+ Lenten Midweek Service –
March 16th, 2016 +
Redeemer Lutheran, HB
John 11
In the Name of the Father and of
the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Snow White eats the poison apple
and dies and the seven dwarves hold a funeral. Spock dies and Kirk
gives him a burial by photon torpedo. And Johnny Cash sings, “Ain’t no grave
can hold my body down.”
Notice a pattern? I do, and I don’t
think it’s a coincidence. It seems that everywhere we look, even in our
favorite books, movies, and music, people are battling the three-headed dragon
of guilt, suffering, and death.
And out of those three, Death is
the ugliest of the monsters. Take for example, how non-Christians approach funerals
and dying, or the recent death with dignity law passed in California, even our
silly obsession with skull and cross-bones on cars and clothing reveals a
simple fact. People are more afraid of death than ever before, and are willing
to go to great lengths to cover up their fear. No wonder St. Paul writes, the last enemy to be destroyed is Death.
It shakes us to our core. We’re left weary and broken, wondering who can put us
back together again.
In John 11 we find Mary and
Martha wrestling with the same beast. Their brother Lazarus is sick. So they
send word to Jesus:
Lord, he whom you love is ill.
Usually, our first instinct is to
run to help the sick person. Call the advice nurse. Make an appointment. Get to
the ER if necessary. Somebody, do something! But what does Jesus do?
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he
heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he
was.
Rather unexpected, don’t you
think? Jesus waits to go see Lazarus until after he died.
Why? Listen to John’s commentary:
Jesus loved Mary and Martha. Jesus could have quickly rushed to Lazarus’
bedside, healed him, and shown that disease and the all the doubters who was boss.
Yet, because he loves Martha, Mary, the disciples, and you, he waits to show us
all something greater.
He waits in order to show the
disciples, Mary and Martha, and all of us that we are not alone in our
suffering, guilt, and death. This is why Jesus is born, why he’s headed to
Jerusalem: to bear our sorrow, our sin, and to give us life in his death.
So, Jesus waits to draw us – with
all our guilt, suffering, sin, and death – to his dying and rising for us.
Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not
there, so that you may believe.
It may sound callous at first but
it’s not. Jesus reveals his loves for the disciples, and Mary and Martha, and
us: he waits in order to reveal what could not be revealed in any other way;
that he, Jesus, is Lord of all, even death itself. Illness, guilt, suffering, and
death are no match for Jesus. Jesus waits that we may trust in him, even in the
face of our guilt, suffering, and death – and look to him alone for rescue.
Still, the disciples didn’t quite
get it. Of course, they wouldn’t understand until after Jesus’ resurrection. We’re
no different, really: apart from Jesus’ death and resurrection, Lazarus’ death doesn’t
make much sense. And more than that, guilt, suffering, and death – our own and
others – doesn’t make much sense either, unless we see cover our naked eyes
with the clothing of Christ Crucified and risen for us.
Finally, Jesus makes it to
Bethany. Martha greets him on the way and laments:
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But
even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
Haven’t we all uttered that
prayer: Lord, if only you had been there.
Sometimes it’s a guttural scream – the great NO! of pain - in the face of
death. Other times, we pray silently, thinking our pain is far too overwhelming
to bear, let alone speak about out loud.
Jesus doesn’t chastise Martha for
this. He bears her grief as he does yours. Jesus doesn’t even lay on the law:
if only you had prayed harder, if only your faith had been a little stronger,
if only you truly believed. No, none of that. Those are awful things to say to
someone who’s grieving. The answer to guilt, suffering, and death isn’t more
law. Like us, Martha needed the good news. And Jesus gives it.
Your brother will rise again, Jesus said. Jesus makes it sound easy, like someone who simply
says, “I’m going outside to dump the trash.” Of course, for Jesus, rousing
Lazarus and you and me from our graves will be that easy. Arise! And it will
happen.
Martha replies, I know that he will rise again in the
resurrection on the last day.
Grief mixed with faith and hope.
That’s the Christian way of mourning as well. Unlike the world who sobs and
wails uncontrollably at funerals, we grieve, but not as others do in despair
and hopelessness. For we have hope in the midst of sorrow, joy the midst of
tears, life in the face of death. Unlike the faith of unbelief that looks only
on death as an empty void, a return to nothingness, and part of the circle of
life, Christians see death as the horrible consequence of sin, and yet a
portal; our graves have been hallowed by Jesus who rested in our tomb. Death is
destroyed in Jesus’ death. And after a short slumber Jesus Lord will awaken us
as easily as he did Lazarus.
So, Jesus answers Mary and Martha’s
greatest need, and our greatest need as well:
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.
Jesus’ salvation for you is
always present tense and future promise: today you will be with me in paradise.
And then, to show that his words
do what they say, Jesus goes to Lazarus’ tomb where the words he just
proclaimed - I AM the resurrection and
the life – take place before their very eyes.
This is why Jesus is in Bethany,
why he’s on his way to Jerusalem – for Lazarus, Mary, Martha, the disciples,
for you and for the world. To swallow up our guilt, suffering, and death by his
own death. Jesus takes our guilt and declares you innocent instead. Jesus takes
our suffering and all our problems of pain and replaces it with true joy and
consolation in his cross and empty tomb. Jesus takes our biggest, baddest enemy
– Death – upon himself, wrestles him to the death, and the dragon is crushed
under Jesus’ feet…all for you.
Then, with a loud voice, Jesus cries
out into the tomb: Lazarus, come out.
And the man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound
with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said, Unbind
him, and let him go.
Jesus says the same thing to us
in our guilt, suffering, and death: Unbind him. Let him go. Dear baptized
Christian, come out. Arise!
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.
In the Name of the Father and of
the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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