system is incapable of change. But Jesus loves to bring light into the darkest of places and justice to the land.

As Jesus loved Lazarus, He loves prisoners and wants to raise them to newness of life. He loves justice and desires to see the shalom of community restored to those impacted by crime. At Prison Fellowship we speak justice into the darkness. We roll the stone away so prisoners can hear the voice of Jesus! And when they rise up and follow His voice, we are there to walk with them and help remove their bindings of death so they can live a new life.

Mark Earley is president of Prison Fellowship.