March 9, 2008
| Lent 5, 2008 | Ezekiel 37: 1 -14 | |
| Romans 8:6-11 | ||
| John 11:1-45 |
Joseph Stalin said a single death is a tragedy, and a million deaths is a statistic.
As much as we hate to admit it, there is some truth there.
There is a parallel thought in the famous novel, "Slaughterhouse Five." Author Curt Vonnegut sprinkles his prose with a phrase that is repeated again and again throughout the book. The phrase is, "So it goes." It usually pops up when something tragic has happened- an illness, a death, or when soldiers are captured, and become prisoners of war.
So it goes.
Vonnegut expresses the kind of weariness, even banality that creeps into to human hearts when there is too much bad news.
Mary and Martha had bad news. Their brother Lazarus died. They called for Jesus to come to their aid, but he delayed!
He delayed two days after hearing of this illness. There is no mistaking the delay.
And the sisters noticed. "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
Lots of debate about this statement. It's on the lips of both women. Were they scolding? As in "Where were you when I needed you?" I wonder how many of us have prayed that lament. Certainly the psalmists accused God of sleeping on the job. Are the women scolding, or expressing faith? As in- "I know, Jesus, that you could have worked a miracle. Too bad you arrived too late" How many of us have stopped praying because the moment passed and the worst happened.
How often is God too late?
But the late arrival was planned. It was deliberate. Jesus waited long enough to satisfy the old superstition that the soul hung around the body for three days, trying to get back in. Three days of trying to live again. Lazarus has been in the tomb four days.
Lazarus is not asleep. Not in a coma. Not coming back. The miracle man came too late. Tragedy has struck. So it goes.
But it turns out it's not too late.
This story has been in several movies. The drama always peaks at that shocking moment when a dead man walks out from the tomb, bound, and shrouded.
We can just HEAR his new-found breath hissing right through the fabric over his face.
Wow.
But the movie makers, and perhaps we as readers, pass by the most important moment. Please notice, the gospel writer seems uninterested in Lazarus.
The end of the miracle itself is almost anti-climactic- Jesus just tells them to loosen all the windings. "Let him go" he says, like a judge who knows the police caught the wrong man. Case dismissed.
Lazarus speaks not a word. No speech about the mysteries beyond the grave. No hallelujahs. No travelogue, no slide-show from the land down under. As if the actual miracle were not the point.
If the gospel writer were making that movie, the moment of resurrection would not be the dramatic moment. If the gospel writer were making that movie, the music, drama, and camera angles would all tell us to focus on what Jesus said before he even arrived at the tomb.
"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. "
These words are the heart of this story. Once again, Jesus used the Divine Name, "I Am."
The most important thing here is not what amazing things Jesus could do, but who he is. Jesus is one with God, who has the power to make life.
Humans have the power to make death. Our deadly power is more than enough to turn tragedy into statistic. And we tend to think, when bad news comes, that the miracle must be too late.
You who are in mourning- it is not because God forgot. You who are depressed, it's not because Jesus is delayed. You who wonder where God is, you need not wait any longer for some great event that proves something.
"I AM the resurrection and the life." Says Jesus. Present tense.
This has meaning for ordinary events and ordinary days as well as for those miracle days, or those days of tragedy, even days of numbing statistic.
This is the meaning as well as I can say it. When Jesus says, "I AM the resurrection and the life" he is doing the will of God among human beings. Jesus speaks. And the power of God, from creation until now, is the power of God's creating Word.
Jesus IS the life, and when he says that to you, YOU have life! Jesus says he is resurrection and when he calls the name Lazarus, Lazarus is alive. He didn't wave a wand or jolt Lazarus with lightning bolts. He spoke. God's Word and God's power are one.
And here and now Jesus speaks a Word to you. The One Who is Resurrection calls your name, and so life beyond the grave is already begun. (The One Who is Life says to you...)
The One Who is Life says to you- 'Your life matters.' God treasures in the flesh those who have ears to hear.
When we think about miracles, I think we do one of two things. We decide they can't be real. Or we wonder , 'Why can't God just whisk us all safely off to heaven?'
Why not just fix everything, so there are no more statistics? Only God can answer. But a redeemed life is an answer. Jesus in the flesh means at least this- that God honors OUR life of flesh. THIS life has purpose and dignity.
As God chooses to say to us "Your sins are forgiven." Or "Rise and Walk." Or "I am the bread of life." ALL of them come into being, real, finished. God is serious about calling believers. About giving and restoring life. SO serious that Jesus will trade his own life for the life of Lazarus.
In John's account it is this miracle that convinces the authorities that Jesus is too dangerous.
It is this life-giving moment that seals his death. Knowing the price, Jesus called to Lazarus anyway.
How did it happen? Could it happen? The Apostle Paul answers, "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
NOW MAY THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, KEEP YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS IN CHRIST JESUS.