John 11 Three buddies die in a car crash, and they go to heaven to an orientation. They are all asked, When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning upon you, what would you like to hear them say about you? The first guy says, I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor of my time, and a great family man. The second guy says, I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher which made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow. The last guy replies, I would like to hear them say, Look! Hes moving! Today we have a story about death, about finality, and about moving out of what feels like hopeless, final, terminal places. As the story begins an urgent message is sent to Jesus, “Lazarus, whom you love, is ill.” Two desperate, frightened sisters – Mary and Martha – send the message to Jesus, expecting that Jesus will rush back to Bethany to heal his sick friend. But Jesus does not rush to the bedside of Lazarus. In fact, John says that Jesus lingered where he was for a couple more days. He stayed there for a few days? What was he doing? John doesn’t say. He just says that Jesus stayed where he was for a couple of days. And by the time that Jesus makes his way to Bethany it’s all over. Lazarus is dead. The question is stuck in my mind – why did Jesus stay where he was for a few more days before rousing himself and going to Bethany at the request of Mary and Martha? I mean this was death. This is something that is irreversible, right? I remember reading about a person who got a letter from the department of social services stating: ‘Your food stamps will be stopped effective April 1 because we received notice that you passed away. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.” A change in circumstances? With death that is not an option. .If we do the math, Jesus might not have made it in time anyway... but why the delay? Maybe it was important that it be very very clear that this was a situation in which there was NO CHANCE. Absolutely no chance… Lazarus was dead . Not dead for a day, but dead for four days - Stinky, gross, dead. The worms crawl in the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on my snout kind of dead…. And it was in the face of this kind of unavoidable, no hope, irreversible death that Jesus went to the tomb and said, Lazarus come out!!! The point being? With God it is never too late! Lots of us, maybe all of us are in situations that seem hopeless Where it seems as if it just might be “too late” There is of course death itself. Death! – to many a taboo subject, a matter most feared. We have developed many nicer terms to talk about death --- passing away, passing on, gone, going upstairs, graduated, . . . . . This only shows our fear and abhorrence of it. To most death is the grim reaper. Woody Allen said this about death: It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. Death is a taboo subject because it is something we cannot conquer. When we come face to face with death we feel helpless. Helpless, and hopeless! But it isn’t just death… There are so many situations, mistakes, so many things that can make us feel this way! What one thing seems the most overpower, most hopeless to you? This story tells us, that if God is in the picture…. It is never too late. It is never hopeless. If Jesus can restore a body that had been in the tomb for four days and has begun to decompose he can certainly mend the brokenness and wounds of our lives. Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies will live, And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) Jesus asks the same question of us also, “Do you believe this? Do you believe that I can mend all the brokenness and wounds of your life? Do you believe that when you are down, I can lift you up Do you believe when joy has died, when hope, love, I can bring them back to life. Do you believe that the power of God’s love will meant that even death is not an ending, but merely a transition, to whatever is next? Do you believe that Jesus calls you to enjoy the fullness of his life now? Do you believe that Jesus is now calling you out of any tomb you may be in? Do you believe that even now Jesus is saying to you, “Be unbound and go free. There is another thing I want us to notice here What did Lazarus do to get out of the tomb? How do we get out of our tombs? Lazarus did basically, Nothing! He just heard the call! Lazarus come forth He needed only to hear… and be willing Did he have a choice? Could he have lain there and said Ok I hear Jesus talking… but I’m dead! No way I can stand up and walk out of this tomb… Nope, can’t happen I’m just going to lay here ! Yep… rot rot rot, fester fester fester That’s me…. Seems ludicrous doesn’t it It is! But it is possible. We can refuse to accept our acceptance in many ways In fact we are good at it. But Lazarus responded, and in doing so showed that the healing presence and power of God is all that is needed. All we have to do is hear the voice. All we have to do is accept that we are accepted…. Lazarus came out of the tomb because he heard Jesus’ voice. The voice of God is a voice that reassures. The voice of God doesn’t frighten us or cause us additional anxiety. God’s voice is a calming presence, a “still, small, voice” that comforts and gives us hope. Such was the voice of Jesus that comforted Mary and Martha, the voice that enabled Lazarus to be free. But listening to that voice may be the hardest work we have to do. Remember our OT passage? Isa 43:19? See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Can you not see it? So, to use both images, we need ears that hear, and eyes that see. Why is it so hard? I want you to notice something here In Isaiah, we are told about a new thing! In John Lazarus is not just raised… He is “unbound” He is set free from what bound him! That little side story in the story is not an accident God wants to do a new thing God wants to set us free, unbind us from what binds us! But we don’t know what resurrection looks like in this life We don’t know what God’s transforming power will do, to us, to our situation… Be we can be sure it will be freeing And it will be new But still… it might well scare us, a lot It is quite likely God’s solution may look really different from what we expected We can’t define the form God’s work will take… We cannot put God in a box. We cannot determine what God’s new and freeing action will look like. But we now that the sacred, the Spirit in us, will do something This story is not just about physical death It is about everything The presence of the sacred doesn’t simply raise us up At the end of what we call life It does more It unbinds us It sets us free… To do a new thing… The voice of God is a voice that calls us from the past and calls us to a new present It calls us from our old habits and invites us to try new ones. It calls us from apathy and indifference to caring. It calls us from despair to hope. It calls us from darkness to light. It calls us from loneliness to community. It calls us from captivity to freedom. It calls us from death, to life Thanks be to God
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 20:49:12 +0000
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