“A Matter of Life and Death”

John 11:17-44
March 9, 2008

St. Paul United Methodist Church

John A. Fleming

We are only a couple of weeks away from Easter this morning. That is hard to believe because of snow in the forecast. But two weeks out and the Bible serves up both a familiar and an intense story from John’s gospel. John’s gospel calls Jesus’ miracles sign. There are seven of them. Giving Lazarus his life back is the last of them. It’s also the one that makes the religious authorities decide for sure that it is time to get rid of Jesus.

Remember the miracle with me. Jesus’ friend Lazarus from Bethany is sick. A better interpretation is that he’s sinking fast. We know all of this because his sisters, Mary and Martha, sent word to Jesus. You do remember Mary and Martha don’t you? Along with their brother Lazarus, their family and Jesus are great friends. Some folks say that whenever Jesus was in Bethany, he stayed at their house.

Mary and Martha, as sisters, are as different as they can be. Mary is the thinker. She likes to ponder things. She is the one who is commended for sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening. Martha, on the other hand, is the practical one. She’s an expert hostess and a wizard in the kitchen. When Jesus visits, Martha makes sure he has everything he needs. Lazarus was their brother and was surely in the house when Jesus visited. According to our lesson, Jesus loved Lazarus.

The two sisters send word to Jesus by way of a messenger. The message simply is this, “Come quickly, for Lazarus, the one you love, is sick.” You will remember that Jesus doesn’t come quickly. He takes his own sweet time. He doesn’t begin the two mile trip from Jerusalem to Bethany for two more days. His late arrival marks the beginning of today’s gospel lesson. Lazarus has been dead for four days now as Jesus and the disciples walk into town.

The funeral and burial practices of Jesus’ day are different than they are today. If they were similar to our practices today, Jesus and the disciples might have headed to the funeral home or to the church in hopes that they are there in time for the worship service. The chapel would have been full. After all Bethany is not that big of a place. Everyone in town knows this family. Besides that, when there is an unexpected death, people tend to show up and show up they did. My guess is that there is only standing room in the chapel.

Down front, sitting on the front pew that is reserved just for them, is Mary and Martha. Most likely Mary is thinking about all of the things Lazarus said to her while he was alive. My guess is that she is remembering some of the important moments of their lives together. Martha isn’t doing that. She’s been up and down three or four times making sure the funeral directors are doing what they are supposed to be doing. In her mind, she is tending to the details that will have to be taken care of when the service is over.

Both of them, though, keep looking toward the back of the chapel, as if they are waiting for someone to arrive. There are hundreds of people there and yet they still look.

It must have been about that time that the one they were looking for came in. Everyone knew who he was. They knew his name was Jesus. They watched as he and twelve others came down the center aisle towards the front of the chapel. The service is only minutes away from beginning. Mary and Martha see him and immediately stand up. Now the rumor is that this Jesus can speak to demons and that he can calm storms. Everyone in the room is wondering what he has to say about death and what he can do about it.

If you happened to be close to Mary and Martha that day, you can hear their conversation. Martha’s words sounded accusatory. “Where have you been, Jesus? If you had been here, my brother would not have died!” I can’t say that I blame Martha for her feelings. I think I can sense her frustration. Who of us has not thought or said the same thing to Jesus? If you had just been here, Jesus, my sister would not have died! If you had just been here, Jesus my grandmother would not have died! Yes, friends, we’ve all said and thought these things.

Martha says that and yet in the very next breath she resolves, “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus speaks to her about new life. He says, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha knows that. She believes that. She says that, “Sure I know my brother will rise again on the last day, in the resurrection of the dead, but what about now?”

I want you to see this. Jesus isn’t trying to give Martha comforting words. He is not trying to explain away her grief and pain. If you don’t mind me saying this, we all have to be careful with what we say when someone dies. The best thing we can say is that we will stand by them and will help them. Jesus has the right words. They are as powerful as they can be. His words are the ones we use at every memorial worship service and funeral service we have in our church. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and I am the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” It is as if Jesus says to Martha, “Right here and right now, I am as much resurrection and life as you are ever going to need.”

