John 11:1-45
The gospel of John is a body of work
with the central image that death and resurrection leads to new life.
That image shapes the whole emphasis, and it is capsulized in a single
verse “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the
Earth and dies, it remains just a single grain. But if it dies,
it bears much fruit.” (John 12:23)
John, the last of the gospel writers,
seems to be proclaiming the centrality of the resurrection to the
Christian Church, now some 2 or 3 generations old. The problem
that faces us, and it is the problem that makes interpretation so
difficult, is was John speaking about death in the sense of dying and
being buried? Or was he speaking about death in the sense that
unless we die to the old ways of living and are resurrected to the new
life of Jesus Christ, we are less fruitful than we could be? Keep
that question in mind as we strive to understand the text.
Lazarus, who is the brother of Mary
and her sister Martha, is ill. The sisters, who knew Jesus well,
sent him a note simply saying that their brother was ill. There was no
request that Jesus come; there is simply the assumption that because of
the love of Jesus for that family, he would come. Verse 5 reads, “Now Jesus loved
Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard the news of
Lazarus's illness, Jesus stayed two days longer in the place where he
was. That two-day delay becomes very significant in the
story. It was the belief of the Jewish people of that day that
one’s spirit stayed around for three days,in case the body resuscitated
itself, the person came out of a coma and life was restored.
After three days, the tomb was sealed, and the person was declared
legally dead.
When Jesus does decide to go to
Bethany, the disciples are not concerned about Lazarus. They are
worried about the authorities who, they say, are planning to stone
Jesus. Jesus' answer is unique. He says, are there not
twelve hours in a day? The inference here is again part of Jewish
thinking. The Jews divided the day into two twelve-hour divisions. This
was much easier for them, since Israel is nearer the equator than
Squamish, and the extremes of day length were not so apparent as in
climates further north or South. Jesus seems to be saying: "Work must be
done during the day. While there is no haste required, prudence is nonetheless needed, since the day passes
so quickly and the undisciplined find at the end of the day that the
work they were to do is not done.
On the journey, Jesus says "our friend
Lazarus has fallen asleep, and I am going to awaken him." The disciples
don’t understand, so they say "If he has fallen asleep, he will
recover." Jesus then says bluntly "Lazarus is dead." The group arrives right in the midst of
people coming to Mary and Martha to express their condolences. Mary
stays in the house, but the more social Martha confronts Jesus with a
mournful statement. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother
Lazarus would not have died.” Jesus says, “Your brother will rise.”
Martha responds, “Oh, I know he will rise at the resurrection at the
last day.” Jesus replies, and here is the point of the story “I
am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though
he die, yet shall he live and whoever lives and believes in me shall
never die. Do you believe this?”
Martha responds, “Yes! I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of
God, the one who is coming into the world.” As this point, Mary goes
out of the house, and the consolers think she is going to the
tomb. But she also goes to Jesus, falls at his feet, and repeats
the lament of Martha. "Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died.” When Jesus saw how distressed Mary was, he also
wept and the people who were there said “See how much he loved him.”
Jesus moves to the tomb, and asks them
to roll away the stone. Martha and Mary say “No, Lord, he has been in
there 4 days. He will stink.” Jesus prays and then shouts
“Lazarus come forth” and out of the grave comes this man with all of
the grave clothes still draped about him. Can you imagine
observing such a scene? Jesus said, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Remarkably, John is the only book in
the New Testament where this story occurs. If it had been an
historical fact, surely it would have commanded the attention of all
the gospel writers in the same sense that other stories reappear in
each book. This story
follows a pattern that occurs within the book of John. John is
reassuring the early Church of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and he is
doing it as dramatically as he possibly can. John is the
spectacular gospel. For Mark, Jesus is confirmed as the Son of
God at his baptism. Both Matthew and Luke have this confirmation
coming with the miraculous conception story. But John has Jesus
as the pre-existent logos, present from the dawn of time, and embodied
in Jesus the Christ. (Spong, “Resurrection-Myth or Reality?”
Is this a literal, historical
happening, or is this a metaphor pointing us to the greatness of
God? Does it matter? As Marcus Borg has stated in his
remarkable book, “The Heart of Christianity” the story is true, even if
it is not factual. The point is made. Jesus is the resurrection
and the life. Millions can attest to that fact, and millions more
suffer because they refuse to accept that reality. For me, the whole Christian story is
about moving from darkness to light. When we get our sights away from
making more and more money, away from being the biggest frog in the
pond, away from sacrificing everything we have for the pleasure
principle, then we become alive to the sheer marvel of life. As
Borg states it, “Our hearts are opened and we become alive to the
wonder, to the sheer marvel of our ‘isness’. It is remarkable that the
world is, that we are here, that we can experience it.” (Borg-“The
Heart of Christianity” page 161)
Look at the tragedy of our world:
instead of celebrating the fact that billions of dollars are available
in a country blessed with oil under its surface, Iran and Iraq fight
among themselves over the role of women, the correct interpretation and
following of the Koran, or the role of religion in the body politic.
