Jesus: The Resurrection and the Life
Dr. Jim Wilson, March 16, 2008 Can any among us here this morning not identify with Martha? Haven’t you called upon God on behalf of a critically ill loved one---perhaps a spouse or a parent or a friend? Haven’t you pleaded with God to come and heal that your loved one that he or she might be delivered from the very clutches of death? And haven’t you like Martha, agonized about why it’s taking God so long to act? “If only God would come, life would be restored. Why doesn’t God get here and do something?” And haven’t you felt the disappointment, and, yes, even the anger, when God shows up too late? With Martha we say something like, “Lord, if you had been here, my spouse or mother or friend would not have died.” We are angry, but careful not to be too obviously angry after all this is the Lord with whom we are speaking. Yes, you and I can identify with Martha. We too get angry with God for tarrying, for not responding quickly enough. So much of life is a matter of timing. At first hearing, this story seems out of place for a Lenten Sunday. It too is an odd bit of timing. While the lectionary places the raising of Lazarus on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, and I moved it to this Palm Sunday for the sake of our sermon series, still it seems out of place. Easter, after all, remains on the horizon, a full week away. Why are we considering a resurrection story in Lent? It is a matter of timing. Early on in this story, we get a clue. John has Jesus say that Lazarus’ illness does not lead to death, but rather to the revelation of God’s glory. The story is what John calls a “sign” story. Sign stories operate at two different levels of meaning---an obvious level of things as they are stated and a deeper level that reveals God’s transforming love. In this case, the obvious level is a family crisis in Bethany, while the deeper level is God responding to the crisis of a world held captive to the powers of sin and death; an obvious level about Jesus resuscitating a dead friend and a deeper level about Jesus bringing new life to the world. It really is a matter of timing. It is about the eternal breaking into the present. When Jesus encounters Martha and responds to her complaint by saying, “I am the resurrection and the life…” the obvious gives way to the deeper meaning of the experience, the momentary now yields to the eternal now. I invite you to come with me and experience just such an encounter with Jesus. The encounter begins with a message, an urgent message, sent to Jesus. It comes from Martha and Mary in Bethany. Their brother Lazarus, Jesus’ beloved friend, is sick, very sick. They beg Jesus to come immediately. Jesus seems to brush off the message. Rather than rushing off to Bethany, as might be expected, he lingers two more days before he leaves---a rather strange way to show concern for a friend wouldn’t you say? When he finally decides to go to Bethany, the disciples raise a concern, “Rabbi, the Jews just tried to stone you and you are going there again?” Jesus responds with a parable about light and darkness and adds, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” The disciples take Jesus’ words literally instead of a euphemistic reference to Lazarus’ death and ask, “So what’s the concern? He will wake up in time?” Jesus looks at them in disbelief and says plainly, “Lazarus is dead!” So, off they go to Bethany, danger or not. When Jesus arrives in Bethany, Lazarus, we are told, has been dead for four days. In other words, he is really dead. The rabbis taught that the spirit of the departed hovers over the body for three days seeking an opportunity to re-enter. But on the fourth day, the spirit leaves for the face of the deceased is no longer recognizable. Lazarus, then, is really dead with no hope of recovery. Martha hears of Jesus’ arrival in town, and ever the pro-active sister, she rushes out to meet, better to confront, him. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!” Angry, frustrated, confused, Martha lodges her complaint. Almost immediately, however, she seeks to soften her words by adding, “But even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Complaint turns to compliment. Yet the message remains, “Jesus, do something. Give our brother back.” Jesus replies first in the future tense, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha responds rather impatiently, “Yes, yes, I know that Lord. I paid attention in Hebrew School. I know he will rise on the last day.” Jesus now replies in the present tense, moving the conversation from concept to experience. “Martha,” says Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live, and everyone that lives and believes in me shall never die.” It is a matter of timing. Resurrection and new life move from a distant future to the present moment. Then Jesus asks the question, the critical question, “Martha, do you believe this?” She replies with a confession of faith, not unlike the one made by Peter. “Yes, Lord,” she says, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” Her confession finds a confirming witness when Jesus goes to the Lazarus’ tomb and calls him from death to life. Here is the sign, the sign of the deeper reality---resurrection and new life are now available to all who believe. It is at this point you and I enter the story. The sign brings us to our own encounter with Jesus. If we can identify with Martha in lodging a complaint against the Lord for taking