In John 11, the terrible tyranny of death is on display. Death destroys
the happiness of families. It tears friendships apart. It opens wounds that
often can’t be healed in this lifetime. It strikes fear in hearts and minds of
all ages. Only fools welcome death as a friend. Death is an enemy. We have
each seen it take loved ones: perhaps little by little, or in an instant
accident. YOU have felt it. Death hurts. It is NOT natural. God did not
intend it in the Beginning.
By the time Jesus arrived, decomposition had too. Lazarus was gone.
‘Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust.’ In the full text, we know
Jesus weeps for Lazarus, for Mary, for Martha, for all the hurt that death
caused them; and all it causes you.
Christ, Who is the only Resurrection and the Life, gives the order to
remove the stone. Martha is like every other person there: grieving the hurts
of death.
Faith clings to God’s Word: in the midst of great suffering, poverty, and
loss. Faith clings to the Son of God. Faith may be as miniscule as a mustard
seed, even smaller. But it isn’t the strength of our faith, but God’s strength
that matters. We Christians have difficulty accepting God’s promise to
strengthen our faith in times of trouble. We want to believe WE are strong.
WE must do something, decide something, feel something. NO. Faith clings to
Christ’s work alone.
The struggles & suffering we endure serve God’s gracious purposes. Even
death. Yet those who die physically in faith will rise to eternal life. This
is why Christians use a Greek term for where we bury our dead. The word
cemetery means “sleeping place”. We know those who die in Christ are asleep to
the things of this world and alive, in heaven, with the Lord. The physical
body will be raised and reunited on the Last Day.
Death, one of the many consequences of sin, sooner or later takes all
people. It is in all parts of creation. No human can overcome it. Only God
can. Jesus Christ, Who is true God as well as true Man, came. He came to pay
our ransom price by willingly dying on the cross. This is why genuine
Christian hymns, songs, sermons, funerals, churches, and all the rest are
focused only on “Christ and Him crucified.” Christ’s blood is the life-blood
of His church AND every true Christian. Without His blood, your faith will
surely die.
We can comfort each other in Christ in every tragedy, and especially we
should do so at the loss of a loved one. All who believe in Christ’s full
payment for all sins have His promise of resurrection of the body and life
everlasting. We can, and do, sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. For
all in Christ: the separation is not forever. Reunion will be!
“Did I NOT tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
Jesus asks. He prays. Note His prayer. To the Father. He does not pray for
Martha, Mary, Lazarus, nor even Himself! He prays to the Father Who sent
salvation into the world in His Son, Jesus. “Father, I come to do Your will.”
Even as Jesus said earlier in John 5:19-20, “Truly, truly I say unto you,
the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever
He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and
shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works
than these, that you may marvel.”
Martha was convinced by God’s Word in the Old Testament that her brother
would rise again, but not until that Day. Her faith was there. Mary’s was
weak. She felt Jesus could heal, but no more. Jesus wept.
SO, the Voice that spoke creation into existence, the Voice that would
declare His “it is finished” salvation from the cross, the Voice that refutes
critics and reassures us “this is My body and blood… for you” speaks narrowly.
He says ONE name. Why? If Christ had NOT called just one name, ALL who
were in the graves would become alive. Again from John 5, “The Hour is coming
in which ALL who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth --- those
who have done good, to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil, to
the resurrection of condemnation.” THIS is Christ’s power on the Last Day.
Consider that Voice. Does it make sense? Can dry bones hear? A recently
dead person? ‘Not by our own reason or strength!’ Only God can make a person
who is physically or spiritually dead able to hear and obey. Lazarus didn’t
cooperate. Nor do we.
With the simple words, “Lazarus, come forth”, Jesus shows the glory of
God. He shows His power over death. Our God is not the God of the dead, but
of the living. He is the Living God. Apart from Jesus Christ, all should fear
death. But WITH faith in the Son of God, there is no hopelessness, fear, or
despair. In Christ, our future is not bleak, but bright; it is not terror, but
truth; it is not gloom, but joy!
This changes everything! The Son of God enters history to alter its
course of death. For those who reject God’s plan of salvation, it means fear:
fear that their systems of good morals or station in life are not enough; fear
they will lose status in fallen society; and fear that they are not gods.
Such were the fears of the priests and Pharisees. Much like atheists
today have a great fear there IS a God to Whom they must answer, rather than
themselves.
This is why self-righteous Pharisees and atheists of today (all allied
with Satan) want to twist Who Jesus Is and what He has done & get rid of Him;
AND you who follow Him. For different reasons, they all reject God’s grace.
They each discard the Lord’s compassion. They deny their Creator, and join all
in hell who deny God’s work of salvation in Christ. ‘Jesus died for those
Jews, but also to gather into one all the scattered children of God.’ As John
comments in 11:51-52.
You and I are preparing to celebrate Good Friday, the most important day
in all history. We confess our sins, both the Old Adam and godly actions we
fail to do or and ungodly ones we do. These make us totally unable to save
ourselves from hell, OR keep us out once we are saved. We prepare by believing
Christ alone completely won our rescue by His life, death, and resurrection.
It’s all about Christ FOR you.
Pharisees tried to kill Jesus on their timetable. Jesus laid down His
life on God’s timetable. They wanted to re-kill Lazarus since on account of
him many believed in Jesus (John 12:11). Those who hate Christ hate: you, His
friends, followers. They may succeed in killing Christ’s followers in the
first death; yet we shall rise and live forever in the Second Life. Those who
died in Christ Jesus are, right now: ‘with angels, archangels, and all the
company of heaven. Those who will not believe in Jesus Christ will suffer the
second death in hell forever.
Today, with faithful Martha, we confess: “I know that ____ and all
believers will rise again in the resurrection on the Last Day. And I will as
well. Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, Who has
come into the world. And I, along with all who believe in You, will see You
face to face forever.” Amen.
Pastor Michael Harman
St. Peter LCMS Newell, IA
vacancies at First Evangelical Lutheran of Fonda, Iowa
and Immanuel Lutheran Church of Pomeroy, Iowa
