Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 9, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
Raising the Dead, Arousing Faith, and Rousing the
Opposition (John 11:1-53)
Our text today is the account of the raising of
Lazarus, from John chapter 11. In this chapter Jesus
does three things: He raises the dead. He arouses
faith. And he rouses the opposition. Three things,
and what he does, he does for you.
The most obvious thing Jesus does is to raise a dead
man. Think about that. Jesus raises a dead man. Who
has ever heard of such a thing? The mans name was
Lazarus. He was a friend of Jesus and his disciples.
His sisters youve heard of, too. Mary and Martha.
They lived in a town called Bethany, just outside
Jerusalem. Jesus and the disciples often stayed there
when they came to Jerusalem; they stayed at the home
of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Well, now, it turns out
Lazarus was sick. Very sick, about to die. They send
word to Jesus. Obvious implication: Jesus, come
quickly. Jesus, come and help.
But for some reason, Jesus doesnt go as soon as he
hears of it. In fact, he purposely waits a couple of
days. Why? This illness does not lead to death. It
is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be
glorified through it. You see, this sickness would
not lead to death, in the sense that it would not end
in death. Death would not be the end of the story.
God will be glorified through this event. Gods Son,
Jesus himself, will be glorified through it.
So now Lazarus is dead. Jesus goes to Bethany. Four
days Lazarus has been dead now. No question about it.
No one can dispute that he was really dead. He was
not just unconscious or something. The body is
already starting to decay. Jesus goes to the tomb.
Theres a large stone laid across the entrance. Take
away the stone. Then Jesus calls in a loud voice,
Lazarus, come out! Its a good thing Jesus put his
name on there or else maybe all the dead bodies in
that graveyard would have come out! So powerful is
Jesus word. Lazarus, come out! Jesus word does
what it says, and so Lazarus does come out, looking a
little like the mummy in those movies, I suppose. But
this man is alive, his flesh is restored. Take off
the grave clothes! Life comes walking out of that
tomb. Life called forth by Jesus, the Son of God.
Lazarus, come out! Jesus is going to say that again
some day--only this time, with your name on it! And
the name of your loved one who has died in the Lord.
Grace, come out! Albert, come out! Wait, that
one he may say auf Deutsch: Albert, komm heraus!
Your brother, your daughter, your husband, your
wife--all those who die in the Lord, who die in
faith--Christ will raise their bodies from the dead at
the last day. Christ will raise your dead body when
he comes again at the last day. Take comfort in that!
Rejoice in that! Death is not the end. These mortal
bodies that we lay in the ground will be raised
immortal, glorified, no longer subject to death, whole
and restored, in an even better state than they ever
were before. The raising of Lazarus signals this. It
is a sign of the resurrection to come.
It is a sign of Christs own resurrection. He himself
would rise from the dead in just a short while. The
stone would be rolled away, but not by human hands.
The grave clothes would be left behind. Jesus himself
would rise from the dead, leading the way for us, from
death into life. He is the firstfruits of the
resurrection of the dead. First Jesus, and then all
of us.
So the most obvious thing Jesus does in this chapter
is to raise a man from the dead. In so doing, Jesus
is telling us today that he will raise us from the
dead, that he has power over death, that his mighty
word speaks life into our lifeless bodies. Lazarus,
come out!
Jesus raises the dead. The second thing Jesus does in
this chapter is to arouse faith. Faith in him. Jesus
says to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he
live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall
never die. Do you believe this?
Jesus calls forth faith from Martha. Not that she
didnt have it already. She did. She tells Jesus, I
know that my brother will rise again in the
resurrection on the last day. And thats true. That
is Marthas faith in what God had promised, even in
the Old Testament: the resurrection of the dead on
the last day. But Jesus leads her to see whats
standing right in front of her eyes, to make the
connection: the connection between the resurrection
on the last day and the one who is the resurrection,
there in front of her on that day. Jesus himself is
the resurrection and the life. Mr. Life is right
there. No need to wait till the last day. Jesus is
going to do the job right now.
To see the connection between Jesus and the
resurrection, between Jesus and life--that is what
faith is all about. That is what Jesus is leading
Martha--and Mary, and the disciples, and all the
people who were there that day--and us, all the people
who are here on this day--thats what Jesus is leading
us to see. That he, Jesus, is the resurrection and
the life. Put your faith in him, believe in him,
trust in him, for he is the one--the only one--who can
and will raise you up on the last day and give you
life here in these days and for all the days to come,
even life everlasting.
