This
gospel continues to suck me in, to show me new things...and that I am loving.
I’m at a conference this week, so my thoughts are brief....
1)
“Doubting Thomas” shows a different side here—“Let’s go so we can die with
him!” I guess the moniker may be a bit misleading.
2)
Resurrection—it only happens if one dies. So, while we get all excited about
the new life that Jesus brings, we must remember that we have to go through a
death before we find new life.
The
writer is quiet on the circumstances of Lazarus’ death. Why did he die? How did
he die? We do know that Jesus got word that Lazarus was sick. What kind of
sickness? In that time and place, the flu was deadly...much more so than today.
Perhaps ‘sick’ was simply, “Something is wrong...we don’t know what...but he’s
going downhill.” Whatever it was, it wasn’t a sudden death—like from an accident
of some kind. Rather, he died over several days. Perhaps there was pain.
Perhaps there were breathing problems. Perhaps he was in and out of
consciousness. No matter what, death was not easy. Lazarus may have been aware
up to the end. If he wasn’t, Martha and Mary were very aware as they watched
their brother slip out of this world. This was hard. This was heart-breaking.
It was death.
Yet, without the process of death, there could be no
resurrection. Sometimes, I think we enjoy focusing on the end, the happy
ending, but we must think about the death first. This segues beautifully with
the Lenten season. Lent is all about dying...to self, to sin. We must die.
Then, we can live. Then, we can know resurrection.
This
passage goes a lot of places—the conversation with his disciples, the
conversations with Martha and then Mary, and the outpouring of Jesus feelings
(though, I'm not entirely sure what he is crying about....) In any case, it all
ends with resurrection.
Are
we willing to die or let something die? Are we willing to die to self? Once
something dies, resurrection is possible. We are celebrating “Renewal Sunday”
this week in our congregation—a time for folks to declare their faith in Jesus,
to renew their Christian walk, to come for baptism. So, this passage speaks a
message we need to hear—Jesus resurrects our lives...even after we’re good and
dead.
Happy
Preaching!
(Go HERE to read my intro to this series.)
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