3/29 Message – “New Life”
On this 5th Sunday of Lent, let us read and meditate on the following:
“New Life”
Bea was always serious about her faith, but only after her sixtieth birthday did she feel God’s call to be a pastor. She was confused, but certain she should obey the spiritual summons. She immediately went half-time at her job so she could enter the two-year course to become a commissioned lay pastor.
Three months into her study, her best friend, Alison, died. Alison’s family turned to Bea to perform the funeral. Bea hadn’t gotten that far in her study and asked that they find someone else. They insisted and she finally agreed.
She began the funeral, “I’ve never officiated at a funeral before, and so I read the gospels to receive instruction from our Lord Jesus. The only reason I’m here today as Alison’s friend is to share with you the good news of what I found in the Bible. Our Lord Jesus didn’t, and doesn’t, perform funerals. He performs resurrections.”
You know the story of Lazarus and his sisters. Lazarus, Mary and Martha were among Jesus’ closest friends. Jesus stayed in their home and ate meals with them. So, when it was obvious that Lazarus was seriously ill and showed no signs of getting better, the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
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.” Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Yet, notice this, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, “he stayed where he was two more days.”
That one sentence says great deal. God’s timetable is not our timetable. How many times have you prayed that Jesus would come and heal a loved one, and Jesus has lingered seemingly somewhere far off, and all you were left with was silence? That’s what faith is all about. Believing in God and God’s providence during those times when God seems absent. If we knew that God would heed our every wish, that would not be faith. That would be something else.
Jesus lingered where He was. Then He said to His disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples were opposed to this idea. It was already becoming dangerous for Jesus in Judea, but the Master would not be deterred. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,” Jesus said, “but I am going there to wake him up.”
This is the other side of faith. We will not forever feel forsaken. Christ may linger in another place for a long time, or so it seems. But his absence is temporary. He has not forgotten us.
On His arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. The fact that Lazarus was in the grave four days, I believe, is significant. There were some Jews who believed that you should return to the grave for the purposes of mourning for three days after your loved one’s death because the soul of that person was thought to stay around the body for three days. But after three days, according to this tradition, the soul of the dead person would depart. Four days may have been a statement by Jesus that Lazarus really was dead. There was no life left in or around him.
When Jesus arrived, Martha and Mary both expressed their faith in Jesus. But they too, accepted the fact that it was too late. Jesus then asked where they had lain Lazarus. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Jesus, moved deeply, came to the tomb. And He wept. We love that verse, don’t we? It saved many of us when we were young and were asked to recite a Bible verse. “Jesus wept” – the shortest verse in the Bible. But it is also one of the most powerful. Jesus wept – real tears. Just like we cry real tears when we are hurting. To know that Jesus cares, that He enters into our pain and feels our suffering is at the heart of our faith.
Lazarus’ tomb was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance, similar to the one Jesus would soon occupy for three days. “Take away the stone,” He said. Another powerful sentence: “Take away the stone.”
We can find hope in the idea that we don’t have to stay the way we are forever; the stone will be rolled away and we can step out into new life.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, “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 believed, you would see the glory of God?”
Over Martha’s protest He commanded them to take 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!”
I love the comment one country preacher made about this passage, “If Jesus hadn’t limited that command to Lazarus, every corpse in the graveyard would have come forth!”
What an amazing story. After four days in the tomb, Jesus raised a dead man from the grave. But here is the important thing to understand today, this is your story and mine. We are not one of the bystanders. We are not Mary and Martha. We are Lazarus, and you and I are called to new life. “Lazarus, come out!” There are some important lessons we need to learn from the story of Lazarus.
First of all, this story affirms the idea of resurrection. That’s important, of course. You and I have this to look forward to – the dead in Christ will arise. We will live beyond the grave with Christ and with those we have loved.
Dr. A. L. Jenkins was an emergency room doctor for 48 years in Knoxville, Tennessee. In this capacity, Dr. Jenkins saw the best and the worst side of the field of medicine. But his most vivid memories are of those moments that are medically unexplainable.
Dr. Jenkins recalls one man who was dead on arrival in the emergency room. It was Dr. Jenkins’ policy to attempt resuscitation anyway. After fifteen minutes of CPR, the previously dead man began to show signs of life. The man sat up, looked around him, then said to Dr. Jenkins, “Oh, I wish I was still out there! It was beautiful!”
The man would never explain what he meant, but would only repeat that the place he had been was “so beautiful, so beautiful.”
It is amazing how these experiences affirm what the Bible teaches us about life beyond the grave. There will come a time when the doctor can do no more for us, but somewhere on the other side, Christ will say, “Mike, come out!” “Sally, come out!” The account of Lazarus is a story that affirms resurrection.
It is also a story that gives us hope for everyday living. It is a word of encouragement for anyone who needs to make a new beginning in life.
He gives us the power to start again, to live again. He said to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come out!” Then to those who were present, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
The story of Lazarus can be our story. We, too, can be turned loose, untied. This is particularly good news right now as what is going on in the world is scary and may be wearing us down and depleting our souls… “Lazarus, come out!” This is good news for the tired, the hurting, the person at their wit’s end… “Lazarus, come out!” This is good news for all of us… “Lazarus, come out!” This can be the beginning of a new life.
The story of the raising of Lazarus ends with these words, “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.”
Friends, we can do the same because God will never forget His promises. God will never forget His people. Across every page of the Bible, God writes His promises and signs them with “Because I said I would.”
Listen to the promises God made through Ezekiel. To His people who were dead and hopeless and cut off, He will give new life and new hope. He will bring them back to their home again and put His Spirit within them. He will turn death into life. He will turn a valley of dry bones into the army of God. How do we know this? Because He said He would. “Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.” As we move through this Easter season in ways that are different than what we are used to, remember that God is not done keeping His promises to His people. God is faithful and God’s plans are eternal. And we, as God’s people, can base our lives and our hope on the promises of God.
Amen.
Continue to pray for the world, for those affected by covid-19, for God’s guidance, and for each other. I would, again, encourage you, if you are able, to send in your tithes and offering.
Friends, the church is not closed. The church has been deployed. We are still worshiping together (through email). We are still praying together. We are still reaching out to and caring for each other, just differently. And most importantly, we are still loving and trusting God.
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Christy Mitchell