The raising of Lazarus from the dead won over everyone who doubted Jesus and confirmed the faith of his disciples and friends. The promise of Jesus is that all of his friends who fall “asleep” in the Lord will have eternal life. Jesus witnessed to his promise of eternal life. We cannot raise people from the dead, but we can witness to our promises. When we commit to seeing each person as our brothers and sisters, we witness to the promise within us of a new self. The racialized self is dead, but the new self is alive. We, like Jesus, must say to our racialized self, ‘Untie me and let me go free.’ The freer we become, the more power we have to witness to our promise of racial sobriety.

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