Sermon for Lent 5: "Jesus and Martha"

+ 5^th Sunday in Lent – March 29^th, 2020 +

Series A: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:1-11; John 11:1-45, 46-53

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The story of Jesus and Lazarus is a familiar one. And sometimes with a familiar story it’s good to slow down. Pause for a moment or two, and look at the details. To explore this scene a little more in depth.

Now, as we’re all at home, and if you have Amazon Prime, you can use on of their new video feature called X-Ray while watching your favorite shows or movies. X-ray allows you to pause a film and find out more information. When you press pause, the forward motion of the film stops, and a different kind of motion begins. You start to move deeper into what is happening. X-ray helps you find out about the actors, identify the soundtrack, or get background information on the scene. It is a way of entering more deeply into a movie. 

This morning, let’s consider John’s account of Jesus and Lazarus this way. Pause it for a moment and enter more deeply into what is happening.

Our text from John 11 is the account of the raising of Lazarus. Most of the headings in your bibles at home will give it that name: The raising of Lazarus. And for good reason; this is the climax of the story. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. 

But if you pause the story… let’s say at the moment when Martha first speaks with Jesus…then we see that this story is also about Martha. Listen in as we pause for a moment on Jesus’ conversation with Martha.

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.^[d] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Another way to title this scene would be, “Jesus comforts Martha on the long road to resurrection.” And that is something we can relate to. We’re a lot like Martha. Grieving. Wondering. Asking God what he’s doing; yet believing and trusting in him, knowing he is the Christ who comes into our world. And like Martha, we spend most of our lives on the long road to resurrection. And like Martha, Jesus comes for comfort us today as well. 

When we meet Martha in this story, her brother Lazarus is dead, and her life is filled with sorrow. If you were to freeze this scene, you would see Martha standing there on the road with Jesus, looking to the past and looking to the future, wanting to be anywhere but here.

Martha knows what could have been: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And Martha knows what will be: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” But what could have been and what will be do not change what is right now. Her brother is dead. Her Lord is late. And her life is filled with sorrow.

This moment for Martha is familiar to us. This is where we spend most of our lives… on the road to resurrection. We look at the past and wonder what could have been. We look to the future and know what will be for us in Jesus. But right now, we’re stuck in the middle of suffering. 

Then Jesus speaks. He says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Notice how Jesus uses the present tense. I AM the resurrection and the life. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus does not point to the past – I was the resurrection and the life – nor to the future – I will be the resurrection and the life. No, Jesus speaks about the present. I am the resurrection and the life.

It reminds me of the hope and comfort Johnny Cash sings about in his famous song: Ain’t No Grave.

When I hear that trumpet sound
I'm gonna rise right out of the ground
Ain't no grave
Can hold my body down

And the same Lord Jesus who spoke to Martha on that road in that moment of her sorrow, is the same Lord Jesus, who is speaking to you right now in His holy Word and promise. Today. In this moment. In your sorrow. He is the resurrection and the life for you.

This means that even before Lazarus walks out of the tomb, before Jesus is raised from the dead, right now, as Martha stands there in the middle of that long road to resurrection, Jesus is the resurrection and the life for her. He has come to be the resurrection and the life for her even in sorrow.

In this moment, the resurrection is a hand that can be touched, a voice that can be heard, a tear that is shed, and a holy conversation that happens with Jesus in the middle of sorrow. The same is true for you. Yes, we look forward to the day of resurrection. To the Eternal Easter and the endless day, but here on our road to the resurrection, Jesus is with us.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life even now. 

“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.

The peace of God which surpasses…