“Lazarus, Come Out”: The Power of Love – Jesus Revealed Part VI

Sermon Title: “Lazarus, Come Out:” Shock, Faith, Love

Good News Statement: Jesus raises us from the “tomb”

Preached: Sunday, February 12, 2022 at Dogwood Prairie UMC & Seed Chapel UMC

              Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.              

 

Scripture (NRSV): John 11:1-44 Today’s scripture reading comes from the Gospel of John chapter eleven selected verses from one thru forty-four. In this passage, John raises Lazarus, a good friend, from the dead but at first Jesus is in shock of the situation, then faith takes him to the tomb, and finally love removes the linen of Lazarus…

The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷ and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.”

³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

 

Introduction:

Hoping for a miracle when life is against us is something we have all done. We have hoped for miracles of healing for loved ones and friends; we have hoped for miracles of strength to get through a busy day, a busy week, and unpredictable situations; we have hoped for miracles of perseverance to overcome sudden life changes that not only affect us but also affect others; and we have hoped for miracles to wipe away our tears, cover up our scars, remove our pain and suffering, and to make us whole again, to make us feel alive again. Having hope is a sign of your faith, of your trust, and of your willingness to give everything to God in prayer and in your life. If you couldn’t hope for a miracle, if you didn’t have hope in general, then what would life look like?

After experiencing a week of attending funerals, being with families, listening to their stories, I found myself thinking about the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the tomb. Martha and Mary in the story recounted in John 11 have no such hope; Lazarus has been dead for four days, and as Martha tells Jesus, the body has already begun to decompose. In this situation, in the minutes or even hours after the death of Lazarus, hope has left the scene: darkness prevails, life is no more, and mourning becomes the focal point. Ecclesiastes 3:4 says that there’s a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Isaiah 61:3 speaks of providing “for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning.” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).

Martha and Mary, and even Jesus, mourn for the passing of Lazarus. They experience a moment without hope when Jesus doesn’t come to them right away. But in this story, we find more than mourning and comfort; we find a Jesus who is shocked, who finds comfort in his faith, and who shows how powerful love is even after death. In this story, we are challenged to ask ourselves, “Are we alive? Is our church alive? How powerful is Christ’s love in our life? How is Christ’s love alive in our church?” And above all else, this story teaches us a valuable lesson; and the lesson is this, “Do what needs to be done now; say what needs to be said now; because you may not get a second chance in this life to do or to say what Christ needs you to do or say. Are you alive?

Body:

When we think about the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, we must take into account that this is not the first time that Jesus is challenged to bring someone back to life. According to Luke 7:11-17, as Jesus approached the town of Nain, he met a funeral procession leaving the city. In the coffin was a young man, the only son of a widow. When Jesus saw the procession, “he was moved with compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not cry’” (Luke 7:13). Jesus came forward and touched the coffin and said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” (Luke 7:14). Obeying these divine orders, the young man rose and began to speak (Luke 7:15). On another occasion, Jesus was approached by a synagogue leader, by the name of Jairus, whose twelve-year old daughter was to the point of death or had already died. Jesus followed Jairus and told him, “Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved” (Luke 8:50). While everyone was weeping and grieving, Jesus said, “Do not cry, for she is not dead but sleeping….Child, get up!” (Luke 8:52, 54). Lastly, in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion, he writes, when Jesus died, “The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised” (Matthew 27:52). Although Jesus did more healings and exorcisms than raising people from the dead, he still raised people from the dead and gave them a second chance, another reason to hope, and another opportunity to come alive.

And Jesus isn’t the only person to raise people from the dead. Ezekiel witnesses the valley of the dry bones as it comes back to life under the workings of God (Ezekiel 37). In 1 Kings 17, Elijah the prophet raised the son of the widow Zarephath from the dead: “[Elijah] stretched himself upon the child three times and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived” (1 Kings 17:21-22). Following in his mentors footsteps, Elisha, in 2 Kings 4, receives the body of a woman’s son. Elisha went to the upper room of the woman’s home, shut the door, and prayed. “Then he got up on the bed and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and while he lay bent over him, the flesh of the child became warm. He got down, walked once to and fro in the room, then got up again and bent over him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes” (2 Kings 4:34-35). Come alive again.

