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: February 17, 2002

TEXT: John 11:1-44 – The Raising of Lazarus
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” . . . Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even thought they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

ISSUE: Resurrection is not an issue of raising corpses. It is rather about the transformation of life. John’s account of Lazarus’ raising is a response to the early Christian Community when they cannot understand why they die. If Jesus were still with them, they would not. Mary and Martha a representative of that community. Jesus’ response is that he is the resurrection and the life, and that those who trust and believe in him are alive and live transformed lives. After Martha’s statement of faith, Lazarus seen alive.
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This beautiful passage from the Gospel of John is the last of the seven signs that are found in this Gospel account. It is interesting that in the synoptic Gospel (Matt., ark, Luke) Jesus crucifixion is the result of his cleansing the Temple and overturning the tables of the moneychangers, and Jesus’ reference to the leadership turning it into a den of thieves. In the Gospel of Matthew, the reason for the crucifixion of Jesus is the resurrection of Lazarus. Raising the dead is the last straw. Bring the ultimately depraved to life and vitality is more than can be handled by the establishment.
It is thought by some biblical scholars that one of the reasons that John the Evangelist tells this story is to address the concern of the early church. By the time that John is writing his Gospel, the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed. Many of the witnesses to Jesus had died off. The question is being raised by the early floundering church of John’s time, if Jesus were still with them they would not die but have eternal life. There was also a concern and expectation that Jesus would come again, but has not come. Why has he not come, and why are they dying off? John tells the story Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus who is sick and who dies as a response to that issues.
Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, is sick and dying. Mary and Martha, his dependent sisters, send for Jesus to come to his assistance. However, Jesus does not make an immediate response to the request. He waits two days saying that Lazarus’ serious illness is for the glorification of God. With some additional resistance on the part of his fearing disciples, who fear Jesus will be stoned in this territory, Jesus makes the journey to Bethany. Jesus tells his disciples, Lazarus has fallen asleep, an euphemism for being dead.
When Jesus arrives, he is told that in fact Lazarus is dead. The sisters are angry with Jesus. “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But Jesus assures her that Lazarus will live again. “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day,” says Martha. But Jesus responds to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even through they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Martha makes this great statement of faith before Lazarus is even raised from the dead, and before any hint that Jesus will perform the sign: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” It is so important in the Gospel of John that people believe in, trust in, keep being loyal, to Jesus Christ who is the Lord of life.
In this much of the story, you have the set up of John’s community of concern. If only Jesus were still here, the ones we need would still be with us. Mary and Martha are women without a man, like a church without a leader, how will they survive? The answer, by Faith! Jesus Christ is the messianic hope. Trust in him and remain loyal to him. He is your resurrection and your hope. He is the resurrection and life now, not on some vague resurrection day in the distant future. To reveal that truth, the story continues.
Jesus asks Mary and Martha to take him to the grave of Lazarus. They are weeping and all they Jews follow them to the grave. Jesus himself begins to weep. There continues that refrain that if Jesus were only there, “Lazarus would not have died.” “If he could heal a blind man, surely he could have healed Lazarus and kept him from dying.” Jesus weeps with his friends: Out of love for Lazarus? Perhaps. Is it his sorry over the human condition being expressed? Or, is there the possibility that Jesus is beginning to lament over his own ordeal and death that lies on the horizon, and over the sorry state of the human condition that is without faith and without hope? There upon, Jesus makes the momentous move: “Take away the stone.”
Martha interrupts, “Lord already there will be a stench because he has already been there four days.” Being dead four days, according to the belief of the time was significant. It was believed that the spirit of a dead person hung around for three days and then left the corpse. The point made here is that Lazarus is unquestionably dead, and will stink, the body by now is in the decaying process. But Jesus assures Martha’s trust, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” He prays and cries out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Lazarus bound in his funeral wrappings appears at the entrance of the tomb. “Unbind him, and let him go.”
What’s the meaning here? Jesus Christ comes to the world that is weeping and dying. He comes entering into its sorrow, with all the risks involved, and willing to give up even his own life to death on the cross. But, trust in God and see the glory of God at work is the message. Jesus comes to an angry, frightened world (Mary and Martha), to the diseased, and the dying. (Nicodemus, Woman at the Well, Blindman at the pool, and dead Lazarus) He is coming to the sometimes stench filled world of sin and hostility to bring hope. And it is not just a hope that will come at the day of resurrection sometime in the very distant future. It is hope and life that comes now. This passage is not about corpses. It is about faith and hope. The resurrection is not about raising corpses. Resurrection is about transforming life into something new and honorable.
The opening sign in John’s Gospel account is Jesus turning water into wine. He will not allow the Bride and the groom to be shamed should the wine runs out. He saves the situation turning transforming water into wine. Jesus tells Nicodemus, you can be born from above and receive a new transforming spirit. Jesus transforms the life of the sinner woman at the well, giving her living water that will not dry up. He gives the blind man new insight into seeing the presence of God in his midst through Jesus Christ. Mary and Martha are devastated by the loss of their brother who was their social security in a man’s world. They were dishonored by the absence of best friends at Lazarus’ funeral. Lazarus is a symbol of a sometimes stinking, dying world. The situation is redeem. Martha claims a renewed faith. Lazarus, whose name means, one whom God helps, is raised to new life and hope. Christ is constantly coming to the world in the present into the future. Trust, be loyal, and have faith in Jesus’ resurrection.
For too long, too many Christians have lived with the idea that someday off in the distance after we die, we will be raised up in heaven, and we’ll be safe. If we think and believe that, then may Mrs. Yates wasn’t so crazy after all. No, resurrection is not about raising corpses. It is about raising the sinners and transforming their lives. It is about giving us all a new awareness of the wonder of the life we are living now, and becoming the disciples of Jesus Christ now. We are raised not after we die, but symbolically at our baptism! Up out of the water, out of the drowning we come to put on a new life with Christ. Resurrection came when Moses led his oppressed people out of bondage in Egypt. Resurrection came when Ghandi liberated the peasants in India. Resurrection comes when Abraham Lincoln raises the blacks up out of slavery, and when Martin Luther King, Jr., raised the blacks up out of social injustice.
Resurrection comes when a bad marriage ends and a person begins anew with faith. Resurrection comes when shamed people know they are forgiven by the love of God. Resurrection comes when a community, a nation, a church comes to love one another as much as it loves God. Transformation, Conversion, transfiguration are all forms of resurrection to new life with Jesus Christ as Lord. There are facts of life. We all shall die. We are made of dust, and to dust shall we return. It’s a fact of life. But first we are resurrected to be God’s people, to love God and to love one another. We serve with Him, our perfect freedom is to be with God in Christ. We are living in faithfulness and loyalty now. We believe now that whether we live or die . . . “then what can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or hardship? Can persecution, hunger, nakedness, peril, or the sword? In spite of all, overwhelming victory is ours through him who loved us. For I (St. Paul) am convinced that there is nothing in death or life, in the realm of spirits or superhuman powers, in the world as it is or the world as it shall be, in forces of the universe, in heights or depths – nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:34f)
At the time of a family death and personal stresses, at the terrible events of September 11th, in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C., we hear the refrain, “If only God were there. Why did this awful thing have to happen?” And we weep. So does Christ. But, God was there, is there we believe and trust, and out of the dust and the ashes come resurrection and new hope for the transforming of the world now.