First United Methodist Church
March 31st, 2024
Rev. Lauren Hall
Raised
Imagine being Lazarus. He was about 30 years old and lived in a small village with his sisters, probably never venturing more than a day’s walk from home. He became ill one day. Perhaps he had a fever or appendicitis. It doesn’t matter because most diseases during the first century were fatal. Medical care was not readily available, and the physicians didn’t really know how to cure most viruses. Although his sisters cared for him, they could do little other than watch him rapidly decline.
Aware of Jesus’ ability to heal the sick, Mary and Martha sent word to him that his friend was dying. Jesus didn’t rush to the village and as a result Lazarus died. According to tradition, he was wrapped in cloths and laid in a tomb. After being dead for a good four days, a voice from outside the tomb calls out, “Lazarus, come out!” His stiff, rotting body rose from the stone he was lying on and walked out of the tomb.
The miracle of the raising of Lazarus, is the climax of John's "signs". It explains the crowds seeking Jesus on Palm Sunday, and leads directly to the decision of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin to plan to kill Jesus. Some theologians view the raising of Lazarus as a "pivotal miracle" which starts the chain of events that leads to the Crucifixion of Jesus. They consider it as a "resurrection that will lead to death", in that the raising of Lazarus will lead to the death of Jesus, the Son of God, in Jerusalem which will reveal the Glory of God.
What’s interesting, though, is that this story really isn’t about Lazarus at all. Lazarus is brought to life, but most of the narrative is devoted to the conversation that Jesus has with his sisters. In other words, the focus of this text is on those who have to live with his death. Most of the story takes place while Lazarus lies in the tomb. This passage is written to help those of us who have to live with death.
When Jesus speaks with Martha and Mary, both of them talk about the fact that Lazarus will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Although the idea of resurrection was a commonly held belief, no one had actually experienced it. It is during this conversation that Jesus makes another claim. He says, “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 shall never die. Do you believe this?” Mary responds, “Yes Lord, I believe.” The key word here is believe. We are to believe Jesus, not simply believe in Jesus. Our belief leads to our trust, and our trust leads to new possibilities.
Resurrection, the miracle of new possibilities, doesn’t occur without death. Jesus said, “You cannot have eternal life unless I am raised up.” Ultimately, he is raised up three times. He is raised up on the cross. He is raised up through the Resurrection and he is raised up in the Ascension. Jesus’ crucifixion wasn’t the end of the story. It was the beginning of a new one.
We are tempted to bypass the unpleasantness of Holy Week because it forces us to face the reality of one of the darkest times in human history. It’s more appealing to go from waving branches Palm Sunday to shouting “He is risen!” on Easter morning. After all, it’s depressing to sit through dark services recounting the betrayal, suffering, and crucifixion of Jesus. It’s nice to go from exaltation to exaltation, but life doesn’t work that way. There are interruptions to joy. Heartaches and bad things happen.
Easter occurs not in spite of death but because of it. Christian faith offers hope because it faces death squarely and moves through it, not around it. It means that pain, disappointment, and heartache are not final realities.
Throughout our lives we continuously experience little deaths as we move through different phases of our lives. As we grow up we “die” to our childhood as we accept adult responsibilities such as work, and marriage, and parenthood. At some point a layoff or an injury may force us into a second career, and we need to “die” to our identity as a carpenter or engineer as we learn the vocational skills of an occupation that is completely different. Athletes and dancers frequently have to “die” to their identity as at a young age and adapt to living an entirely different way of life. When we can accept the things we cannot change and remain open to God’s power to do new things, we discover what resurrection is…Resurrection means a whole new life, a different life.
I know a man who was laid off from the airplane engine company where he had worked as a foreman for 35 years. He wasn’t prepared to retire so he was retrained as a home healthcare worker. He wasn’t very excited about this new vocation, but he realized that he wasn’t going to get his former job back. In order to accept this new role, he had to let go of his disappointment that he was no longer a foreman. As a home healthcare worker he had the opportunity to care for people and share a little of his gentle side. His whole personality changed and as a result he was much more equipped to deal with some of the struggles in his personal life he would face over the next few years.
In a book I’m reading, Rob Fuquay shares a story about a woman who attended a church he used to serve. She had come to the church under unusual circumstances. She began attending shortly after a reversal of her planned suicide. At home alone she had sat with a pistol beside her, preparing to end her life. Her marriage had failed, and a gambling addiction had wasted her resources; she was out of hope.
As the woman tried to compose a note explaining why she chose to end her life, she heard a voice say, “What are you thinking? You don’t want to die.” She remembered her niece begging her to attend church with her. The young woman could see that the joy was gone from her aunt’s eyes.
The woman made a decision. “I can’t go through with this until I honor my niece’s request. I owe it to her.” She doesn’t understand why she had that thought. It didn’t make sense at the time; but for whatever reason, she made up her mind not to go through with the suicide until one last visit to church to sit beside her niece.
That Sunday she sat in the last row of seats in the balcony…as far away from the front of the church as she could get. A man in the praise team recognized her and knew that she used to sing. After the service he found the woman and invited her to join them. She refused but did return to worship the next week. This time she sat on the next to last row in the balcony.
Week after week the woman returned, each time sitting a little closer; eventually working her way to the main floor and toward the front. People in the praise team kept inviting her until she gave in and agreed to join them. Sometime during those weeks something happened. It was like an unexpected peace. She had a personal encounter with Jesus. She decided she wanted to live.
This woman grew up in church. She believed in the Resurrection, but in this chapter of life she found a whole new reason to trust Jesus. Christ was no longer just someone to believe in but someone to believe. She discovered that the Resurrection wasn’t simply something that happened to Jesus, but it is something that happened in her life while she was still living. You could say that her old life did end. It had to. Her life, as she knew it, had to end in order for the new one to emerge. She couldn’t see it. She couldn’t even believe it. She just came to a point where she trusted the one who could see it.
Jesus didn’t say, “I can give you resurrection and life.” If he had, we would probably be chasing him as fast as that crowd round the lake after he multiplied the fish and the loaves. But he did say, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” He is New Life. We can find it in him. Amen.
