Lent 5

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Lent 5
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: March 21, 1999

TEXT: John 11:1-44 - The Raising of Lazarus - "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it" . . . . . . . . Jesus told her [Martha], "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

ISSUE: The story of the Raising of Lazarus in the Gospel of John is best not taken literally, but in terms of what it means. It is the last of the great "signs" in the book. In Jesus we find life and hope. He is the one who transforms and transcends all that blinds, stifles, and kills us. Through him we are born again, born from above. Through him we receive life giving water. Through him we have new enlightened sight. Through him we are raised above death and all that binds us. Believe in Jesus and live, and be transformed.
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Here again this morning we have another one of the great signs that tell us who Jesus is. He is the Messiah, the Christ, and all who believe in him will know resurrection and fullness of life.
Over the past several weeks we have dealt with several of the great signs in the Gospel account of John. In a sense these are creation and renewal stories that were extraordinarily important to the early church. Nicodemus a rabbi of Israel is born again, born from above through is faith in Jesus Christ. The disenfranchised woman at the well receives fresh living water from Jesus Christ. The degradated blindman receives his sight and enlightment through Jesus Christ. Now today, Mary and Martha receive hope and new life when their beloved brother Lazarus is raised and called forth from the tomb. Lazarus is born again through Jesus Christ.
Once again be reminded that the Gospel of John called people who were being shunned and tossed from their synagogues to hold dearly to their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord. For his is their transforming hope and salavation. He is their light and life.
The story of the Raising Lazarus is the last straw, and is the cause of Jesus being crucified for John's Gospel. Remember that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the final cause of Jesus crucifixion is his anger and cleansing of the Temple. In the Gospel of John it is the raising of Lazarus. Such an event will bring so much attention that the Romans will sure seek to destroy Israel, and the Judean authorities cannot accept this.
In any event, Jesus who has already been threatened by the Jewish authorities, and almost stoned by them, but he slips away. Now he receives word that his good and beloved friend is ill, about to die. But Jesus says, "The illness will not lead to his death; rather it is for God's Glory, so the Son of God may be glorified through it." These are words similar to what he said about the blindman. His blindness was that God would be glorified. Jesus delays his going to Lazarus for several days. When he tells his disciple to go with him to Bethany, Thomas says, "Let us also go that we may die with him." They are aware that Jesus is entering very hostile territory. At his arrival Jesus is made aware that Lazarus is already dead. Martha, another devoted friend of Jesus', expresses significant distress over the fact that Jesus has been so long in coming. Martha says that if only he had been there her brother would not have died. Others comment, that if he could give sight to the blindman, he may well have been able to save Lazarus. Mary who comes to Jesus repeats her sister's refrain: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." There is that scene of great anguish in which Jesus weeps with the women, and his weeping is perceived as being the result of his great love for Lazarus. Ultimately, Jesus at the tomb tells them to remove the stone that covers the burial cave. They warn him there will be a smell, for by now Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Jesus persists that if they believe in him they will see the glory of god. Jesus prays thanking God for hearing him, and calls "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man comes out of the tomb, and the he is unbound of his funeral clothes and set free. It is as if Lazarus is born again! Lazarus is born from above.
What's going on here. It is a statement of the human condition. Lazarus is sick and dying. The sisters in this culture were totally dependent upon their brother as their sole source of support. Single women without their brother they are very vulnerable, and their future hopeless. They are afraid and terrified of death. "If only" Jesus had been there. "If only" things were different. Jesus himself who comes to them is himself on the verge of stoning and crucifixion. Jesus weeps and is in anguish over the human condition. He weeps with the women; he weeps over the human condition with all of its death, hostility, anger, rage, hate. He weeps over a world that knows so much violence, hatred, death, pain, suffering, feuding. Yet, he has come to the world to glorify God, and to transform the world. Thus, the raising of Lazarus is not about resuscitating corpses. It is not about pearly gates and what heaven looks like. The resurrection is about transformation, rebirth, and renewal. God so loved the world that he sent his Son to love, to forgive, to transform the world.
Mary, Martha, Lazarus . . . these are the people God loves through Jesus. Their lives are not easy. There are times of great hopelessness. The woman have not prestige or clout. Lazarus is at the mercy of the world and its ways. Lazarus stinks. Yet if they believe and trust in Jesus as Lord, they will be born again from above. They will receive living water. They will be enlightened. They will be resurrected and transformed. They need not fear anything, not even death. As St. Paul said it: There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
This story, and the signs in Johns' Gospel mean for us today, that we have the potential of being born again, born from above, enlightened, our sights renewed, transformed and brought out of death experiences so that God can be glorified in us and through us. Life is not hopeless with Christ. Trust in Jesus Christ as Lord; place your confidence and loyalty in him and find continuing meaning and hope.
From time to time all of us have to take an honest look at our lives and the world around us. There are times when it can be dismal. We are will aware of the prejudice, the crime, the continuing agonizing hostilities that go on in the Bulkan States, Ireland, the Middle East. There are recent vicious hate crimes here in our own country. We all experience losses and uncertainties in our own lives. Life in the world can at times be pretty dismal. It can make a person weep. Yet our Faith, our Christianity, our holy and religious tradition is about telling us how we and the world can be born from above. It can have refreshing life giving waters of hope. We can have new insights of hope. We can even in our stench be lifted up, and called forth into new and abundant life. Though we seem hopelessly lost and dead, that our illnesses, problems seems so devastating, Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in him, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believe in him will never die. Do we believe and trust in this hope?
Can you remember what it was like when you were a child, and you were afraid of the darkness, and feared the images were created by the dark shadows. And your parent came to you turning on the light and reassured you that you were going to live and make into the morning. there was great comfort in that. Out of that experience you could then yourself reassure a younger brother or sister that everything would be okay. We pass on that confidence and assurance to our children. In much the same way our faith reassures that whatever our fears are, whatever the problems of our lives, God will be with us. Yes there will be sicknesses and even death. There will be troubles and heartaches. But in our pain and in our weeping God is with us, and God will be our light and our hope, our ultimate uplifting. We have nothing to fear, not even death. Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil for God is with us.
John's Gospel tells his community that though they walk in the valley of the shadow of death and significant difficulties and uncertainties, God will not abandon them. He is their hope, and may they allow God to be glorified through their confident faithfulness.