This sermon makes more sense if you read John 11:1-45 (Yes it is that long)
Bishop Desmund Tutu wrote these lyrics to a hymn:
‘Goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death. Victory is ours through him who loved us. Victory is ours.’
Poignant words for times such as these. We hear this powerful truth reflected in the very long scripture we just read, the story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus. This is a strange and mysterious story for us and I just want to start off by saying, if you are hearing this story thinking to yourself, I just don’t know if I believe this story be literally true, like I just don’t know if I believe that Jesus literally raised Lazarus from the dead, it’s ok. That’s ok. This is a strange story, a mysterious story. It’s ok to not be sure about this text.
You can still be Christian, you can still follow Jesus and not be sure about everything. In fact it’s actually better that way. The opposite of faith isn’t doubt, it is certainty. Faith is radical trust that we don’t have it all figured out. It’s radical trust that we don’t or can’t know everything. It’s radical trust that there is a movement, a love and a power which is greater and bigger than each of us, which is at work in this world. The only thing that really puts a stop to this whole faith thing is certainty.
So let’s look at this story and more importantly see this story in the larger framework of John’s gospel so we can fully understand what it is saying to us today, here and now.
This is the last bit of Jesus’ public ministry in the gospel of John. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back, this is the event which causes the powers of this world to arrest Jesus and put him to death. What does that say about us as human beings? The power of Jesus rooted in unbelievable compassion and grief, the power of his love to bring a friend back from the dead, that’s the act which causes such overwhelming fear.
Fear is a tricky thing. It’s a part of who we are as human beings and it is absolutely necessary to our survival There are healthy fears that we have in this world. The fear that leads a parent to stop a child from wandering into a street, the fear of a sober alcoholic to take that first drink, the fear of a pandemic which leads us to take prudent action, staying at home, to save lives. These are all healthy fears.
But fear can run wild in our hearts and our lives. We can be consumed by fear. One pastor used to always say, ‘ fear can’t be in the driver’s seat, fear’s gotta be sitting in the back seat, and fear can’t pick the music.’
When we are consumed with fear, unacknowledged fear, unconfessed fear, when we are trying to hold onto power and control, that’s when fear typically makes a mess of things.
Ok so back to the story, so Mary and Martha reach out to Jesus to let him know that their brother Lazarus is sick. But Jesus remains away. After a few more days Jesus comes to their home. Many people had come out to mourn the death of Lazarus, the community has come to grieve together. Martha, upon seeing Jesus says to him: ‘Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.’
How many of us have felt this way in our lives? Upon experiencing the death of a partner, a friend, a child. In the midst of our grief and confusion, as we shrink before the mystery of death, “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.”
Jesus responds to Martha, saying I am the resurrection and the life. This is one of the I am statements that Jesus makes in the gospel of John. Statements revealing to us the very nature and the heart of Jesus, the very heart and the nature of God. I am the resurrection and the life.
One of the things that is absolutely essential to understanding John’s Gospel is this resurrection, this salvation, this wholeness, this the fullness of life, this joy and undeniable hope is something we experience here and now. We use a really fancy word for this in seminary, it’s called a realized eschatology. Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life, right here, right now, in this very moment, even in the midst of death and grieving.
After this had happened Jesus asked to see where Lazarus had been buried and they took him to the tomb. And then we have the shortest verse in all of the New Testament, this short but profound verse: Jesus began to weep. Jesus began to weep. Deeply moved with compassion, feeling the weight of grief and loss, feeling the unbelievable and undeniable love we share with one another as we journey through life together, Jesus stood at the tomb and began to weep.
This is our God. This is the power of our God. Radical compassion, radical solidarity, humble sacrificial love in the face of all circumstances. Jesus acknowledging the pain, naming it with his tears, not wishing it away with platitudes and clichés, not stuffing it down deep within, trying to make sure that he is keep all his stuff together. He wept.
And then in a moment of overwhelming love and hope beyond all hope, Jesus does the unthinkable calls “Lazarus come out.’ Lazarus comes out, bound by strips of cloth. Jesus says ‘unbind him and let him go.’
What an incredible, sacred, moment this must have been. Astounding, confounding, overwhelming. Light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death. Victory is ours through Jesus who loves us.
And then do you know what happens to Lazarus? The very next chapter Lazarus is eating dinner with Jesus. In the presence of divine grace, divine light, the resurrection and the life, Jesus has a dinner party with his friends, Lazarus included and love abounds.
Jesus is the resurrection and the life. This resurrection is not something that just happens when we die, but that this resurrection happens right here and right now, in the midst of this life. In these moments of undeniable pain, moments of despair, when we are feeling a deep sense of loss, those lonesome valleys we walk through,
it is in these moments too, Jesus is there with us, He is weeping, he’s standing outside the tomb calling life to spring forth from death, these are the places in our lives and our world where God is stirring with unbelievable compassion and radical unconditional solidarity.
I wanted to end with a story from our family self-isolation, a story of resurrection joy. On Friday afternoon our girls were playing out in our backyard. It was just a beautiful day, like perfect afternoon, sunny with a cool breeze, it reminded me of a nice California afternoon.
Self-isolation hasn’t been the easiest transition for any of us, we’ve all be adjusting to our new normal. This beautiful afternoon was a gift of grace for us all. My wife Allison and I were in cooking dinner as the girls were running all around the yard. As we were cooking were we chatting, when out the window of the door we saw our oldest daughter Olivia coming to the door, just covered in dirt, all over her hands her feet her clothes, everywhere, dirt. And she was just beaming, just beaming, a smile as wide as the horizon. We opened up the door and before we could even ask what she was up to, she opened up her hand and started screaming with joy ‘MOM, DAD, I FOUND EARTHWORMS! I FOUND EARTHWORMS!”
‘Goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death. Victory is ours through him who loved us. Victory is ours.’
Amen.