“The Raising of Lazarus"
A Sermon Preached by the
Rev. Jean Niven Lenk
Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 10, 2013
First Congregational Church of Stoughton, MA
An Open and Affirming Congregation of the
United Church of Christ
Text: John 11:1-43
Let us pray… God of broken dreams and empty tombs, you meet us when we feel without strength or purpose; you are present in the midst of our hopelessness and despair. As we hear Your Word and the stories of your people, grant that we may know your transforming presence as they did. Bring new life to us that we, too, may walk in faith, affirming your gifts and celebrating your love. Amen.
Today’s story, the Raising of Lazarus, offers the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept.” And within those two words are revealed much about the man of Nazareth -- that he had great love for his friends Lazarus, Mary and Martha, and also that he was a sensitive human being who openly expressed his feelings.
In this story, death walks with Jesus as he moves ever closer to Jerusalem, the place of his suffering and crucifixion, and his raising of Lazarus is a prelude to his own resurrection. But his actions will also set in motion the final events that lead to his trial and crucifixion.
1Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ 23Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ 24Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ 25Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ 27She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’
32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ 35Jesus began to weep. 36So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ 37But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ 38Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.’ 40Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’
43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’
A few weeks ago, we heard the story of Mary and Martha hosting Jesus in their home in Bethany, a village just outside of Jerusalem.
And in today’s story, knowing that Jesus is of God, the sisters desperately summon him to come quickly to the bedside of their dying brother Lazarus. The disciples urge Jesus not to go so near to Jerusalem, where there have been threats on his life. But Jesus knows he needs to go to save his friend.
The curious thing is, Jesus waits several days before heading to Bethany. And by the time he arrives, Lazarus has been dead for four days – not just sleeping, not just appearing to be dead, but really dead — so dead, in fact, that there’s a “stench.” Martha confronts Jesus, blurting out in grief and anger: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Where was Jesus when he was needed? Where was their friend, whom they trusted and knew could have helped?
In response, Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, though they die, will live and those who believe in me will never die.”
What is Jesus talking about? How can he say that we will never die? Lazarus’ dying has taught Mary and Martha all too well that death is real. And we know it, too. Death rips us apart, it breaks our heart in two. It is a thief, a destroyer, and robs us of those we love.
But Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Notice that his words are in the present tense. “I am the resurrection and the life.” And the present tense not just in the English translation, but more importantly in the original Greek. And throughout the Gospel of John, we hear over and over Jesus talking about new life, resurrected life, eternal life – all in the present tense.
To Nicodemus, he says, “The Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may be having eternal life” [3:14:b, 15]. Not in the future, but in the present.
To the religious Leaders, Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has" — present tense — "eternal life” [5:24].
To the crowds following him, he says: “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life” [6:47]. Present tense.
And – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” [3:16]. Present tense. Now.
Jesus invites us into relationship with him, invites us into a new way of living which releases the despair and fear and anguish from our hearts, so we can enjoy the new life he offers. And he gives it to us right here, right now, in this life. Eternal life is not just life after this earthly life; eternal life is abundant life, joy-filled life, life in its fullness here and now.
The late pastor and writer William Sloan Coffin, whose oldest son Alex died at the age of 24, put it this way: “Eternal life begins, not at the end of time nor at the funeral home, nor even at the moment of death, but right now.” “Eternal life is not a possession conferred at death… We live it now and continue it through death.”
Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life… do you believe this?” And Martha responds, “Yes, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” And when she says those words, new life is born within Martha; her anxiety is transformed to trust, her despair into hope, her fear to faith, her brokenness to wholeness.
Jesus then goes with Mary and Martha and the other mourners to the tomb and shouts, "Lazarus, come out!" And out stumbles Lazarus, still wrapped in the strips of cloth in which he has been buried. Jesus shouts again, “Unbind him, and let him go,” and Lazarus is set free — not just from his burial shroud, but also from death.
And what about us? Do we, like Martha, believe in the new life that Jesus offers? We may not be physically dead like Lazarus, but many of us can experience a spiritual or emotional death while we are still living.
Our spirits may retreat into tombs of depression, regret, shame, guilt, disappointment or denial. For some, living death might be despair over a major loss: a loved one, a job, a sense of purpose and meaning. For others, living death might be an addiction or broken friendship which robs life of joy. “Death” may be in the form of a job which is "killing” us or a relationship which saps the life right out of us.
What is keeping you from living life to its fullest? What are the stones that are locking you in, blocking you from wholeness? How are you bound up like Lazarus, unable to experience the joy of life?
Jesus shouts to you and to me, calling each of us by name as he called Lazarus, so that his voice might penetrate our cluttered and distracted lives, that he might be heard over our weeping and wailing. Jesus shouts so that his voice might be louder than anything that may block us from hearing him and his message of abundant, joy-filled living.
Today, as Jesus turns his face toward Jerusalem and his own death, we have a foretaste of God’s promise that death will not have the last word; we have the promise of resurrection. May we live believing in that promise; may we live fully and gratefully for the gift of life now and life everlasting. And may we live believing in Jesus’ words, “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.” Amen.