And notice that. The life that Jesus gives includes
the resurrection of the dead, the victory over death
and the grave. But it also includes life now. Jesus
weaves both of these together when he says, Whoever
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he
live--thats the resurrection from the dead--and then
he adds, and everyone who lives and believes in me
shall never die. Thats life now! You have that
everlasting life right now, you who believe in Christ.
You will never die. Not the Big Death, Death with a
capital D, which would separate you from God and his
love forever. No, that will never happen to you. For
you have eternal life right now. It started when you
died and were buried with Christ in Holy Baptism and
were raised to newness of life. And that life--which
you are walking in right now--that life with Christ
will never end. Jesus says, I am the resurrection
and the life.
Do you believe this? Martha answers, Yes, Lord; I
believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who
is coming into the world. So the question comes to
us also: Do you believe this? By Gods grace, we
too answer, Yes, Lord; I believe.
Jesus raises the dead. Jesus arouses faith. And the
third thing that Jesus does in this chapter is to
rouse the opposition. Thats the undercurrent in this
story, the rising tide of opposition to Jesus. His
enemies are being roused to action. This miraculous
sign, done right outside Jerusalem, is the last straw.
Jesus is a threat to their system, to the religious
industry they had built up for themselves. Hes a
threat to their power. Theyll have nothing more of
it.
The chief priests, the Pharisees--they call a meeting
of the Sanhedrin. What are we doing? Here is this
guy, doing all these things. We cant let him go on
like this. Too many people are going his way. Hes
stirring up too much trouble. The Romans may come in
and shut us all down. We dont want to risk losing
our power and position.
Caiaphas the high priest speaks up: Listen. Dont
you know that its better for you that one man should
die for the people than that the whole nation should
perish? Now what Caiaphas meant by that is that they
would knock off Jesus, get rid of him, rather than
risk bringing down the wrath of the Roman army. But
ironically, what Caiaphas was unwittingly,
unintentionally prophesying was that Jesus would die
as the substitute for the sins of the nation-indeed,
for the sins of the whole world, to gather into one
the children of God who are scattered abroad. What
Caiaphas said, he meant as, Lets kill Jesus. Better
him than all of us. Caiaphas meant it for evil. But
God meant it for good.
Now did Jesus know that going in? Did he know that
raising Lazarus would stir up such opposition? Of
course he did. The last time he was in Jerusalem they
tried to stone him. When Jesus got the news about
Lazarus and said he was going to go there, his
disciples objected, But Rabbi, a short while ago the
Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back
there? Yes, Jesus would go there, knowing what lay
in store for him.
Jesus is telling us today that he was willing to die
for our salvation. He willingly, knowingly, went into
that buzzsaw of opposition and hatred known as the
Jewish Sanhedrin. He would go to Jerusalem--he would
go to the cross--for you. It is better for you that
one man should die for the people than that the whole
nation should perish. Or to put it more directly:
For God so loved the world that he gave his
only-begotten Son that whosoever believes in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. Christ
died for all us scattered children of God, to bring us
together and make us one in him. Jesus knew what he
was doing when he roused up his opposition. He was
setting in motion the events which would soon lead to
his death.
You see, the sin-death connection had to be broken.
As long as sin remained unpaid for and unforgiven,
death would reign, the stone would remain, and weeping
would have the final word. But how to deal with all
the sin, which causes all the death? It would take
the death of the very Son of God to pay for it all.
Thats what Christ came to do, and it would take him
to the cross and his own tomb. But his death meant
the death of Death! For the sin-death connection was
broken! Sins forgiven, death vacated of its power!
That, my friends, that is why Jesus had to go to the
cross. Thats why he was willing to face the hatred
and plotting of Caiaphas and company.
In this account of the raising of Lazarus, we have
seen Jesus doing three things: First, he raised the
dead, by the power of his life-giving word. Lazarus,
come out. Second, he aroused faith in those who
witnessed this miraculous sign--in Martha, in the
disciples, and in the others. I am the resurrection
and the life, Jesus says, Whoever believes in me,
though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who
lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you
believe this? And the third thing Jesus did was to
rouse the opposition, knowing that he would so stir up
the hatred against him that they would seek to kill
him. In the ironic words of the high priests
unintentional prophecy, It is better for you that one
man should die for the people than that the whole
nation should perish.
So now take those three things Jesus did and apply
them to what he is doing here today: First, Jesus is
assuring you of the resurrection of the dead, for you
and for your loved ones who have died in the Lord.
Second, he is calling you to faith, to faith in him
who is the resurrection and the life. And third, by
facing such hostile opposition, Jesus is showing you
the full extent of his love, that he would willingly
go to the cross for your sake. Dear children of God,
all that Jesus does, here in the raising of Lazarus,
he does for you!
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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