Monday, April 4, 2011

April 10, 2011 Fifth Sunday in Lent


John 11:1-45


1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

4 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then 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 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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.”

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.



“The Story Of Lazarus”


“This pronouncement (“I am the resurrection and the life”) not Lazarus’s rather ludicrous stumbling out of the tomb, is the climactic moment of Jesus’ visit to Bethany.”

1987 Proclamation 3. A, p. 62


This is a story about the pain, disappointment, and suffering Jesus endured to effect human salvation; to show how much God loves us even when bad things happen to good people.


It reminds us how powerful God’s love is to raise us up and give us hope - no matter what. It is both an intimate and theological story. It touches the depth of human suffering and bewilderment with God and reminds us that even in the severity of life, God is faithful. God is good. He is worthy of all trust and all glory.



“For The Glory Of God”


The miracle of the raising of Lazarus is beyond our grasp.


A piece of it we can grasp is that it means that God can take the very thing which is causing us to say , “Life is a dirty trick.” and turn it into a revelation of God’s glory, and experience of God’s closeness. Yes, a blessing!


Illness is a part of life; an inevitable part.

Faith is a power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life.


It enables us to trust that when Jesus became human he smashed forever the ability of the power of evil to be able to completely monopolize or control all of life. Even in and through illness something good can happen which can lead us to say that even this is to the glory of God. Illness can open us to God and make us more alive - all the way to the better end.


“Jesus wept.” Two of the most beautiful words in the NT; for they tell us how much Jesus is with us and for us. He cannot eliminate grief from our lives. He can walk with us in and through the grief.


Something greater is always happening with God. All human evidences of God at work are signs of the greater gifts God intends for us.


The problem of death is not going to be solved by bringing Lazarus back to life.

It will be solved only by entering death himself and overcoming it.


The irony is that a symbol of death at its worst - the cross, is now a symbol of love at its best!


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