Scripture is filled with reminders that we too can be brought back to life, but when Jesus calls us home we must not hesitate because a life a waits for us in heaven. But until then, we must be willing to come alive for the sake of living out God’s plan. We must be willing to live today for the sake of creating a future. And we must be willing to live today so that we can be unbound—from our sins—and set free. If Lazarus can be raised after being dead for four days, then certainly we can be brought back to life today after everything we have been through.

The account of Lazarus begins, “Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick’” (John 11:1-3). From these opening verses, we gain the following information. First, Lazarus is sick: the name Lazarus is a form of the name Eliezer, which means “God helps.” So, just from the name we know something is going to happen, God is going to help Lazarus in some way but how. Second, Lazarus is the brother of Mary and Martha; and as the text tells us, this Mary is not the mother of Jesus but is the same person who will anoint Jesus’ feet with a precious and expensive perfume (John 12:1-11). Third, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that the one who Jesus loves is sick. Notice that Mary and Martha send word to Jesus, which means that they probably know where Jesus is located; and that Lazarus and Jesus have a connection: they know each other; and that Lazarus is sick but not dead.

Based upon these verses, we know who the story is about, who is involved, and why they are involved. We also know that Lazarus is not just somebody on the road who needs healing. Lazarus is someone who Jesus knows and who Jesus loves. Jesus, alongside Mary and Martha, are going to experience something that the scriptures haven’t told us about yet: they are going to experience deep sadness and grief. Jesus is going to mourn, to suffer, and to be in grief.

Looking at verses six and seven and then eleven through fifteen, John writes, “So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea’” (Luke 11:6-7). Stay two more days? Mary and Martha need Jesus now! Why would Jesus want to stay two more days when the person he loves is sick and on the verge of death? How many of you couldn’t believe the news when the person you loved was very sick and wasn’t given much time to live? Did you wait? Did you hesitate? We have all been there: we don’t want to believe it. We don’t even want to hear those dreadful words, “It is getting close to the end.” We want more time. Jesus is shocked by this news, even though he probably knows what is going to happen. Jesus is confused. Jesus is struck with sadness and grief. Jesus can’t believe what he has just been told: the person whom he loves is sick. Jesus needs more time to process the moment. There is no time frame on grief and Jesus, by taking two days, reminds us of that.

The text continues, “After he had said this, he went on to tell [the disciples], ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’ His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him’” (John 11:11-15). The disciples’ response is rather comical, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” They are basically saying, “There’s no reason to pursue the message that Mary and Martha have sent to you, Jesus. There’s no reason to go see Lazarus. Everything will be just fine.” Sometimes in situations where bad news floods our mind, we do whatever we can to avoid the facts—to avoid reality. But as reality sets in and the words of Jesus penetrate our heart, “Lazarus is dead,” we realize that things may not be as fine as what we want them to be. Still in shock, Jesus goes to see Lazarus.[i]

Our text continues in verses 17-27: “On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. ‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world’” (John 11:17-27).

I bet you can image what this scene looks like: Mary is at home probably upset with Jesus for not getting there earlier, Martha is crying as she angrily yells at Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Jesus feeling guilty tries to save himself by talking about being resurrected in the life to come, and then Martha comes to terms with the whole situation. Her hope returns.

We all process such strong emotions in our own ways. How you deal with pain is different than how I deal with pain. How you deal with losing someone is different than how I deal with losing someone. How you mourn, weep, and grieve is different than how I mourn, weep, and grieve. We all deal with our emotions in our own way. But what is similar in our emotions is the reassurance that we can go to Jesus and ask for help. Sure we may be upset with him for how things turned out, but we can still go to him for help because we do believe that there is a life him yet to come. Martha lost faith in Jesus, but Jesus restored her faith by simply being there and for listening to her cry.

