TEARS

[A friend of mine recently asked me about a sermon I preached during Lent.  His college-aged son lost a close friend from high school to leukemia this week.  He asked me to post this sermon on my blog.  This blog is for him and everyone else who faces death today - either literally or figuratively]

Preached:  Fifth Sunday of Lent

Sunday, Sunday, April 6, 2014

John 11:1-44

Mary and Martha choose to move towards death

I learned a profound theological lesson from a cancer surgeon.  In the first few weeks after my dad’s kidney cancer diagnosis we did what all new cancer patients do – we sought second opinions.  We traveled to the premier cancer center in Charleston associated with the Medical University of SC for an appointment with its top cancer surgeon.  We carried a large manila envelope with dad’s x-rays and cat scans.  These images held the truth of dad’s disease.

The surgeon invited us into a conference room, turned off the lights and placed the images onto a large light board.  One after another, he slowly looked with practice attention at each image.  One after enough, we watched and we hoped.  Finally, he began to explain the scope and seriousness of the invasive tumor filling dad’s torso.  With a hand on my dad’s shoulder, he drew a breath and concluded with these words I’ve never forgotten.

“Mr. Spivey, everyone is dying.  You just know what is killing you.”

From the time that we utter our first loud wail at our mother’s side to the time we extinguish our last feeble breathe we are in the process of dying.  Death hangs over all of us like a dark shadow.

            Death hangs over the story of Lazarus in John 11 like the stench of a man dead for four days.

            From the moment John introduces us to an ill and dying Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha – we sense the shadow and foreboding of death.  The sisters send their friend Jesus a message informing him of the illness.  We sense the unspoken urgency and fear.  Jesus, sensing it too, delays leaving for 2 days – informing his disciples cryptically – “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory.”

            When Jesus decides to finally leave for Bethany, death seems awfully close at hand.  The disciples warn Jesus that there are people who want him dead, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 

            When Jesus informs his disciples that Lazarus has died, the cloud of death grows even thicker – Thomas says to the all of the disciples ominously, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

            When Jesus arrives in Bethany – Martha leaves her sisters and the other mourners at their home and confronts Jesus out in the road outside the village.  She voices the statement those who knew Jesus were surely thinking - “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Between the lines you hear - “Jesus, you are a healer.  I have seen you heal the blind and the lame on the side of the road.  I have seen you heal children just with the mere faith of her father.  I have even seen people healed by the simple touch of your garment.  Lazarus is your friend and you could not get here in time to heal him?  Now, look, he is dead 4 days.  What now?”

            Yet – Martha still trusts Jesus even when she doesn’t understand, “But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”  Martha can’t rule Jesus out.  She believes he is the Messiah.  “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”  Even with this affirmation – death still lingers.

            The same is true for Mary.  We find Mary overwhelmed by grief, surrounded by friends who have come to mourn and grieve with her.  If she lived around here – there would be quite a few pound cakes and fried chicken boxes on the kitchen table and friends rushing around the house cleaning and washing dishes. 

            Mary loves Jesus.  She trusts him.  Yet, when Martha fights her way through the mourners to catch Mary privately and let her know that Jesus has arrived, Mary has the same statement of confusion.  You can see the red checks and disheveled hair and wet eyes as she kneels at the feet of Jesus and says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

            Mary and Martha know Jesus as well as anyone.  They heard him teach in their home.  They saw him heal.  Yet, when death invades their lives, they choose to move towards death.  They struggle to find hope.  Death has robbed them of life.

            This catches Jesus off guard.  If anyone knew of the hope that Jesus offered – hope greater than even death – it should have been Mary and Martha.  Instead – death wins. 

            Seeing Mary and Martha overwhelmed by death moves Jesus greatly.  V. 33 says – “he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.”  And famously in v. 35:  Jesus wept.  He begins to cry. 

Often, we interpret Jesus’ tears with his empathy with Mary and Martha’s deep grief.  John Chrysostom, an early church father, interrupted Jesus’s tears differently.  Rather than sadness, he says, Jesus was angry and disturbed because of the evidence of the power of death in the world.  Jesus delayed his trip so that the glory of God could be revealed.  As he stands with Mary and Martha, he witnesses the true power death has over all of our lives. 

Mary and Martha stand before the tomb of Lazarus surrounded by friends.  Everyone’s eyes are wet with tears.  Wailing fills the sky.  Death – even for those close to Jesus – is overwhelming – and Jesus weeps.  Death is a formidable enemy.  Even as Jesus commands the stone to be removed from the tomb, Martha pipes up – “Jesus, he’s been dead 4 days.  The body smells.  What are you thinking?”

Notice in this story how much Jesus lingers before the miracle at the tomb.  He lingers two days before the trip.  He lingers outside the village.  He lingers at the tomb.  John wants us to feel the burden and power of death.  John does not want us to take resurrection and life for granted.  Resurrection is no quick fix.  It does not come easily.   

We choose to move towards death

            For folks who know this story – and the story it foreshadows – we too often follow Mary and Martha and choose to move towards death as well.  When we move toward death – we step away from life. 

We step away from life when we ignore death as a reality.  We forget the old adage from Benjamin Franklin:  “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”  We put our heads in the sand and live life with no purpose and no goals.  By ignoring death, we make the lives we live trivial, something to be survived rather than truly lived. 

We step away from life when we focus only on the outward parts of our lives.  Our culture tells us that we shouldn’t grow old, we shouldn’t age, our social standing and our belongings are more important than our inner life.   So, we fight the wrinkles with creams and surgeries.  We resist aging and forgot the wisdom that comes with the years.  We buy as many toys as possible.