The Palestinians and the Jews, who have shared a common home for
generations, now fight over boundaries, and whether or not a people
have the right to a homeland where they have lived for hundreds of
years. In Africa, where
the bare essentials of life are the major concerns of millions, leaders
squabble over the huge booty and treasury that they have amassed from
the downtrodden. Tribes are systematically massacred by
neighboring tribes, children are exploited for work, or fighting, or
exploited for sexual pleasures.
On our own continent, millions have no
health care, and millions more live in poverty, while selfishness
reigns unfettered. People who already have the world's highest
standard of living run rampant over others, and place their own health
in jeopardy as they struggle for more and more money, or more and more
power, or more and more prestige.
Continually, we shun the words of Jesus that "where our heart is, there
will our treasure be." We seek after him in multi- million dollar
Church structures. We extol him on television costing untold millions
of dollars. We build bigger and more expensive houses, buy more
elaborate cars, take lavish vacation trips and buy our children and our
grand children much more than they need. While we are killing ourselves in self-
indulgence, we complain about the taxes we have to pay. We cannot
tolerate those who fail in such a culture. Instead of compassion and
assistance, we call for incarceration and punishment. We gripe that
cars cost so much, or utilities are so high, while we with 1/12th of
the world's population consume 40% of the world’s resources. We
complain about lack of morals, religious indifference and Biblical
ignorance, while we sacrifice our children on the altar of Sunday
sports and activities.
Dear friends, something has gone
terribly wrong. We have substituted the God of greed in place of the
God of compassion, love and forgiveness. We have shunned the promise of
God caring for us, and we have set our aim in taking care of ourselves
to the disregard of others, particularly the weak, the infirm and the
unable. We continually strive to manipulate God to our views, instead
of obeying. We are dead
to life, entombed in graves of our own creation. And to us, Jesus
is crying "Doug, Mary, Joan, Jim- you add your name- Come Out! Leave
your grave clothes behind. Seek life- life the way it is meant to be,
full of wonder, love and amazement."
May I tell you a true story? When I
moved to Toronto, I very
quicklybecame a friend of
Bill. In fact, from the meetings with the search committee until
this very day, Bill is one of my closest and most valued friends. Bill was a true leader in both the
City of Toronto and in Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. Soon after
my arrival, Bill was the person in the congregation and on the board in
whom I confided my concerns, voiced my questions and sought advice. One evening, I received a phone call
from Bill’s doctor, who was also a friend of his. Had I heard
from Bill? I had not, but neither had his wife, his children, his
partners nor his doctor. This was most unlike Bill. Something was
amiss, we were all sure.
Not much later, I received a call from Bill. He was at home, but
he was a person in obvious difficulty. Without much prior warning, Bill
had lapsed into a time of clinical depression. Unable to cope at that
timewith the rigors of his profession, he had left the office and
started up the road to his cottage, the haven where he escaped the
stresses he faced daily. The drive was difficult and Bill knew himself
well enough to know that something was wrong; suicidal thoughts were
not only uncharacteristic, they were downright dangerous. Medical diagnosis confirmed that
Bill was a depressed individual who needed special care. He was
hospitalized and the best treatment, counseling and attention possible
was begun. Despite all this professional treatment, Bill’s
condition lingered and reality escaped him. From a gregarious,
confident person, Bill had become an introspective individual who was
certain that his failures measured up to having little if any future.
At one time, we would lunch in
downtown Toronto while we chatted, met other community leaders and
laughed. Now we were meeting in the back room of a deli, afraid that
the world would catch a glimpse of this fallen professional. The situation lingered, much to the
concern of all of us who loved the guy, particularly his amazing wife
who proved to be stronger than the rock of Gibraltar and unwaveringly
optimistic. I knew from conversations that Bill’s future was
adequately assured, that is, he had prepared well. Yet, he was
unable to comprehend that enough to relax. One day, after every conceivable
means of treatment had been tried, Bill’s doctor said he was going try
a new medication, not yet available in Canada. Since nothing had
worked to this point, the decision was to go with the experiment.
In a short time, Bill was
back! Just as Jesus had cried "Lazarus, come forth" and he had
staggered out of the tomb, Bill came out of the tomb that had held him
for some time. It was an experience no less miraculous than the story
Jim read to you this day.
I don’t know whether the story of
Lazarus is factual or not, but I know that it is true. Jesus is the
resurrection and the life. He is the Lord who can raise us who
are dead to sin, selfish pursuits or overpowering life situations, into
the marvel of his light.
"I am the resurrection and the
Light. Do you believe that?" asked Jesus. And Martha said
"Yes." I pray that we give that answer also.