Life From Death
Pastor Mathew Magera – 4/5/17 – Sermon 223
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
From a Pastor's perspective,
looking at this story of Jesus and Lazarus, I would say Jesus needs to work on
his pastoral care skills. Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that Lazarus is
dying. “Jesus, our brother is sick. He's going to die.” What does Jesus do? He
seems to push it aside. He stays where he is. He doesn't move. One day. Jesus
doesn't move. Two days. Jesus doesn't move. Not great pastoral care, Jesus. Not
really good. If pastors did that today, you can imagine a number of annual
meetings would not go very well. Jesus seemed to not care at all. He waited not
one but two days to start going back as if he wanted to make sure Lazarus was
good and dead before he arrived. And remember, it’s not as if he would be there
in a few hours but rather a day or two.
But what's the point of even
going back to Judea now? I mean, Jesus already has a few things going against
him already. First, Jesus already has enemies there who tried to stone him. The
disciples try to urge him not to go that way out of fear that he will be
killed. If Jesus had planned to go back to say good-bye to Lazarus, it was
already too late and Jesus knows this. Everybody is already thinking about
death and that is very important as the story goes on. If anything, when he
gets there he'll run into a number of upset people, none of which will be as
upset as Mary and Martha. Oh they would be ticked to see Jesus come walking
into town four days after their brother died. You see, for the disciples and
for Mary and Martha and likely others as well, death is final. There is no
point for Jesus to return. Lazarus was sick. He died. He was buried. Period.
The end. Go home Jesus. There is nothing more for you to do here. But, Jesus
goes anyway.
He goes and he meets Martha
first. You may have noticed in your Bible's the heading at verse 17 where our
Gospel started tonight. It says, "Jesus Comforts the Sisters of
Lazarus." I think that is putting it a bit lightly. They were ticked off
at him. Just look at what Martha says to him the moment she sees him. "If
you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus, if you would
have listened. Jesus, if you would have done this. This is the voice of a woman
who is not happy with what Jesus has done. She's angry. And she has every right
to be. She had hope that Jesus would have been able to do something or say
something to cause the sickness to leave her brother. She had believed in him.
She had believed in him. Now, she doesn't. For her, death was the end. Nobody
could change that. Even throughout the course of her conversation with Jesus, I
think she doesn't quite believe what even she is saying. She confesses him as
the Messiah but still doubts his abilities.
When Martha goes to tell her
sister Mary that Jesus was there, Mary runs out to Jesus who has not moved an
inch. She comes to him, weeping and says the same thing her sister did,
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." And she
sat at his feet crying and crying and crying. And the Jews who were with her
were also crying and crying and crying and Jesus is moved and is troubled. Here
we get the shortest verse in the entire Bible, John 11:35, "Jesus
wept." Jesus was overwhelmed by unbelief. Martha lost hope. Mary lost
hope. Everyone in town had lost hope. Each and every one of them believed that
death was the end and that there was no more. Who could blame them, right?
Lazarus is dead. What can change that? So they weep in their lost hope. And
Jesus, troubled by this lack of belief also weeps. He comes to town with the
power of the resurrection right within him, the same power he told Martha about
when she came to meet him, the same power that has already done many signs and
miracles. He comes to town with the power of the resurrection where he himself
is life and he's now standing there in the middle of a crowd that is mourning
death. The Jews see Jesus weeping and think he's being overcome with sadness
for his friend Lazarus but Jesus is weeping with sadness for everybody else.
How could they have lost hope? He's standing in the middle of them who had once
had so much hope in him and they are thinking about nothing other than death.
It makes him sick and he weeps. He has seen their unbelief in the raw.
But, what happens next is
where the story turns around. The little taste of Easter begins right here.
What does he do? He doesn't sit there and teach them about what believing in
Jesus is supposed to mean. He doesn't go through a 12 step sermon telling them
how to be better Christians in the face of death. He doesn’t go through the
five stages of grief. Mary and Martha both told him, "Lord, if you had
been here, our brother would not have died." He doesn't turn it back to
them and say, "if only you had stronger faith then you wouldn't be in this
predicament." He doesn't say, "I've had it with all these
unbelievers." No, he doesn't do any of that. What does he do? In the midst
of their unbelief, he continues to be the Messiah. In the midst of their firm grip
on the finality of death, Jesus continues to be the life and resurrection.
That's our little glimpse of Easter. When all hope is lost on Good Friday after
Jesus is laid in that tomb. When death had taken him down and he was wrapped in
linen clothes and the stone is rolled in front of the entrance, Jesus continues
to be the Messiah. In the midst of everyone's unbelief at Calvary as they stood
in shock to see Jesus himself die when he was supposed to be their king, even
in the midst of that unbelief, Jesus continues to be the life and resurrection.
Even in the tomb, Jesus is still the Messiah.
Jesus embodies that very
life and resurrection here at the tomb of Lazarus. He doesn't wait for them to
believe. He goes up to the tomb and he orders it to be opened and we get an
anticipated response. I think the King James Version has the best translation of
this verse. Jesus says, "take away the stone," and Martha says,
"Lord, by this time he stinketh" He stinketh. He's been dead four
days, you don't want to go in there. It's worse than going into the bathroom
after somebody has just had a lengthy visit. Lord, he stinketh. But, Jesus
knows he won't be smelling death when that stone is rolled away and so they do
it and to everyone's amazement Jesus calls into the dark tomb. In a sovereign
act of grace Jesus does what only Jesus can do. He, who is living, calls into
death itself. Come out! And what do you know, out comes Lazarus. Lazarus, who
had not been merely sleeping. Lazarus, who had been dead as a door knob had
just walked out of his own grave at the command of Jesus. I mean, what an
amazing display of power. Then, perhaps, Jesus’ best words after calling
Lazarus from the dead, he says, "Take off the grave clothes and let him
go." Lazarus had already been dressed for death, to be preserved in the
best possible way and now Jesus is commanding that those clothes that were
meant for an eternal rest in death were to be taken off of him so that he might
be given the opportunity to live.
When we are faced with
death, we react much like Martha and Mary. Lord, if you had been here. Lord, if
you had heard my prayer. Lord, if you had done this. We're disappointed by
death but there is nothing wrong with that. Death is disappointing. Death is a
dividing line that separates us from our loved ones whether it is our death or
theirs. But, what we must remember is that even in death, Jesus is still the
Messiah. Even in death, Jesus is still life. That's the power that Jesus brings
to us in full display here. For even after a loved one dies, we still gather in
the sanctuary to worship the one who raises the dead. We gather to hear again
the promised word of new life that Jesus brings to us. No, not even the
finality of death will keep your loved ones in the grave, not with Jesus
around.
We need to hear of this
again and again and again because we need to be reminded that Jesus' ability to
bring life from death is not contingent on our belief. Just because this Judean
town was flooded with unbelief, it didn't stop Jesus from bringing life. If
Jesus had to wait to be the Messiah until the Christian church around the world
would believe the right way, our hope would be lost. Jesus has to act first.
Jesus doesn't wait for our belief to give life. His gift of new life creates
belief. The Easter message creates belief. Jesus has the power to speak life
into Lazarus. Jesus has the power to speak life into your loved ones. Jesus has
the power to speak life into you. We can be assured that on that last day Jesus
will also call us out of death and into life. Unbind him and let him go. Unbind
her and let her go. It truly is a vision to lead us to the Last Supper, the
cross, and the empty tomb because even when unbelief reigns strong in all of
the Mary's and Martha's and townspeople of the world, Jesus is still the life
and the resurrection and he came to bring that life and resurrection to you. To
God be the glory, now and always. Amen.