Year A, 5 Lent
These seven verses, out of the middle of today’s gospel reading, are often used for funerals. In fact, they are 1 of just 5 choices for the gospel reading for burial services in our prayer book. When my father died very suddenly and unexpectedly 5 years ago, I was involved with the planning of two different memorial services, and in both instances this is the text I selected. Because my dad was a Christian, I had—and have--confidence that I will see him again, that death is not the end. These verses give voice to my hope and my trust. But today, we are not having a funeral, a burial service—though with Palm Sunday next week and Easter in two weeks we are probably foreshadowing Jesus’ own death and resurrection. The question is, what can this passage and this gospel reading say to us today. In the Gospel of John, this is the last of seven signs performed by Jesus. What Matthew, Mark and Luke would call Miracles, John calls signs. These signs are not to be valued for their own sake, but as pointers to God’s glory, and entries to belief, to faith. These signs include changing the water into wine at the wedding, healing a nobleman’s son, healing the lame man, feeding the five thousand, walking on water, healing the blind man, and the raising of Lazarus. We don’t have time to look at all of these things, but they point to Jesus’ power over creation, don’t they. Even changing water into wine involves creation. To make wine, you plant vines and after 4-5 years you have a grape harvest. When these grapes are crushed they are fermented, and this process doesn’t happen instantly does it—unless you are Jesus. He is able to create wine out of plain old water—imagine that. And last week we heard about the healing of blind Bartimeus—a man who had been blind since birth! Jesus had to create seeing eyes where there were none! Imagine that. These signs, these miracles, point to God’s glory and inspire belief, especially for eyewitnesses. Today we are looking at the raising of Lazarus. This is a long passage, but I want to highlight just a few key points and then take a look at what it means for Jesus to be resurrection and life. People who have studied and figured out time and distance say that by all calculations Lazarus was dead even before the messengers arrived to tell Jesus that his friend Lazarus was ill, Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha, who we’ve heard about in other places. Jesus’ response suggests that the “result of this tragedy is that God will be glorified . . . that death will not gain the final word. This tragedy is not by God’s design, but God will use it for an opportunity to glorify his son.”1 Jesus does not go to Bethany immediately, but waits a couple days. And when he does decide to go to Bethany, near Jerusalem and near the religious leadership that have threatened his life already, his disciples were concerned, probably even frightened for their own lives. Jesus response is that while night is coming it is still light, and they should be confident that he will guide them through this. Thomas says “Let us go too, so that we may with him,” probably not trying to be sarcastic but courageous and faithful. When Jesus arrives in Bethany he finds that Lazarus has in fact been dead for four days. This is significant, because it was believed that the soul waited around for three days, but once decomposition set it, the soul departed. Lazarus is truly dead, as dead as the bones that Ezekiel saw in the valley. The Shivah, the seven-day period of official mourning in Judaism is well underway, and the sisters are surrounded by mourners. Martha meets Jesus on the road. “If you had been here, you could have healed Lazarus. But I still believe in you, that God works through you.” Jesus responds that Lazarus will rise again, and Martha takes this to mean the end-time resurrection in which Jews also believe. She misses the point, and Jesus says that he is resurrection and life. “In other words, eternal life and rescue from the finality of death ore not merely gifts obtained by appeal to God, they are aspects of what it means to live a life in association with Jesus. If Jesus is life, then those who believe in him will enjoy the confidence and power over death known by him.”2 Jesus asks Martha if she can believe this, if her faith is big enough to embrace a belief that Jesus is Lord over death itself.”3 Martha follows his logic, but probably does not understand all the implications of what he is saying. She is trusting in Jesus, and if he has that sort of power and authority, he must be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who the Jews were expecting. Mary arrives, running and followed by mourners. She is overcome by grief, wailing and crying—not simply weeping as our text describes it. And in this she is joined by the mourners, and Jesus is also powerfully moved, outraged and furious, deeply troubled. “God’s people possess knowledge of life, they should posses a faith that claims victory at the grave. But here they stand, overcome in seeming defeat. And here stands the One in whom victory, life and resurrection are powerful fealties. Jesus is angry at death itself and the devastation it brings.”4 Jesus’ immediately seeks Lazarus’ tomb. He weeps, probably as a result of the emotions surrounding him and his frustration and anger at death. Jesus asks for the stone to be rolled back and Martha protests—again Lazarus is truly and really dead, and decomposing. He must be awakened, not from sleep but from death itself. Jesus gently rebukes Martha, reminding her that God will be glorified, and as a result the Son will be glorified. Jesus prays; he had already prayed in preparation for this miracle, ready for what will take place. He prays publicly and audibly, for the benefit of those around him, and he addresses God intimately as Father. Jesus prays in order that those around him may believe that he was sent by God. IN a loud voice, Jesus calls “Lazarus, come out.” This is a shout of power and authority. And Lazarus emerges, with grave wrappings still binding him. What an amazing spectacle! And many of the witnesses believed in Jesus as a result of what he had done. But some were troubled, and went to the authorities, and the plot to have Jesus killed was accelerated. But that’s another story. This is a truly amazing miracle, the ultimate sign, victory over death and the grave. Jesus is not just the resurrection and the life, he brings a man from the tomb, a concrete event in history. Something amazing and unparalleled happened in Bethany that day. In this sign, this miracle, Jesus unveils his glory. And this seventh and greatest sign points ahead to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus, who has power over life and death, will soon demonstrate that power in his own life and death. “If resurrection is the final, climactic sign, how much more will Jesus’ glorification be the ultimate sign of the Gospel.”5 We live in a day and time where we tend to deny death. In contrast to ages, past, people rarely die at home surrounded by loved ones, family who dresses and prepares the deceased for burial. This process has been sanitized and removed from our lives by hospitals, hospices, and morticians. How many of us have actually seen a person die? I am grateful to say that I have, that I was with my dad, alone, when his heart quit beating, fluttering its last. But we don’t talk about death, do we. People pass away (or simply “pass”), kick the bucket, meet our maker, pay the piper, join the angels. The list goes on and on. On the internet I found a list of 1000 euphemisms for death! Somehow we want to make death pleasant, but we must have great anxiety about death in order to gloss over it so persistently. We don’t like to talk about it. We don’t like to make wills, to make arrangements. We don’t want to face it. But face it we must. As Christians, we need to ask, “What difference does it make that our Lord Jesus Christ possesses power over death?” We will naturally grieve and mourn when family and friends die, but our hope is that, in Christ, we will see them again. Death is not the end. Our Lord Jesus has power over sin, death and the grave. Our own confidence is grounded in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. We must know him, know his power and ability, and know that he is waiting for us. Our assurance at death has to do with our understanding and confidence in the power of Jesus. Jesus conquered death at Lazarus’ tomb, and he will conquer death for us. We will die, but this is not the end. Jesus is resurrection. And Jesus is life, today, right now. In John 10:10 Jesus says that he came that we might have life in abundance. New life in Jesus gives us the ability to have a relationship with him, here and now. The power that raised Lazarus, the power that raised Jesus, is available to us in raising us out of sin and death—today! In Ephesians, Paul prays that we may know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward us who believe, and this same great and mighty power was demonstrated in Christ when God raised him from the dead. This power for life, for living, is available to us, now, today. I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Amen. 1 Burge, Gary. The NIV Application Commentary: John. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000, 313. 2 Burge 317. 3 Ibid. 4 Burge 318 5 Burge 323. |