While Jesus converses with Martha and brings her comfort, Mary appears on the scene and kneels at his feet. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews came with her also weeping,” writes John, “he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33). Then “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Amidst the tears of Mary and Martha and the Jews, Jesus sheds his own tears. Nowhere else in the Gospel tradition does Jesus display this type of emotion. Jesus is human: Jesus is weeping over the death of a loved one. Although he knows what is going to take place next, Jesus still experiences sadness. Death is real, death is inevitable, death is indescribable, and the sting of death is still present even when we know it is going to happen. Jesus is weeping with you. For Jesus to weep does not take away a sense of his divinity. It adds to it. And when we weep, as Jesus and God weep, we show our divine passion as well as our human emotion. We believe in Jesus a little bit more.

Our text concludes, “Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ he said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, Take off the grave clothes and let him go’” (John 11:38-44).

At first, Jesus was shocked and deeply troubled about hearing the news of Lazarus. Then the faith of those who followed him began to waver. And now, from a love deep within him, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead: “Come out Lazarus.” Sure we can think about the smell that would have come out of the tomb when the stone was rolled away. Sure we can consider how Martha and Mary had enough money to have their own tomb. And sure we can ponder the words of Jesus as he prayed to the Father for others to believe in him. But instead, let’s focus on the love that Jesus showed Lazarus even after Lazarus was dead for four days.

The love that Jesus used to bring Lazarus back to life was powerful, meaningful, and life-saving. The love that Jesus used to bring Lazarus back to life is the same love that Paul defines in his letter to the people of Corinth: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Jesus never stopped loving Lazarus even when Lazarus was laid in the tomb. Even after death love continues. We never stop loving those who have gone before us and we never stop loving Jesus even when others second guess our beliefs. The love that Jesus used to raise Lazarus from the dead is filled with “joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). And the love that Jesus offered to Lazarus through the words, “Come out,” is the same love that brings us back to life today. Because Jesus never stopped loving Lazarus, Lazarus was raised from the dead: Lazarus lived again. And if Lazarus can live again by the love of Jesus Christ, then so can we.

 

Conclusion:

The time has come to become alive again. The time has come to look within yourself, and asked Jesus to raise you from the tomb—to help you overcome whatever is weighing you down. The time has come to look around at the people around you—whom you deeply love—and find ways to rejuvenate their spirit. The time has come to bring our church back to life. The time has come to do what needs to be done now; say what needs to be said now; because you may not get a second chance in this life to do or to say what Christ needs you to do or say. The time has come to walk out of the tomb when Jesus says, “Come out here.” Become unbound by the cloths of yesterday and live in the now so that you may have hope for a tomorrow. Jesus performed a miracle out of love; now it’s our turn to be a miracle of love for others. But first, we need to become alive again. Are you alive? Are you ready to do the work of Christ now? Love is powerful, so put that love to work! Allow Jesus to bring you back to life: Love him, pray to him, read his words, and give everything to him. Have hope. Have faith. Allow Jesus to bring you back to life.

 

Closing Prayer:

            Let Us Pray…Dear Jesus, help us become alive today. Help us to live the life you have called us to live. Guide us to those who need to experience your love. Equip us to be the church that wants to be alive for generations to come. And encourage us to walk out of the tomb when things are against us. Lord, we are ready to become alive and to do your work today. Amen.

 

Benediction:

There are a lot of powerful messages that this story offers us; but today remember that Jesus needs us to become alive as a disciple and as a church so that others will know how powerful His love is. In what ways is Christ calling you to become alive? In what ways is Christ calling our church to become alive? May God bless you this week, until we meet again, with the strength to live again in his word. Go, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as you seek to walk out of the tomb. And all God’s people said, “Amen.” Amen. Amen.

 

[i] While the NRSV translates, concerning Lazarus, “he will be all right,” the Greek says, literally, “he will be saved.” On the one hand, the disciples have no clue what they are saying; on the other hand, they are exactly right, at least in John’s perspective: Lazarus is a follower of Jesus, so he will be saved, both in the sense of rescued from death and in the sense of having not just eternal life, but life abundant on earth. He will be “all right.” –Amy-Jill Levine from her book Signs and Wonders: A Beginner’s Guide to the Miracles of Jesus