“Signs and Wonders: Raising Lazarus” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – August 21, 2016
Introduction
We are still in our series looking at the Signs and Wonders of Jesus. Last week Joshua talked about the healing of the man who was born blind. We were reminded that Jesus is present with us whatever we’re experiencing. Whatever cards we’re dealt, Jesus is there.
This week we’re looking at one of the most incredible miracles of Jesus. It’s a long and complicated story, but it starts with Jesus getting news that his good friend Lazarus is ill. And so Jesus procures the fastest horse and races to his aid…well…actually he sits around for two days doing nothing first, and then slowly walks with his disciples to Lazarus’ home. I always joke that God is a procrastinator, and this is my proof. Although in Jesus’ defense, he delays two days and our text says that Lazarus has been dead for four days by the time Jesus arrives – he was already dead by the time the messengers found Jesus.
And this timing was important – in those times people would occasionally be buried when they were merely in a coma, and sometimes they would awaken. One ancient rabbi chronicled this: “Once a man who had been buried was examined and found to be alive; he lived for twenty-five years more and then died. Another such person lived and had five children before he died.” These things happened. So it was a Jewish custom to visit the burial site for three days in case someone awoke. After three days, or whenever decomposition began as evidenced by the smell, a person was well and truly dead. So when Jesus arrives on the scene, four days after Lazarus died, there is no doubt remaining. Lazarus is dead. End of story. Or is it?
John 11:17-44 (NRSV)
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews 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. 32 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.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 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.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 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.”
Wiped Out
My family was on one of our standard vacations to the Gulf of Mexico when we got a call. One of our family friends had just lost their only child. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome – SIDS – is pretty much every first-time parents’ nightmare. Its suddenness and randomness causes you to constantly stare into the video monitor wondering – “is my baby still breathing?” I have a friend who was actually saved through a miracle of her mom randomly checking in – her mom came in and found her not breathing and she was able to revive her in time by the chance timing of “one last check-in.” But our family friends weren’t so lucky.
Since we only had our beach clothes with us, we swung by a K-Mart to get some funeral clothes and made it back to Austin just in time. In one of the most difficult funerals I have ever attended, there were many different responses. Some wept openly. Some merely had wet eyes. Some seemed stoic and dead to emotion. Others busied themselves with food preparation or arranging the flowers just so.
In our text today, Lazarus’ friends and family have similarly divergent approaches to their grief. Some weep and wail with ferocity. Some have but a tear running down their cheek. Martha, ever the busy woman, is trying to fill her hands with something to do. Mary, always quieter than her sister, is wiped out, weeping, unable to stand.
I like this variance, though. I think it shows us that there isn’t just one way to mourn. People mourn in their own way. I’m more of a quiet mourner, likely to keep my feet moving while giving a sad sigh. How do you mourn? When have you had occasion to mourn? Lost a parent? Lost a child? Lost a job? Lost your innocence? Lost yourself? When have you been wiped out emotionally and physically and spiritually?
Jesus Enabled Mary to Stand
Out of the many ways to mourn, Mary is a very interesting case. In v28 her sister Martha says, “the Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And then v29 says “she got up quickly and went to him.” In the original language that’s actually passive, “she was raised up and went to him.” I think that’s an important difference. Because it shows that she wasn’t able to stand on her own, in the midst of her grief. She was raised up. Something else lifted her, not her own strength. She isn’t able to swim, she needs floaties. And what floats her? What lifts her? “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
Mary is raised to new life, after being mired in the depths of hopelessness, because Jesus called her.
Lazarus is raised to new life, after being well and truly dead, because Jesus called him out of the tomb.
And even Martha is raised to new life, after she spouts off her religious training, when Jesus called her to him rather than her intellectual knowledge. “I am the resurrection and the life,” he says to her.
All three are raised to new life because Jesus called them.
Where is Jesus calling to you? Where is Jesus calling you to new life? Is he calling you to stand even though you are hopeless? Is he calling you to have a relationship with him rather than just a series of things you know about him? Is he calling you to walk out of your bondage, to drop your chains, to come out of the tomb you’re laying in? Where is Jesus giving you floaties because you can’t swim on your own?
Called to Help Others
Our family friend who lost his child was called to new life. His faith went from something nice to something life-saving. And as he slowly emerged from the depths of despair, lifted up by the floaties of faith in Jesus, he recognized that Jesus was the only reason he could keep going. The Teacher was there, calling for him. As he recognized how Jesus saved him, he decided to pass that life-saving floatie to others by writing a book – “Surviving Grief by God’s Grace” by Richard Battle. Jesus gave him the strength to stand, the floaties to stay above the water. And then Jesus called him to help others find that strength as well.
And that has stuck with me. Because it won’t do my kids any good if I buy floaties and don’t put them on. If someone has fallen overboard, all the life preservers and rescue boats in the world won’t do any good unless someone tosses the life preserver or pilots the boat to the person in trouble.
Do you know anyone who could use a life preserver, or a rescue boat, or some floaties? Is Jesus calling you to help?
Rabbi Kushner, author of the book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, writes about families in mourning. The Jewish tradition is to “sit shiva” – this is a weeklong time where friends and family constantly come to the family of the deceased to talk, to bring meals, and generally try to bring comfort and peace. And this is what Rabbi Kushner writes: “So often, when I meet a family after a death and before a funeral service, they will ask me, ‘Do we really need to sit shiva, to have all these people crowding into our living room? Couldn’t we just ask them to leave us alone?’ My response is, ‘No, letting people into your home, into your grief, is exactly what you need now. You need to share with them, to talk to them, to let them comfort you. You need to be reminded that you are still alive, and part of a world of life.”
Is Jesus calling you to remind someone that they are still alive and part of a world of life?
Summary
In a world where death seems to be the only constant, Jesus affirms that life is the true reality. Death doesn’t win, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Death doesn’t win, because the Teacher is here and is calling for you and for me. Death doesn’t win, because Jesus says, “Unbind them, and let them go.”
Where is Jesus calling you and empowering you to stand even though you’re wiped out? And where might Jesus be calling you to throw a life preserver, to pilot the rescue boat, to put on some floaties, to sit shiva for someone else who is wiped out?
We are a community of life. And we follow the God who says, “I am life.” That’s the kind of God I can worship. And that’s the kind of community I want to be, and that I can belong to. How about you? Amen.
