The Rev. Kathi Johnson
A Lent 5 – April 6, 2014
Text: John 11:1-45
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Grace and peace be with you all,
from God our Father, and from his beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Another day, another long reading
from the Gospel of John. Last week, we read all of chapter 9 together – the
story of Jesus removing blindness from a man born blind. We won’t get to hear
from John chapter 10 until after Easter. So, today’s reading from chapter 11
throws us forward a bit in Jesus’ life and ministry.
Part of what we skip over in John
10 is an episode in Jerusalem wherein Jesus causes some controversy by speaking
openly about being the Son of God. Some of the religious people who overhear
this pick up stones in order to kill him; Jesus is able to escape “across the
Jordan,” where he has more support. We pick up the story today as Jesus is
receiving news that his friend Lazarus – brother to Mary and Martha – is ill.
After a couple of days, Jesus
suggests to his disciples that they return to Judea – that they go to Bethany
because Lazarus has “fallen asleep” – and then John helpfully tells us (the
readers) that Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, not asleep. The
disciples, quite characteristically, don’t understand his meaning and so he
spells it out for them: “Lazarus is dead.” And then he repeats his idea that
they return to Judea.
His disciples, quite
understandably, are a bit hesitant to return to Judea – and quite specifically
to an area so close to where Jesus was almost killed not so long ago. But they
decide to go back with Jesus, even if it means that they will die with him. So,
off they go, arriving in Bethany after Lazarus has been buried – John gives us
a helpful tidbit by sharing that Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.
The thing with reading the Gospel
of John is to pay attention to those helpful tidbits because they can speak
volumes to us. John tells us that Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days
because the Jews believed that, when someone died, their soul hung around the
body for three days. So for us to read that Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days – that means he’s really,
really dead.
Jesus visits with the sisters who
have just lost their brother. They both proclaim their faith in Jesus by saying
that they know if he had been there, then their brother wouldn’t have died.
There is grief – the community turns out to grieve with the sisters. There are
tears – we’re told that even Jesus weeps. There’s all this focus on the “if
onlys” and “what ifs.”
And then Jesus does this remarkable
thing. He stands outside the tomb of his friend and tells the men to move the
stone. When Martha protests, he reminds her that even this can be used to show
others the glory of God. He says a quick prayer. And then he yells to his dead
friend, “Lazarus, come out!” as if he’s simply trying to wake up a sleepy
teenager.
And Lazarus emerges, still dressed
in the gravecloths, still wearing the strips of cloth put on him following his
death. All we’re told about the next few minutes is Jesus saying to the
on-lookers, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
This is the final sign out of seven
signs that Jesus performs in the Gospel of John. These signs include things
like the changing of water into wine at the wedding in Cana, and the feeding of
the 5,000 – signs that show the glory of God to those around Jesus. As one of
my seminary professors wrote, “In the signs, Jesus reveals his glory in
concrete and material ways”[1] –
in other words, he uses the tangible for his signs – he uses water and wine, bread and fish, and
mud smeared on the face of a man once blind, and strips of cloth hanging from
the body of a man once dead.
And all of these stories in John
are meant to show the followers of Jesus – including us – the work of God and
the glory of God among us.
One of my favorite tv programs is a
show called “Frasier” which tells the story of a psychiatrist who takes his
practice to the airwaves by hosting a call-in radio program. Frasier is many
things: intelligent, cultured, sophisticated. But one thing he is not is very
athletic.
In one particular episode, we discover
that Frasier has never learned how to ride a bicycle. Problem is, his radio
station hosts a bike-a-thon each year to raise money for charity. So, in this
episode, we follow along as Frasier tries to learn how to ride a bike – at age
40+. He tries really, really hard, but each and every time he gets out there to
ride, he focuses on an obstacle – a large tree by the side of the bike path.
And each and every time, he rides right into that tree.
The day of the bike-a-thon, he’s
feeling pretty good about things. He’s ready to go. Until someone points out a
mailbox by the side of the road…and as soon as the race begins, he heads straight
into that mailbox, and he gets no further on his way.
That’s what happens when all we do
is focus on our own abilities or our own vision – we get stuck. We keep riding
into the same tree or mailbox and we get no further on our way. The disciples couldn’t
see why Jesus wanted to go and visit a dead man. Martha was worried about what
her brother’s grave smelled like. And yet look at the glory of God that is
revealed in Jesus’ work when everyone just gets out of his way!
What happens when we allow Jesus to
rejuvenate us? What happens when we are unbound and set free, like Lazarus,
coming out of his tomb? What work will God do in us when we have shaken off
fear and faithlessness, and have set our minds on the things of the Spirit?
Let us set our minds on the Spirit,
which is life and peace. Amen.
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