April 2, 2017 Text: John 11:1-45
Dear Friends in Christ,
Do you remember the first time someone close to you died? I was 10 years old, it was the end of March and a family friend 45 years old was killed in a car accident in northern Illinois. My parents received a call about 8 pm and they loaded myself and my younger sister in the car. We drove one-hour south to the family farm where this man had lived. Usually this trip meant a great meal and riding tractors and horses and watching the cows being milked. This night was different. It was surreal. People were everywhere, yet nobody was talking except in a whisper. We made our way to the living room where the man’s widow and two daughters were. It is a night I will never forget.
There was something different about that night. Death was the cloud that hung over the whole house. Its power, its finality, its merciless advance into the life of loved ones touched every heart and left a trail of sorrow and grief in its wake.
Jesus knows. When Jesus approached the tomb of Lazarus the Greek says his body literally shook. He cried. He was one with all of humanity. Our God is a man. He sympathizes with us in our weakness. He shares our grief. Even as He is touched by death, He overcame it for us. And so in our text we are reminded . . .
“I AM Resurrection and Life”
Lazarus’s death is for the glory of God. When Jesus hears the news about Lazarus’s illness, he stays put in Bethany for two days. There’s no mistaking – Lazarus is dead. Jesus allows Lazarus to die that all might see the glory of God, that all might believe.
Lazarus’s death is an occasion to call Martha to faith. Jesus gets to Bethany. Martha approaches. Where was Martha’s mind? Martha was stuck in the trauma of the past: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (v. 21) Martha’s mind was on the hope of the future: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” (v. 24) Where was Martha? Anywhere but the present.
If you have had someone close to you die, you can relate to Martha. When my mom died I didn’t dwell a lot on the past, but I certainly had most of my focus on the future. Plans had to be made. Relatives were flying in or driving. It was three days – visitation, funeral, and burial in Wisconsin that literally wore me out more mentally than physically. Throw in there a blizzard getting to Decatur the day of the funeral and I was wiped out. It was hard to stay in the present as things out of my control were swirling around our family and myself.
Jesus takes Martha out of the past, out of the future, to himself: “I AM the resurrection and the life.” (v. 25) To believe in the great I AM is to live forever and not die. To believe in the great I AM is to have the resurrection as your own present possession. To believe in the great I AM is, at the day of death, merely to fall asleep in the hope of waking up again. Jesus asks Martha if she believes this, which elicits a wonderful confession of faith from her. She confesses Him to be the Christ, the Son of God.
Lazarus’s death and rising point to Jesus’ own death and resurrection…and ours on the last day. This fifth Sunday in Lent is a dress rehearsal for Holy Week, preparing us for the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why did Jesus die? To take our sin upon himself, so that, by his death, “he might destroy the one who has the power of death.” (Heb. 2:14) Jesus has the last word. Eternal life is ours through faith in Christ and his work for us. We share in the hope of the resurrection. Just as Jesus called Lazarus from the grave, we who sleep in the dust of death shall one day hear the Lord’s voice: “Come out.”
After that night at the farm we would be going to the funeral. I knew that meant seeing the dead body in the casket. Something I was quite apprehensive about. That one-hour trip to St. Paul’s Lutheran in Strasburg, Illinois never went quicker. There he was lying in the narthex. The Pastor gave a wonderful, comforting sermon to the family and a 10-year-old boy. Some years later that same 10-year-old boy would be in that same pulpit preaching the funeral sermon for the man’s widow. Doesn’t God have a beautiful way of dealing with us?
Death is still hard for those of us left behind. But our Savior who wept over the death of Lazarus has promised us a heavenly reunion because of His power that has overcome death. Life for us does not end in death. We will rise again on the Last Day and forever celebrate the joy of life we have in Jesus Christ, the great I AM who is the resurrection and the life.
Amen.