Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on March 9, 2008
(Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Ezekiel 37:1-3(4-10)11-14
Psalm 130
Romans 6:16-23
John 11:(1-17)18-44

There are so many things to discuss in this week’s Gospel that I could easily preach for twenty to thirty minutes. And since Jeff C. isn’t here this Sunday, I could possibly get away with it, too. But I won’t. In fact, since I read the Exhortation, I will actually try to keep this short.

If Jesus Christ is the most pivotal point in the history of the world, and he is, then Lazarus was the luckiest man in the world! Why? Because he was the only person ever to see the way it was, the way it is, and the way that it will be. So what’s so lucky about that? We all have experienced the past, present, and future in our lives as one minute rolls into the next.

But for Lazarus, it’s more than that because he gets to die twice! And not only does he die twice but in doing so he is the living example of God’s plan of salvation.

Last week in Bible study, we were discussing the depths of Jesus’ emotions as mentioned in this passage of John; “He was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” “Jesus began to weep.” “Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.” These statements truly depict the humanity of Jesus. As a group, we began to wonder why he was weeping and one person shared with us something they had read, and I hope I understood this correctly. It was suggested that Jesus was weeping because he was saddened that he had to bring Lazarus back from where he was, which was a better place, and I took that as an implication that Lazarus was in heaven.

Now I kind of liked that sentiment. There is nothing in scripture to suggest that this was so but it had a nice ring to it. So I kept thinking about it through the week. But the more I thought it through the more I had to disagree with the idea, no offense to whoever wrote it or to the person who brought it up. The reason I disagree with the idea is because Jesus had not yet completed his mission. Salvation was not guaranteed yet because Jesus had not died on the cross to atone for the sins of the world. Therefore, when Lazarus died, even though he believed in Jesus, nonetheless he still went to the abode of the dead and was separated from God. Now to be sure, under this logic, he was soon going to be in paradise with Jesus after Jesus died, descended to the dead and rose again but for now he was in that nondescript place outside of God’s presence.

So when Jesus said to Martha that, “those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,” he was talking about people in the same condition as Lazarus. Even though Lazarus is separated from God, he will experience new life in Christ because of his belief in Jesus. And to give everybody a foretaste of the new life that he was offering he illustrates the idea in reality by raising Lazarus to life again.

Now Lazarus is not being resurrected. He is not being given a new body as we are told in the hope of the final resurrection. In fact, poor Lazarus is not in very good condition. He has been dead for four days with all that that entails. His flesh has started to decay and there is already a stench. And he will die again in the future. But it will not take place until after Jesus has died on the cross. So the implication is that when he dies the second time, he will not be separated from God but will be in paradise with Jesus, which illustrates the second half of the statement that Jesus made to Martha, “everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

Jesus’ whole ministry on earth was to show us what it is that God had intended for us before we disobeyed. Part of his mission was to introduce us to the kingdom of God; that which awaits us when we leave this world as well as that which we can live into while still in this world. The other part of his mission was to die as one of us, taking on the burden of all our disobedience, and shedding his own blood in atonement in order for us to attain entrance into God’s kingdom.

And that’s why I believe that Lazarus was the luckiest man in the world. He was the one person who had the capacity to fully understand Jesus’ mission because he knew the anxiety firsthand of being separated from God if only for a few days. In being given his life back he knew what it was like to be delivered from the bonds of physical death. Plus he was given the opportunity to witness the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord; that pivotal point in history at which time the concept of life and death was changed forever. And through that life-changing experience, when his body once again gave out, he knew that this time he would be able to enter into God’s kingdom in restful peace.

So I would suggest that Jesus wept at the grave of his friend because he had heard his cry from the depths, and he felt compassion for having allowed Lazarus to be separated from God in death, even for a short time, because he knew that Lazarus believed in him. But sometimes difficult things are required of us in order to remain obedient unto God. And both Jesus and Lazarus are living examples for us to follow. Gloria Patri