"I Came Out of that Grave"

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel. What do you think? Let's talk about it. I shared this with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  

Gospel: John 11:1-15, 38-45

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
 ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” …

 
 ³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

 ⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

God is good—even in the middle of a pandemic or in the middle of the death of a dear friend. However, we may wonder where God could possibly be at a time like this. It’s exhausting, isn’t it?

Let’s go back to the beginning of the gospel reading, “… though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was” (vv. 5-6). What!?! He stayed where he was longer instead of running to Bethany to heal his friend. Unbelievable. His disciples must have seen him as harsh or a little bit crazy. Why wouldn’t he help this family that he loves so much?

In the verses in between those above, both Mary and Martha say the same thing to Jesus when they first see Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (vv. 21, 32). They knew that Jesus could have healed their brother, but he was very dead—4 days worth of death and Lazarus stunk! There was no doubt about how dead he was, so the sisters had lost hope of any miracle.

But Jesus waited two whole days before taking this trip. He did this so all could see the raising of Lazarus. And what was the result? “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him” (v. 45). God knew what was going on even though Jesus’ disciples didn’t and Mary and Martha didn’t.

We likely wonder where God is amid the Coronavirus. Our lives have been completely upended. My surgery has been postponed until things settle down. Our stock market has tanked, although it has rebounded somewhat. We have friends and neighbors that have lost their jobs and have no income.

We and our friends, family and neighbors are like Lazarus. Christ calls us to life, to come out of the grave and live. There’s a song by Passion that expresses that. Here is the link to it: https://youtu.be/gklJ2XZwDHc. 

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