November 1, 2015
Sunday

“So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “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.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 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.” John 11:41-44

“The Body of Christ, the community of the baptized, and the Communion of Saints – we are all Lazarus. We stinketh, until Jesus calls us out, frees us, and gives us life. In fact this is what binds us together, the biologically alive church and the biologically dead church: we haven’t all been called out of the tomb and unwrapped. In this sense, the raising of Lazarus isn’t just a miracle that Jesus performed thousands of years ago in a land far, far away. It’s the work of Jesus today.

And, I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that Jesus still calls us out, because I still need it. I still stinketh. And some days I stinketh more than others. I still find myself from time to time bound up and wound up; by the expectations of others, by my own insecurities, by my sin. But, the promise of the story of Lazarus is that, like Lazarus, Jesus loves us. He weeps for us. He is deeply moved by us. And he brings life to our death, freedom to our bondage, and a shining light to our every darkness.” (Rick Morley, Who Stinketh, October 23, 2012)

Today is the day we celebrate the people in our congregations who have passed away since last All Saints Sunday. It is a day to lift up the names of the saints who have received their crown, the fruit of eternal life, their room prepared for them. We ring bells, we name names, we light candles, families gather to read a scripture lesson. But when all is said and done, when we gather as a family around the grave of a loved one, most of us have one feeling that remains deep within our gut: death stinks.

This week I will participate in the grave-side service for the nephew of close friends. They young man was 25 years old when he died of a drug overdose. He had been clean for a short time, but life became too difficult, a path appeared in front of him, and he chose the path of least resistance, turned again to drugs, and over-dosed on heroin. For the immediate time now, and for the next year, this family will try to deal with the fact that death stinks, and sometimes it not only stinks, but it is painful beyond words. As a pastor, I see the times when death feels like an old friend. Death for some people comes as a relief – it is the relief from pain, suffering, and/or a long journey. But in a case like this, death is unresolved – it is not welcome, it is not a friend, it is not an acceptable end to this life. In other words, in this case death “Stinketh”.

There will not always be good answers for the questions life presents. But even if life “Stinketh”, we must remember that Jesus defeated the “Stench” of death – and gives us all the promise of new life.

Pastor Dave