First Lutheran Church
March 29, 2020 + The Fifth Sunday after Lent A + John 11:1-45
John
11:1-45. 1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary
and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume
and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters
sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." 4 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." 5
Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after
having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where
he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea
again." 8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now
trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" 9 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. 10 But those who walk at
night stumble, because the light is not in them." 11 After saying this, he
told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to
awaken him." 12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen
asleep, he will be all right." 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about
his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14 Then
Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. 15 For your sake I am glad I
was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." 16 Thomas,
who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go,
that we may die with him." 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." 45 Many of the Jews therefore,
who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
Sermon
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
There is a road meant for you to travel
Narrow and steep is the shepherd’s way
And as you say “yes” letting me guide you
I will be strength for the journey
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
The Gospel reading for today invites us to go on a journey with Jesus, an uncomfortable journey, that narrow and steep journey, a familiar - all too “human” journey, a Lenten journey that leads to the cross.
And truth be told, it’s a journey we would just as soon if possible, – avoid;
Yet it is the most important journey in life, a journey that reveals “the way, the truth, and the life.”
This morning, once again, Christ invites us to follow him, to head towards Judea, the place where Lazarus lies dead, the place where he will face death. Jesus invites us to pick up a cross, join him, follow him. Jesus invites us to face our own suffering, our fears, our own mortality. Once again, it is a journey
we would just as soon avoid.
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
In this week’s Gospel Mary echoes the words that belong to all of humanity, words that - one time or another, in one way or another, - have belonged to each of us, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." “Lord,
if you had been here.”
It’s part of our human nature; we want God to rescue us, and our loved ones, from the pain and suffering of this world. That’s why so many people are attracted to the idea of a God who “intervenes” when prayer is done right, to the notion that the bible is some kind of book filled with charmed formulas that can be “claimed” and exercised, that faith somehow opens us up to a world of supernatural magic that can make everything easy, ok, even predestined for good.
Yet Jesus resists the temptation to be such a “savior.” Upon hearing the news that Lazarus is ill, he does not drop everything and run to his aid, he does not
come quickly to rescue Mary and Martha from their heartache, instead he waits two days and then begins a two-day journey - arriving four days too late. Jesus does not “steal us away” from the pain of life, instead he chooses to walk with us through such moments.
So it is that Christ is present in our graveyards, in our despair, in our loneliness, in our emptiness; fully present sharing tears and the breaking of hearts, - mourning right beside us. And this is a powerful presence. The scriptures this morning remind us just how deeply present God is, incarnate and fleshed out in Jesus. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews 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." 35 Jesus began to weep.”
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
There is a cross meant for you to carry
There is a cross meant for you alone
And as you bow down in humble surrender
I will be strength for the journey
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
As the season of Lent moves along bringing us closer to Holy Week and the events of Good Friday, we are reminded that to follow Jesus is to trust and lean into a death that leads to resurrection. We are reminded that there is no resurrection where there is no death. For that is the pattern of life, that is the
pattern of faith, that is the pattern that leads to transformation, that is the
pattern that makes all things new on Easter morning, that is “the way, the
truth, and the life.”
Magic cannot do this for us. To truly live, to know peace and be shaped by grace, to be healed and made new, to be free and to love; demands that tears be shed, hearts break and hands bleed. And accordingly, it demands a savior who will share those moments with us, a God who will descend into our depths, Christ fleshed out all around us in the community of faith, making the journey - with us, right beside us every step of the way.
It is to this promise, this deep kind of presence, that I cling to during these difficult days in which we currently find ourselves living. I find comfort that no matter what it is that we face, we do not face it alone, but with Jesus present beside us. Jesus present in each other, Jesus present in the ones we serve, and Jesus present in the very depths of our being; in our heart, soul, and mind. Jesus present with the gift of peace and strength for the journey.
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey
After Jesus weeps, after he holds Mary and Martha in his arms, after death seems to have had the last word; Then and only then, Christ speaks a word of life and suddenly Lazarus rises up from the grave. And this pattern will happen again, Jesus will go to the cross, he will die, and he will be in the grave for three days. We will weep and we will mourn, and it will seem like the end; but then the earth will shake, the stone will be rolled away, and Jesus will be raised up from the dead. And we who are united with him in a death
like his, will know a resurrection like his!
God grant us the faith and courage to make the journey through the pain
and suffering, all the way to the grave, that we might know the fullness of the
resurrection unto life abundant and everlasting. Amen.