March 9, 2008

Message

The Rev. A. Thomas Carlson

Scriptures: Romans 8:6-11

John 11:1-45

Today's Scripture is about a family in crisis, anxiously awaiting the Great Healer to arrive to help. But He didn't come in time. It is an extremely anxious time that results in the loss of a brother simply because Jesus took His time in getting there!

This passage is about much more than the Great Physician being too late. The purpose is to reveal Jesus as "the Resurrection and the Life." In that sense, it is an extraordinary story.

In our Monday Bible class, our study guide reminded us that "the first half of John's Gospel is presented as a book of signs: wine from water; a multitude fed from a handful of bread and fish. None of these signs reveal the whole truth of Jesus as God among us. The raising of Lazarus forms the last of these signs, and comes at a time when the relationship between the Jewish leaders and Jesus was at a breaking point."

While we are attracted to Jesus of Nazareth as a miracle worker, such actions in the fourth Gospel are not called miracles. They are signs—intended to show individuals and crowds alike that Jesus is God's Anointed One and, in this instance, is specifically the Resurrection and the Life. It also sets the stage for His own death and resurrection.

One Bible teacher says that the actual raising of Lazarus reads like a footnote at the end of the story! The story, then is not only about Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, it is mostly about who Jesus is and why He came to live and die among us!

Yet, we know from this story that Jesus really did care about His three good friends. We know He shed tears over Lazarus death, especially when Martha appeared on the scene, grieving uncontrollably. Still, in this scene, scholars tell us that some of those tears were not just for Martha's loss but for the faithless, hopeless spirit that pervaded the situation. If Martha, her sister, and their friends could just recognize who He was and what He was all about, they could get through this crisis. They could experience a peace that passeth understanding—a peace that comes from knowing that He, Jesus, is the Resurrection and the Life.

What, then, can we glean from this story and apply to our situation? Sometimes the Good News that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life just doesn't sink in, especially when a crisis comes. In today's Gospel, bringing Lazarus back appears to be the one way Jesus gets His message across. It appears that no one asks Lazarus anything about his time in the tomb, wrapped in grave clothes. Today every newscaster around would fight for an interview. Lazarus is a footnote; instead Jesus is recognized as the Messiah (Resurrection and Life). While Lazarus was given another chance at this life, Jesus was recognized as the giver of this life. It is interesting that bystanders became believers when Jesus asked them to get involved. The crowd was told: "Untie him and let him go!" As in the case with Mary and Martha, Jesus does not always rush in and immediately fix things for us. Instead He comes in God's time to help us work through the hard times. I believe Jesus even cries with us as we hurt. When we are open to receive it, He offers us a chance to live life anew!

This passage tells me that even when we face death (all of us will), God in Christ does not abandon us to our graves. Yet, we know that our new life does not only begin after we have breathed our last—it begins now. "I am the Resurrection and the Life:" words to believe in for both time and eternity.

As we prepare for Good Friday and Easter, for Jesus' own death and resurrection, we have had the benefit of hearing this wonderful passage that tells us who Jesus is and what He can do, even today, to bring new life when we need it the most. Amen.

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

courage to change the things I can,

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

Takings, as He did, this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it.

Trusting that He will make all things right,

if I surrender to His will;

that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

and supremely happy with Him

forever in the next.