Sunday, March 29, 2020 – Lent 5

March 29, 2020  

Lent 5 2020

Our Savior’s La Crosse

John 11:1-45

 

What keeps running through my mind as I consider this long story are two short words: Jesus knew.

Jesus knew Lazarus would die.

Jesus knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus knew he was “the resurrection and the life” (11:25)

Jesus knew the resurrection of Lazarus would glorify him, therefore bring glory to God (11:4).

Jesus knew.

After hearing of Lazarus’ illness, Jesus knew all that was about to happen, so he stayed where he was for two days longer (11:5).

Two infuriating days.

Jesus loved Mary.

Jesus loved Martha.

Jesus loved Lazarus.

And yet, after hearing of Lazarus’ illness, Jesus stayed where he was for two days longer.

Because Jesus knew.

Mary and Martha (and maybe Lazarus himself) must have had an inkling Lazarus would die.

Mary and Martha (and maybe Lazarus himself) had no idea Lazarus would be raised from the dead.

When the two sisters summoned Jesus, they must have wanted him to come quickly because they knew of his power to heal.

John tells us that, after Jesus finally arrived at their home, Martha said to Jesus “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (11:21).

Read between the words.

Martha was saying to the friend who loved her, to the friend who loved her sister, to the friend who loved her brother “Where were you?”

“When Lazarus was still alive, where were you?”

“God will give you whatever you ask” Martha said (11:22).

“I trusted you to come, knowing God listens to you, knowing you have the power to heal. Where were you? If you had been here he would not have died.”

Jesus replied with words that weren’t specific enough; Martha didn’t know what he knew. So when Jesus said “Your brother will rise again” (11:23) she thought he meant later, at the last day, when all would rise. (11:24).

Imagine her despair. Imagine her frustration. Imagine what might well have been fury.

Which is why, when Jesus told her “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who believes in me will never die.” And then he asked her “Do you believe this?” (11:25-26)

I believe her answer is more of a “yah, yah, alright already” than it is the bold statement of faith some people hear.

“Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah. I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you are the one coming into the world” (11:27).

I think her answer is more fury than faith because what does she do next?

She walks away.

She walks away from Jesus, and she goes and gets her sister Mary. (11:28)

She might have well have said “Big whoop-de-do.”

Then Mary went to Jesus and Mary said “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (11:32).

You can tell Mary and Martha were talking about Jesus before he even got there, they were talking about what he didn’t do, because Mary used the exact same words as her sister Martha. “If you had been here my brother would not have died!”

But, Jesus knew.

Jesus knew Lazarus would die before he ever died.

Jesus knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus knew he, himself was “the resurrection and the life” (11:25)

Jesus knew the resurrection of Lazarus would glorify him, Jesus, therefore bringing glory to God.

Jesus cried out “Lazarus, come out!” (11:43).

The brother of Mary, the brother of Martha, the man Jesus loved dearly, Lazarus came out of his tomb (11:44).

These days we are living in are infuriating. We are waiting. We are waiting. We are watching from our homes as we wait for something to change. We watch as we wait for things to get better…

I wonder, if Jesus came up to your door or my door and said “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who believes in me will never die.” And then he asked us “Do you believe this?”

What would we say?

“Yah, yah, alright already.”

“Big whoop-de-do.”

Well—yes. Big whoop-de-do.

Jesus defeats the power of death because in him the world meets the power of the love of God incarnate (cf. Rom 8:35-39). God’s full sharing of power over life and death with Jesus is an expression of God’s love for Jesus and for the world. Because God loves Jesus, God has given all things to him (3:35),    culminating in the power over life and death. Because God loves Jesus, God has given him the glory that is revealed in the raising of Lazarus, in the defeat of death (11:4; 17:24). Because God loves the world, God gives Jesus to the world for its salvation (3:16-17), so that the world might come to know fully God’s love for it and live grounded in that love (17:23). Jesus’ own death is a measure of this love (10:17; 15:12), because in it Jesus’ power as the resurrection and the life comes to fullest expression. (“John 1:1-44 Reflections” by Gail R. O’Day in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 9,  p. 694)

This is what Jesus knew.

This is what we believe!

“The way to experience the power of God’s love for the world that defeats death, to receive the promises of God as the reality of God, is to believe in Jesus” (ibid).

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who believes in me will never die” Jesus said.

“Do you believe this?”

Yes.

Yes, we believe. We believe.

Amen.