25^nd Sunday after Pentecost

Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44

John 11:32-44

³² When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴ He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus began to weep. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

  ³⁸ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ Jesus 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.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴² 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.” ⁴³ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The 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.”

. . .

The Day God Learned How Much It Hurts

It may have felt like everything was going according to plan. Jesus’ guerrilla-style visits to Jerusalem had produced enough stir. The gospel of John tells us that Jesus and the disciples frequently went to what was then the Jewish center for religion and politics, usually to observe a festival, so that either someone was healed or something astounding and unnerving was proclaimed or taught at the temple grounds. Every time they left to return to Galilee and regroup, they gave the people more reasons to talk about the rabbi from Nazareth. 

The profound and life-giving words and actions from the incarnation of God’s power and wisdom among us grew Jesus a following. They were people from the sick and marginalized to those with a higher status among the power elite or those with the means of supporting the ministry with shelter and resources from time to time. Lazarus and his household certainly were among the latter.

Their abode in Bethany, a short hike from Jerusalem, could have been the ideal staging area for Jesus and the disciples to recuperate before and after their incursions into the city away from the prying eyes of Jewish and Roman authorities. They grew so close that at the beginning of chapter 11, the sisters Mary and Martha felt they needed to send a messenger to Jesus—probably back to Galilee—and let him know that the one that Jesus loved had become ill (John 11:3).

Perfect opportunity. Since Lazarus seemed to have been a beloved member of his community, there would be many witnesses to what Jesus was set to do. Certainly, the event would galvanize the trust in what God was doing through him. Furthermore, some would feel that they should alert the religious authorities in Jerusalem to gain their sympathy and trust. That would set in motion the wheels behind the plot to arrest and kill him. The human capacity to resist and work against the goodness and grace of God is as old as dirt.

So Jesus does two things at this point. First, upon receiving the message, he calms everyone by saying that the illness would not lead to death, so the glory of what was about to happen among them could be revealed – it’s all part of the plan. Then, despite his profound love for Lazarus and his sisters, he waits two days longer to depart to see them. What nobody knew yet was that Jesus was not being deceptive. Lazarus would live, but he would have to die and begin to decompose first. Then life would be restored from beyond repair, just like the valley of dry bones, in a way that only the one who spoke everything into existence could do.

It was a majestic plan until God walked into the profound pain of human loss and grief.

The first encounter upon arrival in Bethany gives God some confidence. Martha, despite expressing some lament – Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died – acknowledges the life-giving power manifesting in front of her and confesses: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world (11:27).” 

It is the next encounter that puts God to the test. Mary hears that God has arrived. She gets up quickly, leaves the house, and runs to him. Some of her friends run after her, concerned over her state, thinking she may have gone to the tomb, where a stench was certainly to have developed. However, Mary runs towards God, weeping and full of pain and anger. She throws herself at his feed and cries out the same words as her sister: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

That was the moment. That was the moment God opened God’s eyes. That was the moment God saw her pain. That was the moment God saw the pain in their friends. Then the level of anger rises: “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” God could have rebuked them. God could have told them to get behind him. But this was the moment God did something else. God wept and became viscerally distressed. This was the moment when God in the flesh felt our pain. This was the moment God learned how much it hurts. Then God waited no more. Deeply disturbed upon himself, Jesus commanded: “Lazarus, come out!” “Unbind him, and let him go.”

What a powerful blessing it must have been for those who believed and were assured that God saw them with God’s own eyes, felt their pain, and consoled them with God’s own arms, hands, and tears. What a powerful blessing, for they no longer had doubts, only believed.

What a powerful blessing it is for us who have never seen God among us and yet have come to believe under the assurance that God poured his love and grace over us after learning how it feels. 

Because of what God did for us, we now have the faith of our ancestors and the visceral understanding that this precious gift of faith, past, present, and future, gives rise to the community of all the saints and the power to transform every life into a gracious, joyful, and better life. God is faithful. We will hunger no more. We will thirst no more. God will wipe away every tear from our eyes so we can meet again, laughing, singing, dancing, and rejoicing at the throne of the Lamb where everything will be restored and made new, said the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty Lord our God. Amen.