Lazarus stinketh

A second quick blog post today to tell you about something that happened at the funeral yesterday.

A pastor (Southern Baptist) who knows my aunt was called upon to speak at grandma's service and again at the gravesite. While we sat in the 90 degree heat of midafternoon under a tent at the cemetery, the pastor was droning on and on about how all believers would have new, glorified bodies in heaven after Jesus comes again, and the dead would be raised from the grave and would fly to heaven in the Rapture to live again for eternity, and on and on...and then he started telling the story of how Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead.

He described the tomb being opened, and the Lord calling Lazarus forth four days after his death, and I swear to you all that I think in the middle of this rambling narrative the preacher said, "..and Lazarus stinketh". I quickly looked at Gregg to see if he had heard it too, but apparently not. He told me later that his mind had started to wander and he wasn't really listening, damn it! We had a good laugh about it once we got home, though.

I wonder if I heard the pastor right? Southern Baptists are definitely weird enough to say something like that at a funeral with a straight face and complete seriousness. Does anyone know if it's an actual verse in the bible? About Lazarus smelling bad? Maybe I misheard the man, but I don't think so.

Funerals down South. Haha!