I should say this. Most memorial services have their share of Mary and Marthas in them. Sprinkled among the grieving are the bewildered. Sometimes it is in a prayer and sometimes it is out loud. They say, “Help me understand this one, Jesus.” I sat as one of them in the Sanctuary at First United Methodist Church in Conway two and a half years ago. As the service was about to begin, I had to say, “Help me understand this one, Jesus.”

There are others. In one of his books, Max Lucado tells the story of Karen Davis. Karen’s thirteen year old son died unexpectedly. He was the picture of health and yet he unexpectedly died. To this day no one is sure why or how it happened. Karen wrote, “I miss Jacob so much. I am not sure I can do this. I stand at the cemetery knowing it was the last place I saw him. The house is so empty now without all his noise and plans.” Death is not easily explained. Grief hurts the heart and I understand that more than I used to. And grief does not mean that we don’t trust. It just means that you cannot stand the thought of another day without the Lazarus of your life.

Go back with me to Bethany and imagine the chapel scene with Mary, Martha, and Jesus there. According to John’s story, when Jesus saw their tears, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. In John’s version of the story, Jesus wants to know where they have laid him and they head that way. With that, John gives us what may be the most powerful phrase in all the Bible. The New Revised Version translates this as, “Jesus began to weep.” The New International Version is better. The editors translate the verse as “Jesus wept.”

People noticed that. Some said, “Look how much he loved him.” There were doubters there, too. They said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” He could. But this miracle, this sign is to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Son of God. They arrived at the tomb. John says that it was a cave. A stone lay against it. If that sounds familiar to you, it should. We will be at another cave with another stone in front of it in two short weeks. Jesus says, “Take away the stone.” Martha is practical again. She says, “Lord you probably don’t want to do that.” He says, “I told you that if you believed you would see the glory of God.” With that the stone is moved and the prayer to God is said and Jesus calls out Lazarus’ name. I love this biblical line. John writes, “The dead man came out.” Isn’t that great? Jesus says, “Unbind him and let him go.”

The people who were there and the people who are here learned some great lessons about Jesus that day. With the time left in our sermon, let me lift up two things that seem powerful to me. First, Jesus cries with those he loves. He did then and he does now.

There is some question about why Jesus would cry. He wept and yet in a matter of moments knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead. I don’t know why he cried but I’m glad he did. My best guess is that he cried because he knew the power that death would have over many of us. My best guess is that he looked far into the future and into the past and noticed mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, wives and husbands, who stood in cemeteries with death staring them in the face. I think Jesus cried because he wanted us to know how much he loves us and is with us.

A young preacher, fresh out of seminary, was on the way to the house of one of his church members. A man had just died and the preacher was on his way to help. He had no idea what he was going to say or what comforting words he would use. He walked into the house and into the den where everyone had gathered. He had planned to read the 23rd Psalm and to have a prayer. He tried. He couldn’t read and he couldn’t pray. All he could do was to cry. Later on that family remembered him as their favorite simply because they cried with them. Jesus cries with those he loves. That’s the first lesson.

Here is the second lesson, we can believe in His resurrection. He turns to Martha and asks, “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?” All of our lessons these past few weeks have been about believing in Jesus and his power. Every Easter I like to close our Easter sermon with the same words. Maybe I will say them twice this year. I don’t know. For sure I want to say it this morning. Not only do I believe in the resurrection, I am counting on it!

Jesus not only wakes up his death sleeping friend. He is also trying to wake us up to the reality of his resurrection power. Easter morning, you see, isn’t merely about sunlight and lilies and trumpets and Hallelujah choruses. It is about a Jesus who loved us enough to teach us, lead us, cry with us, and die for us so that we can live forever. I believe in that. Let us pray.

(Special thanks to Max Lucado for an idea or two in this sermon. I dedicate this sermon to everyone who knows how Martha and Mary felt when their brother died).