April 2, 2017
Lent 5A

“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But 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.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus 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. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 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.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 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 11:1-28, 34-44)

I love the text we have here. It is one of my favorites. It is also very familiar to us. And this is a story about the time Jesus was late. The sisters Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus were having a family crisis. It seems that Lazarus had taken ill, and the situation was critical. Now I know that there were people who called themselves physicians in the first century, even Luke the Evangelist and Gospel writer was known as a physician. But the problem with Lazarus must have been very grave, for the sisters did not call for a doctor, they called Jesus. Of course, this was not unusual because, as we know from the biblical text, Jesus loved this family. So, on the surface, it seems cruel, and heartless that Jesus would be late when called upon to come to the home of his friends and loved ones. Yet, there is something deeper going on underneath the reality of Lazarus’ illness and death – and that reality is this: we just don’t know when our time will be up. Time is not our friend, really. The sands of time keep dropping, time keeps marching on, and we hope that God will give us as much time as possible. But, we struggle with time – we struggle with how we deal with our time. You see, some people are like Nicodemus, they behave differently at night than they do in the day. Others are like the woman at the well: they hope that in time, they will find respect from the community, and respect for themselves so that, in time, they will have the courage to change their behavior. And some are like the man born blind: they hope for a “Kairos” moment – a miraculous encounter with Christ where they might be changed, healed, or saved in some way. This is exactly the story within the story of Lazarus. Jesus is late to his rescue – even late to his funeral. But, Jesus’ time had come – and so it was time to reveal deeper truths about himself.

One of the deepest truths that we trust in as the gathered community of believers is that through the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism, we experience a miraculous encounter with Jesus Christ. Through the weekly act of Holy Communion, we not only receive the forgiveness of sins (this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and all people for the forgiveness of sins), but we also receive new life and salvation. That’s right my friends. Christ offers you and me new life because we are in communion with Christ who is present in the sacraments. That fact should change us. The fact that Christ is present with us now, and every day, should change you and me, just like Jesus’ presence changes the lives of Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the blind man, and our friend Lazarus. The presence of Jesus should transform us. Christ being present with us now should show us the deeper significance of a new life in Christ, and that should change how we spend our time on this earth, because, truth be told, we have no idea how much time we have. As we pause in this season of Lent, we should reflect on how we are working on a deep meaningful relationship with Jesus, which not only brings us new life today, but life eternal.

Pastor Dave