I am the Resurrection and the Life John 11 Lent 5 Albertville 3-9-08 Rev. Michael A. Trask
With the onset of Modern medicine, we have made great strides in overcoming such deadly diseases as the bubonic plague, leprosy, diphtheria, smallpox and the like. At the same time, we are getting better at exercise, watching what we eat. We’re looking and feeling younger than any generation before us. Lately we have begun to get the impression that we will overcome death itself. And yet oddly enough, with all this progress against this our common enemy, the death rate remains the same: It’s at 100%. Everybody dies. Kinda stings don’t it. We are quite helpless in the face of death. There’s nothing we can do to stop it. We forestall it perhaps, but we can’t stop it. The only solution that there is is that one who said “I am the resurrection and the life”. Jesus came into the world to reverse the iron grip that death has us us, to remove the shroud that covers the peoples, and to remove the sting. A man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and Martha. He was their brother. Had it come on him suddenly? Had it been an extended illness which had become progressively worse? We don’t know. But we do know that Mary and Martha waited and watched with their poor brother Lazarus as he slipped away. What can they do? They send a message to Jesus. Certainly Jesus will come! He would fix everything! After all, look at the great things he had done: He had healed a Roman official’s son from miles away. He had healed a paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda; He had even given sight to a blind man! Surely, if he made it in time, Jesus would be able to heal poor, sick Lazarus. We can imagine the one who was sent to take the message to Jesus traveling as quickly as he could, the entire time thinking of the urgent word he was taking to the great miracle worker. He was probably hoping and praying that he would be able to get it to him on time. And then that Jesus would be able to make it to Bethany before it was too late When the messenger finally arrived he told Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is very sick” Jesus’ response to this urgent request seems kind of peculiar: Rather than immediately rushing to the scene, he stays where he is for two more days. Why didn’t he dash to Lazarus’ side? Why didn’t he immediately head toward Bethany? Did he not care? Where was he? What was he doing? When Jesus finally showed up, Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for four days. “Martha said to [him], ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’” Matha said “Lord if you had been there, my brother would not have died.” . Do you feel their anguish? “Some [other people] said, “Could not he who had opened the eyes of a blind man have kept this man from dying?” Don’t we often wonder why God doesn’t do things the way we think he should and when we think they should? But every single time that this happens it’s because God has something better in mind. When he says “no”, or seems to wait in answering our requests, he’s always got something better in mind. And in this particular case, they and everyone present would see something that would not only help Lazarus, but help him in a way that would forever cement in their minds the truth of what Jesus had said about himself: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus found out where Lazarus was buried and he went there along with Mary and Martha, as well as others. When he got to the tomb and saw the stone and he said, “Take away the stone” . “‘But, Lord,’ said Martha…‘by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days’” The King James version of it is especially good. It’s says, “Lord by this time he stinketh” Silly Jesus, what are you thinking! Opening up the tomb of a man who had been dead for four days? NO WAY! And Jesus replies, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the Glory of God?” And so the stone was taken away and they did indeed see the glory of God. “Lazarus, come out of there!” said Jesus! And out he came, all wrapped up in strips of linen and cloth around his head. “Unbind him! Let him Go!” Said Jesus. What just happened? The very dead and presently mouldering corpse of Lazarus was reanimated, resurrected, brought back to life. The blood began circulating, the brain started functioning, his nervous system, his muscles, his soul returned to his body. So What Jesus said in words would now be confirmed by his actions. Jesus truly was the resurrection and the life. Death followed by Resurrection. We could believe that it happened to somebody like Jesus. But here it happened to the likes of Lazarus, a man who died in a way that most of the people that we know die...he got sick. In the raising of Lazarus Jesus was showing us that resurrection was not something only for the Son of God, but also for all who died believing him “I am Ressurrction and the life, he who believes in me will live even though he dies, he who lives and believes in me will never die.” Here he covers two groups of people...those who die before he returns will experience resurrection while those who are still alive will simply not die. Nobody is left out. All believers will live...regardless of their situation. Do you remember when I said that our Lord doesn’t always help us in the way that we think he should help us because he’s got something better in mind? We see that in Lazarus life. If Jesus had healed him from a distance, like he had done for another person, that would have been cool and everything, but he had something better in mind for Lazarus. Everyone now knows Lazarus and is blessed by the account of his coming out of the tomb. Lazarus helps us to see that Jesus can do it for me! What happened to Lazarus adds to our understanding of our own Resurrection through Jesus How can Jesus be the resurrection and life for all of us? Remember who Jesus is and who he came to be! He was sent by the father to be the representative of the entire human race! Remember it is sin that gives death its power. And Jesus came to personally take responsibility for our sins. As Isaiah would say “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.....he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities...the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed.” (Is.53:4-5) The full force of the law was brought to bear on this one man who would be suspended above the earth on the cross. You could say that he died a thousand deaths, no, billions and billions of deaths. He died in place of everyone. His heart stopped beating. His soul had left his body. His body was put in a tomb. But then he rose again; making life and salvation the certain future for all who believe. So just as his death became our death, His resurrection and life becomes our resurrection and life. By faith our lives are now bound to his and we will live even though we die! Like Lazarus before us, if we enter the grave before he returns, he will shout into our graves and wake us up. He is the resurrection and the life and he will give those who believe in him resurrection and life. AMEN |
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