FOCUS = LIFE*

5th Sunday of Lent

John 11:1-45

text divided into 5 scenes
video available here (it takes 15 seconds to start;)

 

PART 1
Now a certain man was ill,

Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume

and wiped his feet with her hair;

her brother Lazarus was ill.

So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,

“Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

But when Jesus heard it, he said,

“This illness does not lead to death;

rather it is for God’s glory,

so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

after having heard that Lazarus was ill,

he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

                           -

So we get to meet some of Jesus’ friends

Its nice to know that Jesus has friends

Like us…we all have friends

And I can imagine…that Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Were one of his favorite stops…if he was near Bethany

He would stay with them and rest and recuperate

There were good meals…maybe good mattresses

I'm imaging his disciples…maybe they had to pitch a tent

And in my imagination…Lazarus has a really good wine cellar.

But I think…IF My sister called me right now and said

"I have emergency surgery tomorrow…can you come and help with the kids"

I’m not going to say… "well after I finish painting the house

Or after I catch up on this two days worth of laundry I have to do.

I’ll come after that"

No…I’d be there…Pronto!

In the Greek the text actually says

that “he hung around BECAUSE he loved Lazarus.”

That doesn’t compute to me.

Delaying on purpose…

And all we know…we get this little bit of information

Is that it is about God’s Glory.

                           -But back to the story.

PART 2

Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

The disciples said to him,

“Rabbi, the Judeans were just now trying to stone you,

and are you going there again?”

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight?

Those who walk during the day do not stumble,

because they see the light of this world.

But those who walk at night stumble,

because the light is not in them.”

After saying this, he told them,

“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”

The disciples said to him,

“Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”

Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death,

but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly,

“Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there,

so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples,

“Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,

and many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.

                           -

Now that sounds like a really good reason to delay…It was dangerous

The disciples must have known that …

Thomas surely knew that… he thought it was a suicide mission

In the Gospel of John the Judeans have already attempted to stone Jesus twice

And right after…what last week we had the healing of the man born blind

And that caused even more angst in the community

SO its dangerous…that sounds like a good reason

But he goes

Timing is everything for Jesus

And the time is right

Then we have that typical kind of misunderstanding

All through John’s Gospel

Everybody’s always misunderstanding

He uses that weird---sign language all the time

So there is another misunderstanding

And this time it is the disciples

They are confused

Is he dead…is he asleep…what’s going on?

And Jesus clarifies

He is most assuredly DEAD

And underneath this

I don’t know if you heard it

But Jesus seems worried

He’s a little concerned about the disciples’ faith

Is it strong enough?

Will it hold up in the long haul?

They don’t seem to be getting it

So… 
“C’mon gang…let’s go again…

We’ll try this one more time

Lets go to Bethany

so that you MAY BELIEVE.”

They arrive…Lazarus is dead…really dead…4 Days dead

In the Jewish tradition of the time

It is on the third day that the soul leaves the body

So its kinda like Ezekiel…just bones.

And these Judeans in the story

Who are they?

It says they came to console

But the Greek suggests that what is going on is

Customary Ritual Wailing

People were paid to wail

You could be a professional wailer

I think it was like a status symbol

Like having a solid mahogany casket

The more wailing…the louder the wailing…the better

… Death was a spectacle!

                           -Once again, St. John’s telling of the story:

PART 3

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,

she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

Martha said to Jesus,

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha said to him,

“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.

Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,

the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

                           -

… So Jesus is a ways off…not quite there

Martha was anxious to see him

And she goes out to meet him

You wonder…what is her tone?

When I have heard this before I always thought that she was blaming Jesus,

     disappointed that Jesus didn’t come

But maybe she’s expressing her faith in Jesus

she must have known the danger…

maybe she hadn’t expected he’d come?

Then another misunderstanding

This time it is Martha’s turn

Jesus says, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’

She replies. ‘I know I know…on the last day.’

That’s what makes this such a wonderful text for funerals

And that is why it is the Gospel reading for All Saints Day

Resurrection is the focus!  Hope for the future!

But that is not what Jesus means...today

The emphasis is not on the ‘I am the resurrection’ part

But ‘I am the LIFE’

                           -Let me continue:

PART 4

***This is the part where translation becomes an issue

John uses different words that are all translated ‘weep’

When you hear ‘weeping’ related to anyone but Jesus

Think, ‘ritual wailing’.  And when you hear that Jesus

Is greatly disturbed and deeply moved, think ‘steaming mad’***

When Martha had said this,

she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately,

“The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.

Now Jesus had not yet come to the village,

but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

The Judeans who were with her in the house, consoling her,

saw Mary get up quickly and go out.

They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him,

she knelt at his feet and said to him,

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping,

and the Judeans who came with her also weeping,  

he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

Jesus began to weep. 

When Jesus does it…it’s weeping

So Mary goes out…privately

Martha tries to talk to her privately?

Again…it was dangerous.

Maybe they didn’t want anyone else to hear about Jesus’ coming?

And those mourners…they are really tenacious…those wailers

They don’t want to miss an opportunity to wail with Mary at the tomb

They think she’s going to the tomb…they follow her

They are professionals

Mary falls on her knees and laments before Jesus

Mary is the more demonstrative than Martha

Maybe that’s why she is in charge of the wailing operation

“When Jesus saw her wailing…and the Judeans wailing with her…

He was was fuming mad!