too long to respond to our urgent prayers, must we not also identify with her as Jesus says to her, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and then offers her a sign? Do we not hear him asking us, as he did her, “Do you believe this?” He is not asking whether we believe he raised Lazarus from death to life, but rather if we believe that in him God is bringing new life to our world, a world held captive to the powers of sin and death. Included in our answer, of course, is whether we believe our own lives have risen from being held hostage to death to new life. As I pondered Jesus’ question, I thought about how much of life seems to be held prisoner by the powers of sin and death. It seems we are constantly being jerked around by death---from acts of terrorism, to the killing of college students, to the 19 Chicago high school students killed this school year, to the on-going war in Afghanistan and Iraq, to AIDS and cancer and other life-robbing diseases. The culture of death seems to surround us, constantly yanking us about. Now we hear Jesus making this audacious claim, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die yet shall they live, and whoever lives and believes in me, shall never die.” If those words are true, if that is who Jesus is, and what he brings, then everything is changed. Our lives are no longer held hostage by death; our future is no longer defined by death Both our lives and our future are now defined by grace, God’s life-giving, life transforming grace. It is a matter of timing. We have passed from death to life. It is why Jesus can afford to linger two days after receiving word about Lazarus. He refuses to be jerked around by death. He is sovereign. In him comes the power to bring new life not just to Lazarus but to the whole world. Now your life and mine is given a new definition. As I thought about my response to Jesus’ question, the story of Benizar Bhuto kept coming to mind. You remember Mrs. Bhuto was the former prime minister of Pakistan and had been living in exile until she returned to her home land last fall to enter the race for president. She returned fully aware that she could be assassinated. She represented a threat to the culture of death that permeates Pakistan. Despite the threat to her own life, she returned to champion the cause of freedom and democracy. Sadly, we all know that Mrs. Bhuto was assassinated. Whether her legacy lives on, remains to be seen. So, Jesus comes to Judea, first to Bethany and then to Jerusalem, fully aware that he is a threat to the culture of death represented by the political and religious leadership. He comes as the One who is the resurrection and the life, bringing a new definition of life for all who believe. He too dies. Whether his gift is received, depends on how we answer his question, “Do you believe this?” It too remains to be seen. What he is asking is if you and I believe that he is the resurrection and life now, rather than some vague promise of new life in a distant future. This is a radical shift in the understanding of resurrection. The Pharisees believed in resurrection, in a final resurrection in the last day. So, Martha responds from what she has learned---someday her brother will rise. But that does not help her much right now. She wants life today, not someday. I dare say, so do we. A family emerges from the I.C.U. They are met by their pastor. “She’s gone,” they say, “Mom has died. And the pastor replies, “Why the tears. Don’t you believe in the resurrection? Someday mom will live again. It’s in the Creed.” I don’t think that would be very helpful. Jesus is the resurrection and the life---now. Resurrection is a present reality, not a future possibility. Our present and our future belong not to death but to the new life Jesus brings. In him resides the power of God over life and death. It is a remarkable claim, one that makes a difference in how we live. Last week I read an article about a man who died, but not in the usual way. Mike died for a few critical minutes during heart transplant surgery. On the operating table as a new heart was being exchanged for his old diseased heart, Mike literally died. When he recovered and was released from the hospital, many of his family and friends would often say to him, “Mike, you’re really different.” Mike would smile and reply, “Of course I am different. For one thing, I died and was given my life back. That gives you a new perspective on things. For another thing, I’ve been given a new heart and with it a whole new life. That changes everything!” Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” Resurrection is a present reality. New life is a present possibility. Do you believe this? I realize that many of you came to church this morning expecting to hear a sermon on Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. After all, it is Palm Sunday. You may be disappointed But I would suggest that you did, in fact, hear such a sermon. It was simply beyond the obvious---at that deeper level. For the One who rides into Jerusalem to the shouts of “Hosanna,” and then suffers and dies on a Cross, is the very One who says to you and me, “I am the resurrection and the life,” the very One who comes into our world and lives to free us from the power of death and give us the gift of new life. Do you believe this? May we like Martha reply faithfully, “Yes Lord, you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who comes into the world.” Thanks be to God! Amen! |
