Eternal God, throughout these forty days of Lent, enable us to prepare
ourselves, our hearts, and our minds to receive the new life that you have
for us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today’s Bible story, presented in our two scripture lessons, is very well
known for a couple of reasons. First, it is a resurrection performed by Jesus.
Second, it contains the answer to the Bible trivia question: What is the
shortest verse in the Bible? The answer is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” Just in
case you missed it in the reading earlier, the New Revised Standard Version has
lengthened the verse to four words, “Jesus began to weep.” So much for trivia!
It was observed by one of our staff members this week that this is a most
appropriate reading for “Spring Ahead” Sunday when we have turned our clocks
ahead one hour: Jesus was probably weeping because of the lost hour of sleep.
For this staff member the vision of life does not include early morning hours.
What is your vision of life?
We have a citrus tree garden at home. It is not very big, just three trees
surrounded by an expanse of gravel. Growing out of the rocks in a place where it
receives no water and frequently gets stepped on when we are picking fruit, is a
yellow daffodil, bright, beautiful, full of life. It is hearty, determined, and
an inspiration. I frequently tell some of the other plantings I have to
baby-along, “Why can’t you be like the daffodil? It is a vision of life.”
What is your vision of life: A newborn baby? A dandelion growing in the
crack of a sidewalk? A child at play? Some superior athlete in action? A salmon
swimming upstream? A family laughing and playing together? A baby chick hatching
from an egg? Today’s Bible story, through smelling strongly of death, is really
a vision of life. In fact, there are at least two visions of life here.
Mary, her sister Martha, and their brother, Lazarus, are close friends of Jesus.
Lazarus becomes ill so the sisters send word to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love
is ill.” The disciples do not want Jesus to return to Judea for fear of his
life, but Jesus insists. This story is the last and crowning “sign” as to whom
Jesus is in John’s gospel, for it portrays Jesus as the giver of life. It also
is the most intimate glimpse into Jesus’ relationships, revealing very human
emotions of love and sorrow
John’s gospel depicts Jesus as God in human flesh, who even on the cross does
not give voice to suffering, but here he clearly experiences grief for another.
This is an insight into God’s care and compassion for us. Clearly a part of the
abundant life, the full, authentic life is not for everything to be always happy
and pain-free: but as Paul says to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and cry with
those who cry.” (Romans 12:15)
It is noted in the story that when Jesus arrives at the tomb, Lazarus has been
in there for four days. A popular belief of the time was that the soul lingered
near the body for three days, then left. As Martha so delicately puts it in the
old King James Version, “Lord, by this time he stinketh.” For Jesus to act on
the fourth day is to say Lazarus was assuredly dead. This was not a
resuscitation, but a resurrection, a giving of new life.
Jesus then calls Lazarus from the tomb and Lazarus comes out. Jesus does for his
friend what God will do for Jesus. This is his and our assurance that there is
power loose in creation that is stronger than death, stronger even than our fear
of death. This power can call us from the deepest, stinking tombs into the sweet
bright light of a vision of new life.
The Jews believed that only God had power over life and death. (2 Kings 5:7,
Ezekiel 37:3-12) However, now that power is present here in Jesus. Jesus’
self-revelation that he is “the resurrection and life” points to his sharing
fully in God’s power. Here Jesus demonstrates that death cannot remove people
from life with God.
Here is a vision of life in which our days do not need to be reckoned by the
inevitable power of death, but instead by the abundant promise of life with God.
Even though we die, we can live confidently, full of hope, risking with joy,
for “yet shall we live.” Jesus is the resurrection and life not just for the
crisis moment of death, but for all moments of life.
The vision of life in this story is Lazarus coming out of the tomb still
wrapped in death’s garments. Lazarus who is now alive will die again, but
Jesus whose burial cloths are left in the tomb, is the giver of life who will
never die.