We step away from life when we make death into a euphemism.  We deny death’s power and its pain when we talk around death rather than living through it.  Our friends have passed away, passed over, fallen asleep, expired, resting in peace, kicked the bucket, in a better place, belly up, checked out, gone to meet their maker, snuffed out, bumped off, checked out – but rarely have died.   Even Jesus has to speak clearly with his disciples when they miss the reality of Lazarus’ situation – He is not asleep - Lazarus is dead!  By denying death’s power, we give it more power over us.

            We step away from life when we let circumstances control us rather than allowing God to work within those circumstances.   We forget God transforms our circumstances and instead allow these events in our lives drive us to depression, fear, and loneliness.   

Let me just say – I understand – all of these responses to death.  Stepping away from life is easier than facing death.  The fear of death can usher us into some dark places. 

            This week I heard a call in radio show where a woman called in for help.  The mother of three was pregnant with twins when she went into labor.  Something happened during the birth and only one child lived.  She called in desperate and afraid.  She described how the loss of this child had destroyed her life and broken her faith in God.  The power of death had descended over her and she had stepped away from life.  She couldn’t see the 4 gifts of life living under her roof or the beauty of a husband standing beside her.       

            When we step away from life – when we choose to move towards death – we miss the eternal life Jesus gives to us. 

Jesus gives life to Lazarus

            While death hangs over the story of Lazarus – the eternal, resurrection life of Jesus stands at the core of the story. 

            From the very beginning of the story, Jesus tells any who will listen what is really happening here:  “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

            When Jesus meets Martha outside Bethany on the road, he tells her exactly what is happening – but she misses it – such is the power of death in her life.  Jesus tells her plainly - “Your brother will rise again.”  Martha misses the plain intent and makes this statement into a reference to the ongoing theological discussions happening between the Pharisees – who believed in a life after death – a resurrection – and the Sadducees – who did not. 

            You can almost see Jesus shaking his head as Martha makes this statement.  Then – Jesus makes an identity statement similar to the others in the book of John.  This is the main purpose of the whole chapter.  “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

This is not a story about death – this is a story about life.  Resurrected, eternal life.  Jesus is just the only one who sees it. 

When the power of death seems to be complete control of everyone around him – Jesus steps forward at the grave and with authority – declares God’s power over death.   He looks at the tomb carved into the side of the mountain and says “roll away the stone. “

“Wait,” Martha challenges, “what about the smell.  He’s been dead 4 days.”

            Jesus looks over at her – and says, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

            Then, he looks to heaven and prays – “Father, I thank you for having heard me.”

            And with a loud voice – Jesus commands with ultimate authority – “Lazarus, come out!” Jesus gives life to Lazarus.  He destroys the power of death in our lives.

            And the dead man exits the tomb, like a mummy walking – he stumbles, and falters – and he lives!

            Eugene O'Neill, the famous play write, in his play Lazarus Laughed, has an eyewitness describe what happens next this way: 

            “I helped to pry away the stone so I was right beside him. I found myself kneeling, but between my fingers I watched Jesus and Lazarus. Jesus looked into his face for what seemed a long time and suddenly Lazarus said "Yes" as if he were answering a question in Jesus' eyes.

Then Jesus smiled sadly but with tenderness, as one who from a distance of years of sorrow remembers happiness. And then Lazarus knelt and kissed Jesus' feet and both of them smiled and Jesus blessed him and called him "My Brother" and went away; and Lazarus, looking after Him, began to laugh softly like a man in love with God! Such a laugh I never heard! It made my ears drunk! It was like wine! And though I was half-dead with fright I found myself laughing, too!

            With a choice between death and life – Lazarus said yes to life and laughed from the core of his being.

Jesus gives life to us

            Jesus invites us to laugh as well.  Jesus is still performing miracles in our lives too – Jesus gives life to us too!

            Eternal life is not something that happens when we die – eternal life happens in the here and the now.  Eternal life is ours for the taking if we will only say, “yes!”

            One of my Baptist heroes was a man by the name of Dr. Bill Hull.  Dr. Hull served as the Samford provost during my years in Birmingham and was my pastor for a year.  If I could only preach with a 10^th of the ability of Dr. Hull I would be grateful.  6 or so years ago, Dr. Hull was diagnosed with ALS – Lou Gehrig’s disease.  He died last December.  Between his diagnosis and death, Dr. Hull said yes to the life Jesus gives us and taught us all how to live and how to die. 

            As the disease slowly took every muscle of his body, Dr. Hull continued to write:  first, his legs, and then his body, and then his arms, but never his mind.  By the end, his family would set up him up in a chair, place a pen in his hand and he continued to write.  Life was too precious – to eternal - to be wasted away. 

            When asked about his dying- Dr. Hull responded – “If I think of what I have to live for – if I were to use this to become relentlessly selfish, it would deny something bigger than myself.  Call it the Spirit of God.  Call it Christian commitment.”  Dr. Hull looked into the eyes of Jesus and said, “yes” to life. 

            Are you ready to stop stepping away from life?  Are you ready to allow Jesus to restore you to true life, real life, eternal life?  Jesus stands before you today – with the smell of death hanging over you – and calls you by name.

            “Eric – come out!”  It’s time to live.  It’s time to dance.  It’s time to laugh.  Come laugh with me.  Say, Yes!  Say, yes!  Say, yes – to eternal, everlasting, true, beautiful life!  There’s no better time to start than now.  There’s no better place than here!  Amen!