LA, Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2008

Many years ago, when I was in Israel as a tourist with a church group, I got to actually see Lazarus’ grave. Lazarus as we know was buried in a cave. What I did not know until I was actually there and went inside the cave was that other people were also buried in this cave. It was a family cemetery – only in a cave. Like the valley spoken about in the Book of Ezekiel, it was full of bones. This is why Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth”, because if Jesus had only said, “Come forth” then all the other dead people, including Lazarus, would have risen from the dead.

Instead, Jesus spoke only to Lazarus. He was very specific when it came to doing miracles. When Jesus fed the five thousand men, not counting women and children, with only two fishes and five loaves of bread; it was to both fulfill a physical need and to teach a spiritual lesson. So too, Jesus had a specific purpose when He raised Lazarus from the dead.

What was Jesus’ purpose in our Gospel reading from John today concerning the raising of Lazarus? Well, Jesus spoke very clearly about it to His disciples upon hearing about Lazarus’ illness. The scripture reads, “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."

When we first read this, it sounds like an uncompassionate response from Jesus towards His friend, especially when we read on and find out that Lazarus dies before Jesus even starts His journey to go to him. What we have to remember here is that Jesus sees things from an eternal viewpoint. Eternally speaking, Lazarus’ spirit is alive, so according to Jesus’ perspective Lazarus is not dead. In fact, Jesus describes Lazarus, after He knows that His friend is physically dead, as having fallen asleep.

This of course confuses Jesus’ disciples who reply, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” In other words, let Lazarus rest so that he can recover from his illness. Imagine the shock when Jesus then tells them, “Lazarus is dead.”

How many times in our own lives have circumstances in our lives seemed dead to us? In the physical world it seems like there is no way for there to be any change for the better. Yet, in Christ there is always hope. Whether there will be life here on earth or in eternity. Jesus is the Giver of Life.

This is why Jesus tells his disciples concerning the death of Lazarus, “For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” Jesus already knows that Lazarus’ physical life will be restored. He goes to Bethany, not to grieve for His friend, but to bring glory to His Father God.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of interpreting the smallest verse in the Bible “Jesus wept”, as a sign of Jesus’ grief over the death of His friend. Yet, how could Jesus grieve if He meant what He said about Lazarus that His friend was only sleeping? It was not Lazarus’ physical death that brought tears to our Lord and Savior. Instead, it was the lack of faith that He found in Bethany – particularly with one of His closest friends, Mary.

In the scriptures, Mary of Bethany is portrayed as the sister who set aside the household duties of the hostess to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His teaching.  She was also the one who pre-anointed Jesus for His burial with expensive perfume. John writes of Mary, “Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair.” This act of love and faith by Mary towards Jesus had pleased the Lord.

In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, beginning with verse 3, we read, “While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,^* as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. ⁴But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way? ⁵For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,^* and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. ⁶But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. ⁷For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. ⁸She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. ⁹Truly I tell you, wherever the good news^* is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’   

Because Mary of Bethany was one of Jesus’ most faithful followers, when she spoke in unbelief to Jesus concerning her brother Lazarus; Jesus’ heart was broken. The smallest verse in the Bible is preceded by Mary’s conversation with Jesus. “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." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep.”

Before Jesus talked with Mary and heard her words of anger and hopelessness, He had conversed with Mary’s sister Martha. Martha, the sister who had complained to Jesus of Mary’s lack of help in hosting, had been chastised by Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke, it is written, “Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. ³⁹She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ ⁴¹But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; ⁴²there is need of only one thing.^* Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

Now in today’s gospel reading from John, it was Martha who had shown the Lord her faith. It seems that Martha had taken Jesus’ words of admonition to heart and had had a change of heart. In today’s reading from the gospel we read, “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."

Martha had spoken words of hope springing forth from her faith in Christ, which pleased Jesus.  Martha the complainer had become Martha the Faithful. Sadly, Mary had spoken words of anger and resentment to Jesus. Mary’s faith was overcome by her grief. Hopelessness had replaced Mary’s faith.

How many times in our own lives have we complained to the Lord about losses in our lives? When the Lord was hoping to hear words of faith, we have spoken to Him in anger and resentment. Yet, it is always the darkest before the sun rises. So it seems the most hopeless right before the Lord wants to give us a miracle.  In Hebrews 11:6 we read, “⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Jesus wants to bless us, not curse us. It is His will and desire to bring us hope and to restore our lives. Even though we may appear to be spiritually dead, Jesus wants to bring us back to life! In circumstances that appear hopeless, we need to stand up in faith and speak healing in Jesus’ name. It is only when we are willing ‘to walk by faith and not by sight’ that we can know the resurrecting power of Jesus in our lives.

Like the prophet Ezekiel, we too have been called to speak life into the dead bones that come our way. Notice that the Lord took Ezekiel to the valley full of bones. The scripture reads, “The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.” When the Lord leads us to the valley of bones, it is not to discourage us. Instead, it is to show us His glory. When we put our full trust and faith in the Lord, then the Lord can give us the miracles we so greatly need in our lives.

Are we believers like Mary, who appear to be holy, but when the circumstances seem hopeless we fall into despair? Or will we choose to be like Martha? She believed that Jesus, who had allowed her brother to die, would also restore him to life. Belief or unbelief, we too have a choice. One choice will please our Lord, while the other will break His heart.