We are now, at this line,

smack dab in the middle

Of the Gospel of John

John’s Gospel has two parts

The first half is called the Book of Signs

The Raising of Lazarus is the last sign…the seventh sign

The second half of John’s Gospel is the Book of Glory

We are right in the middle

And right in the middle of THIS story

So…the middle of the story

AND the middle of the Book

Is this line:

Lord, Come and See

And  then…Jesus weeps

In John’s Gospel there is no Agony in the Garden

Like the other Gospels

This is Jesus’ agony

The scholars say…This is it.

Jesus hears his own words

I remember, I preached that Sunday

When we read from the beginning of John’s Gospel

How the followers were hanging around

Curious about Jesus

And they ask him

‘Where do you abide?’

And he says:

‘Come and See’

Come and See what brings me life

Come and See what it looks like to live as ONE with the Father

Come and See

But now

He hears his words…and it is not about life

Come and See where death reigns

Come and See the power of death

Come and see how good we are at ritual wailing

…And Jesus weeps

Let me finish the story:

PART 5

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed [meaning, “real angry,” again],

came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,

“Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

Jesus said to her,

“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said,

“Father, I thank you for having heard me.

I knew that you always hear me,

but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here,

so that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come out!”

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth,

and his face wrapped in a cloth.

Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Many of the Judeans therefore,

who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Many believed but not everybody

This is a dress rehearsal…and they are on their way to Jerusalem

… when I was a teenager…

I remember how every school day

My Mom would stand at the bottom of the stairs

We had a two story house and my room was just at the top

She would stand there and yell

WAKE UP

IT’S TIME FOR SCHOOL CINDY

WAKE UP

YOU’RE LATE!

Jesus is standing at the entrance of the tomb

And he’s saying WAKE UP!

Lazarus, its time

Isn’t something missing in this story?

The ending is not very satisfying

What about Martha and Mary

How did they react?

They were really important in the story

And then we don’t hear anything more

And what about Lazarus

He doesn’t say a thing

He’s so flat

He’s kind of a non character

That’s the thing about the Gospel of John

Is good about leaving room for the hearers…for us

It can be unsettling

SO TODAY…We aren’t gathered for a funeral

And it’s not November 1 – The Feast of the Holy Saints of God

The emphasis TODAY is on LIFE

I AM THE LIFE

In the Present tense

LIFE … TODAY

This is the 5^th Sunday of Lent

We have two weeks

And there is a kind of mad rush in the church’s psyche

A mad rush for readiness

…I am feeling the rush

because frankly

I have had a really distracted Lent

Has my Lent sunk in?

Have I scrutinized my life at all?

I think today

We are Lazarus…

And Jesus comes to our tombs

And calls to us

Gwen, COME OUT!

Mary Ellen, COME OUT!

Richard, COME OUT!

Cindy, COME OUT!

COME OUT!

Come out of the lie

Come out of death

LIVE…That’s the focus

LIVE…NOW

In a spirit of prayer and preparation

A spirit of faith in Jesus’ intention to reach into our tombs

and loosen the grip of all that is deadly…all that binds

…I confess:

I know that I am bound by fear…I find myself frozen at times

My sense of inadequacy gets the best of me

… my small life, my small offering…it won’t amount to a hill of beans

Fear binds me up

But it is a lie…It is death…Today, I choose life

I know …I know…I am bound by anger

It simmers under the surface

Not quite boiling…

Really…most of the time…I don’t even know its there

Until it boils over

And then I don’t even recognize myself

Anger…I am wrapped up in it

But it is a lie…It is death…Today, I choose life

I know, I know,…I am bound by lust

For power, for sexual gratification, for praise

It comes in all kinds of flavors

But lust it is

Funny thing how I can never get enough of what I really don’t need

Lust, I am bound by it

But it is a lie…It is death…Today, I choose life

And greed…I know I am wrapped up in greed

I fall for every new desire

How many times a day do I hear myself

I want…I need…I’ve just got to have…It is a worship of things

Tightly bound by greed

But it is a lie…It is death…Today, I choose life

I know, I confess…I am bound by weakness

I hear the chill of hate and bigotry

I listen but I don’t really hear…Too weak to challenge

My weaknesses…they bind

It is a lie…It is death…Today, I choose life

And then there is my pride

My pride binds me up

It convinces me of my goodness without any real reflection

It is why I need this Lenten prayer

It is a lie…It is death…Today, I choose life

My friends

The Good News

The REALLY REALLY Good News

Is that

It is never too late

Smelly, rotten, 4 days dead

It is never too late

God is always calling us out

And all our gunk with us

God uses it all

He uses it as raw material for our new life

For new holiness

Right now

We are Lazarus

Called out of the tomb

To LIVE

In Christ Jesus our Lord

Amen



sources:

Karoline Lewis, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=42

Paul J. Neuchterlein, http://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-a/lent5a_2002_ser/
Exegetical Notes from the Girardian Lectionary, referring to the interpretive work of Gil Baillie: http://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-a/lent5a/

David Lose, "Verbs", https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=1545

Alyce McKenzie, "Lazarus is Us," http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Lazarus-Is-Us-Alcye-McKenzie-04-04-2011?offset=1&max=1

Fred Craddock, "Jesus Wept, John 11:32-44", Journal for Preachers 23, no. 3:36-38, 2000.

Anne Robertson, "John 11:1-53." Interpretation 58, no. 2: 175-177, 2004.

J S Randolph Harris, "John 11:28-37." Interpretation 63, no. 4: 402-404, 2009.