March 26, 2023 Text: John 11:1-45
Dear Friends in Christ,
Years ago, a young woman became seriously ill. After being in the hospital for a time she returned home to wait for her eminent death. Her husband knew the situation but their eight-year-old daughter did not know her mom was terminal.
One afternoon, the little girl overheard the doctor say to the father and mother, “The time is not too far off. Before the last leaves have gone from the trees you will die.” The girl went to her room and cried.
A few months later, the father came down for breakfast and the daughter was not there. He couldn’t find her in the house. He finally saw her out in the front yard. His heart was broken as he watched her picking up the leaves that had fallen to the ground. She was using string to tie the leaves back on the tree.
This dramatically shows what we go through when a loved one is about to depart this world. We don’t want to let go of those we love. It also exemplifies a child-like faith. We know the leaves aren’t going to stop this mother’s death, but this daughter believes in the impossible.
Our gospel is the raising of Lazarus. Brother of Mary and Martha. The sisters are distressed as their brother progresses toward death. They don’t want to let go of their brother, and they hope Jesus can prevent his departure from this world. By the time Jesus gets there it is too late – Lazarus has died.
When Jesus arrives in Bethany Lazarus has been dead for four days. Martha goes to meet him. She says, “’Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’” Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again,’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’” (v. 21-26)
Let’s make that our sermon title. How do we see death? And life?
“DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?”
Jesus is telling Martha Lazarus will not see hell. Instead, he lives and his body will rise again to new life. The Savior of the world holds the keys to death and life. And so the question, “Do you believe this?” Or to put it another way, and with great liberty, Jesus is saying to Martha, “Do you believe that I can keep the leaves from falling to the ground even when they have changed color and they want to blow away? You do not need string. I am the string. I am the one who brings life even to those who are physically dead. Do you believe that I can do what is impossible?”
This morning the Lord probes our hearts. “Do you believe this?” Can we confess it like Martha? “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” Yes, the faith of a child. “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Now we get to an interesting part of the story. We see Jesus’ humanity. Like many of us what touched off his crying was seeing others cry. The Lord felt the death. He had compassion. We need to remember this when our loved ones die. Jesus didn’t cause the death. He cares for you and I. He is there through prayer and our fellow Christians to comfort us. Here for Martha and Mary He also shows His divinity.
Deeply moved, he goes to the tomb. He tells Lazarus to come out – and the dead man, now alive, comes out. What if you were there? The rot of death in the air? Would your heart be pounding? Would you believe what you are to see? Silence . . . something in the shadows . . the dead man is coming out with his burial clothes still on!
Our loved ones who have died in the Lord are Lazarus. You and I who believe in Christ are Lazarus. This is what will happen to all the children of God. For the sake of Christ even though we die, we live. Because Christ lives, we never die. We will be with the Lord in heaven and our bodies will one day rise from the grave. There is one difference. Lazarus ultimately died again. What we have here is only a momentary picture of the last day. This was to confirm that Jesus was the one sent from God above.
The return of Lazarus to his family was designed to be a picture of the reunion that all of us will have with those who have gone before us to heaven. After Lazarus came back to life, they gave a dinner to honor Jesus.
On the last day, we will see loved ones again. Whether in heaven or on earth, God will provide a great reunion. This reunion is described as a great banquet. Sound familiar? Even now we taste these things by faith in the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist there is communion with Christ. Where Christ is there is forgiveness and life.
DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?
Amen.