Lent
John 11:17–53
17Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "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?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
Just like us, the disciples showed how weak their faith really was. First, they told Jesus he shouldn't go to Bethany, because the Jews were seeking to stone him. When Jesus told them that Lazarus was ill and had fallen asleep, they then told him not to go because Lazarus would need his rest to get well. After how many times Jesus had healed the sick? Even after two times that he had raised the dead? They still didn't get it! It's amazing that Jesus even put up with people of such weak faith. It's amazing that Jesus puts up with us!
When Jesus got to Bethany, Mary and Martha both said, "Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died."
They thought they knew what was best and were accusing Jesus for having fumbled the ball. How often we think we know what's best instead of listening to what God says.
Then Jesus, too, wept. Everyone saw it and said, "See how he loved him!" Jesus had already raised two people from the dead: The daughter of Jairus and the widow's son. But this time it was more work. This time he wept. This time he cried out in a loud voice to his Father in prayer. This time the smell was nauseating. This time instead of a quiet command to arise, or merely touching the casket, Jesus had to shout at the dead man, "Lazarus, come out." And when the dead man came out he was wrapped in burial clothes, strips of cloth like a mummy. He was tangled up. Jesus' disciples had to unwrap him.
What is the meaning of this? This miracle was really a sermon by Jesus. He said that Lazarus had died "for the glory of God" and "that the disciples might believe." There is a lesson in this for all of us.
Lazarus signifies all of us who are entangled in sin. As he was entangled in the burial cloths, we are wrapped up in sin. He was dead and after four days, he stank. Lazarus represents those who have over the years drifted into a habit of sinning until their sinful life becomes their very nature. Those who know nothing but sin; who stink and are buried in sin. Those who our secular society calls "addicted" to sin. Notice today that people don't commit adultery, rather they are "sex addicts." People don't follow the god of mammon, rather they are "shop-a-holics." They don't lust, rather they are "addicted to pornography," or they are "addicted to gambling," "addicted to on-line gaming" and so forth. When secular society calls sin an "addiction," it just illustrates the fact that sin, left unchecked in our lives, will take control of our lives. It takes over, just as much as drugs or alcohol. Even a believer, if he allows sin into his life and stops resisting it, the sin will take over. You will die and become stinky to God.
It takes a lot of work to save such people. It takes a lot to save you and me. Jesus wept. Jesus prayed to his Father. Jesus called out in a loud voice. Jesus had to unwrap him.
The psalm says: "There is none that does good...they have all become corrupt and sinners." (Ps 14) Did God not say in another Psalm that in "God's sight the sinner is scorned?" (Ps 5:5) Does God not say that he "loves righteousness and hates wickedness." Does not God cast into eternal damnation all who sin and turn away from righteousness?
Comfort yourself with Christ saying, "I came not for the sake of the righteous, but to make righteous what is unrighteous and sinful, and to lead the sinners to repentance." He also says, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." The whole human race is worthy of hatred; we are all devils. Yet Christ loved us. For if he had not loved us he would not have descended from heaven. Just as the people said when Jesus wept, "See how much he loved him."
So here we find Jesus calling the man who is dead and stinky back to life. We see Jesus untangling him from his corruption. So too, he calls us to life and untangles us from the sin that we are trapped in. Christ came down from heaven and loved sinners in obedience to the Father.
When we know and consider this, there springs up in us a bold approach to Christ. This gives us a firm hope in Christ. For Christ is the resurrection and the life. Christ is our access to the Father. "In him we have access in the Spirit to the Father." (Ep 2:18). He is the "way to the Father," (Jn 14:6), he is the "door of the sheep." (Jn 10:7) Now we see that there is no shorter way to the Father except that we love Christ, hope and trust in him, and boldly look to him for everything good. Learn to know and praise him. For then it will be impossible that you should have a miserable, frightened, dejected conscience. In Christ you will be heartened and refreshed.
The Scriptures say that the wicked shall perish and be driven away like dust (Ps 1:4,6). Therefore the sinners flee and know not where to go; for when the conscience does not hope and trust in God it cowers and trembles before the purity and righteousness of God. It can have no sweet assurance. It flees and has nowhere to go until it catches hold of Christ, the true door and anchor.
The raising of Lazarus shows us how kindly, sweetly and lovingly Christ has dealt with you and me. It tastes sweet to the faithful soul and it gives all the glory, praise and honor to the Father. Jesus is the bridge to the Father; he is that path that does not lead astray. For the Father commanded him to do so.
Christ says, "Everything that my Father command me, I do," (Jn 14:31). And "I thank thee dear Father, that thou hearest me always; not for my sake, but for the sake of those who are standing here, that they may believe that thou didst send me." (Jn 11:41-42) As if to say, "If they see my love and my works, and that thou are effecting them, and that thou hast commanded me to do them, then they will be at one with thee and know thee through me and my works."
The reason Christ loves sinners is that his Father commanded him to do so. For in Christ the Father pours himself out in his grace, (John 3:16) that we freely hope in Christ and trust him unafraid. And Christ does everything the Father commands him to do.
In this gospel lesson we learn how kindly Christ deals with us. See how kindly he draws our hearts to himself. He loved Lazarus who was a sinner. Then we should love him and avoid sinning. Jesus tolerated the timid faith of his disciples and of Mary and Martha. They were earthly so that they were unable to refrain from weeping. From this we learn that we are all in unbelief and sin, but then we see how kindly the Lord deals with them, and we learn how kindly he deals with us. He prays for us and weeps with us, and all this at the command of the Father.
So though every one of us is a devil, in Christ we are holy. This gospel is nothing but the sweetness of Christ in his obedience to the Father. He bestows nothing to us on account of our merit, but on account of the Father's love. From this raising of Lazarus we learn how Christ loves us, even though he might justly be angry, and that we should also love our brothers.
So, when the devil assaults with temptation say this, "Yea, even though I have done nothing that is good, nevertheless I will not despair, for he always deals with men sweetly."
Jesus is our resurrection and our life. Even though we are dead in sin, he came into the world on account of love to make us alive. He shouts out to us to come out of our tombs, repent of our sin, receive forgiveness in Baptism, nurture our faith and love in Holy Communion. He unties us from the entanglements of sin and on the last day he will raise this mortal body and puts on us an eternal body free from corruption and death. All sin, all tears, all death will be wiped away forever.
Amen.