God’s love gives us abundant life now. This life transcends death, many
deaths. When Lazarus comes out of the tomb, Jesus tells those around him to
unbind him. We too can experience and participate in the abundant life as we
unbind each other from those things that take life away from us. Pastors and lay
persons alike, who have visited with the sick and gravely ill, can tell you the
visitor often comes away abundantly blessed. Frequently, those very ill or dying
unbind life for their visitors. They give their visitors a vision of life. We
give to others and gain for ourselves a vision of life when we see, engage, and
include those invisible people others may not see: the ill, those physically or
emotionally challenged, children, those who grieve, and the elderly, to name a
few. In a vision of life there is always a flow of energy. Sometimes we are
surprised to discover in which direction the energy is flowing.
Yet there is another vision of life in this story, at least one more.
It comes early in the exchange between Martha and Jesus. This vision starts with
these words, “When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him,
while Mary stayed at home.” This is a very different scene from what we saw in
Luke’s gospel where it is Mary that crosses over the cultural boundaries and
sits at Jesus’ feet and gets in trouble with Martha for not helping in the
kitchen. Here it is Martha who leaves the women mourning and goes out to meet
Jesus. She goes to meet him and speaks pointedly to him: “If you had been here,
my brother would not have died.” Her statement is at once an accusation and a
statement of faith. Jesus asks her, “Do you believe?” She responds with
wonderful words of affirmation: “Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ,
the Son of God, the One who is coming into the world!” This is the same
profession of faith spoken by Peter in the transfiguration story. Just as an
aside, Peter got an extra feast day in the Catholic liturgical calendar for his
profession of faith. At least so far, Martha has not faired as well.
However, what we see here in Martha is a vision of life. The same kind of
transformative power of God which turned Saul from the persecutor of the church
to become Paul the great evangelist of the church, and turned Peter from the
blustering fisherman into the “rock” on which the church was founded, has also
changed Martha now from one whining about needing help in the kitchen to an
advocate empowered to go out and ask for what she wanted. She is no longer a
loser, lost in the background, but a person of strong, active faith. Susan
Russell recalls a song which speaks of this transfomative power of God which
makes us a vision of life:
I will change your name. You shall no longer be called
Wounded, Outcast, Lonely or Afraid
I will change your name. Your new name shall be
Joyfulness, Confidence, Overcoming One.
Faithfulness. Friend of God. One who seeks my face.
Later, Mary follows Martha and makes the same confession of faith, but it is
Martha who is clearly a new person here, a vision of life for all of us. As
Walter Wink has written, “History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the
future into being.” Martha believes and acts her faith. Following Martha’s
example, we too can become a vision of life, as we confidently act our faith.
Steve Goodier tells a story about U.S. District Court judge Woodrow Seal, who
was active in a group known as The Society of St. Stephen, an organization whose
whole purpose was helping people in need.
One day a church invited the judge to speak about how they might begin a
Society of St. Stephen in their congregation. The plan was for him to speak on
the various programs of the society and then follow up with a time for
discussion.
The people took their seats and the minister introduced the speaker. The
judge helped himself to cookies and poured a cup of coffee. When the
introduction was completed, Judge Seal walked over to the piano and put his cup
of coffee on it. He began to fumble in his coat pocket, finally pulling out a
wrinkled piece of paper and from it read the name of a mother and her four
children, including their ages and clothing sizes. He noted several unmet needs
of the family and mentioned their address was on the paper which he carefully
laid on top of the piano. Then he said, “If you want to start a society of St.
Stephen, then you should contact this woman by 11:30 tomorrow morning. If you
are not able to help her, don’t worry. I’ll be in contact with her tomorrow and
I’ll get her help by mid-afternoon.” With that, he turned to leave saying,
“Thank you for inviting me and for the coffee and cookies.” Before anyone could
respond he walked out the door. It all took less than five minutes.
Here was a group of people who thought they were going to spend an hour
listening to a program on how to help others in need, and maybe discuss its
merits for a while. Instead they spent an hour deciding how to help one family,
and the next day they did it. They became a vision of life, giving life to
others.
There is an old Chinese proverb which states, “The best time to plant a tree
was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.” The second best time for you
and me to be a vision of life is now.
Thanks be to God.*
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[*]
Notes: Ideas for this sermon have come from Susan Russell, The Witness,
March 4, 2005, and Steve Goodier of lifesupportsystem.com.
