This month John Dear explores the story of Lazarus from a fresh perspective. John encourages us to imagine that Lazarus represents the entire human race. Imagine again that discipleship is friendship and Jesus states that there is no greater thing than to lay down your life for your friends. Imagine that the people of Bethany represent a people of a culture of death not unlike what we suffer with today; those enmeshed in violence and war.

Through this new lens, John explores themes of nonviolence and likens Jesus to Gandhi and the Salt March as Jesus marches on through Bethany to Jerusalem and the Cross. He states that Jesus had it figured out when he was brought the news of the death of his friend Lazarus. This podcast combines meditation, bible study, and classroom-style teaching to change what we thought we knew about this story.

The Peace Podcast is available on our website here. There you can also find the previous episodes where John discusses resisting nuclear war, the life of Franz Jagerstatter, Thomas Merton, Jesus’s campaign of nonviolence, Psalms of Peace, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and more. The podcast is also available on iTunes where you can subscribe and listen as soon as it’s released. Don’t forget to share this podcast with others to continue to build a mainstream culture of nonviolence.