Power Over Death
John 11:1-45 (read vs 1, 17, 32-45)
by Jim Westmoreland
There is a couple in Arkansas who have given their six-year-old son strict instructions to come home from playing every afternoon no later than 5 p.m. He is allowed to play with his friends, but his parents are quite serious about his curfew. If he is not home by 5 p.m., they begin to worry and call around the neighborhood to find out where he is. The boy knows this, though, and is careful to arrive every day on time.
One April Monday, however, the day after Daylight Saving Time went into effect, the boy was late coming home. When he finally arrived, a few minutes before 6 p.m., his mother scolded him for being late. "You know you are to be home by five," she said, "and here it is nearly six."
Puzzled, the little boy pointed out the window. "But the light," he protested, "the light; it's the light that tells me when to come home."
Realizing what had happened, his mother smiled and gently explained that the day before the time had been changed, that everyone had reset their clocks and, now, the daylight lasted longer. The boy's eyes narrowed. "Does God know about this?" he asked suspiciously.
In a childlike way, this little boy shared John's theological
vision. Martha, Jesus wants you to know that, with God,
daylight lasts longer than death.
And like the valley full of
dry, disconnected bones, whether we are a church, an individual
or a family, when God’s spirit comes, there is power over
death, there is life breathed into those relationships that seemed
hopelessly lost and broken.
The figure of Lazarus stands at the summit of several converging stories in the gospel of John. He is fourth in a line of crucial characters — Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the man born blind and Lazarus — through whom Jesus reveals himself. With the “raising of Lazarus,” Jesus brings his message and his miracles to the boundary of human existence, the very border between death and life. The reader of the Gospel of John has known from the beginning that “life” came into being through him (1:4), but now the point is made clear in both word (“I am the resurrection and the life”) and deed (“The dead man came out”). The challenge of the gospel is encapsulated in Jesus’ question to those standing outside the tomb: “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (11:40).
This story creates some problems for us, as it did for the people in Bethany that day. When Jesus wept over the death of his friend, Lazarus, some people said, “See how he loved him!” And others said, “If he could open the eyes of the blind man, why couldn’t he keep this man from dying?” Deep down, doesn’t this express our own hurt and disappointment in God? Maybe we don’t say it out loud, but we pray and they still die. Maybe it was a child, a parent, a husband or wife, or a friend. Maybe it was a relationship that needed healing and new life, a marriage, people at work, at church.
We don’t want to be disappointed. We really want a pain-free life with no real tests and no hard questions. Jesus ignored the question and implied criticism, and he went to the tomb and asked for the stone to be removed. He then prayed, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I 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.” He then cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The scripture says that he came out, still bound in strips of cloth and with his face covred. And Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” And John tells us that many of the Jews who had come with Mary and seen what Jesus did believed in him.
Unfortunately, a lot of us are like mummies, all wrapped up in ourselves. And, we don't want to become unwrapped. We come unwound at the thought of coming out of our safe tomb or stepping out in faith. But Jesus calls us out of the tomb, sets us free and calls us to move beyond ourselves into a life of faith, commitment, obedience and service.
On the old Merv Griffin Show he was interviewing some body builders. As he was standing there looking at these guys with all these muscles, he asked a powerful question: "What do you use these muscles for?"
One guy answered by flexing his muscles in one of those body builder stances. But Merv said, "No, you don't understand. What do you USE all those muscles for?" The guy said, "I'll show you." And he flexed again in another body builder pose..
Again Merv said, "No. You still don't understand my question. Read my lips. What do you USE them FOR?" The guy posed again.
Jesus calls us out of the tomb, sets us free and calls us to move
beyond ourselves into a life of faith, commitment, obedience
and service. When we just come to Church and sometimes
read our Bibles and just enjoy the fellowship but nothing else,
then we're like those body building guests. We're like
mummies, still wrapped up in ourselves. Jesus calls us to move
beyond self to a life of faith and committed service.
Do our
lives give witness to Jesus’ power over death?
In Ezekiel, God asked, “Mortal, can these bones live?” And the answer is “Yes,” if they’re filled with the Spirit of God.
The very same is true for us. Today’s passage is not an excerpt from a prophetic self-help book, one which instructs us to reform, reinvent or reorganize ourselves into a more efficient or effective organization. No, it’s a passage that challenges us to open ourselves to the life-giving power of God’s Spirit, a Holy Spirit that comes to us for one purpose only: so that we will know that God is the Lord (v. 6). Like he raised Lazarus, Jesus has power over death.
That’s why God gives life to the bones: so that all the people will know that God is God.
That’s why God brings the people of Israel to their homeland: so that they will know that God will act.
That’s why God gives a child to senior citizens named Abraham and Sarah: so that they will know that nothing is too wonderful for the Lord (Genesis 18:14).
That’s why God gives a son to a virgin named Mary: so that she will know that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).
That’s why God fills us with his life-giving Spirit: so that we will know that God is alive and well and active — right here, right now.
At the heart of this passage from Ezekiel is the message “God is able.” He can do anything. He even has power over death. How do we know His presence with us, especially when we seem to be lost and in declining health?
• When we are lost, God is able to find us!
• When we’re crushed by guilt, God is able to lift this burden!
• When we’re without vision, God is able to inspire us!
• When we’re overwhelmed, God is able to calm us!
• When we’re attacked, God is able to deliver us!
• When we’re feeling disconnected, desiccated and discouraged, God is able to reconnect us, refresh us and revive us!
God can take death itself, and transform it into life! God is able!
Can these dry bones tell us about who we are as a congregation?
Where do we need the Spirit of God to be at work among us?
What will new life look like, after we open ourselves to the power of the Spirit?
God says to Ezekiel, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel.” When our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are feeling completely cut off, at that precise moment the challenge for us is to turn to God and ask him to fill us with his Spirit. The promise is that God will put his Spirit within us and we will live, and then we will know that the Lord has spoken and will act. Amen.
Century Christian Church, March 9, 2008 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
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