Dying
for a New Life
The candles are lit.
We remember those who have passed before us; some old and some
young. Causes of death varied like their
ages. Today we remember their lives as
we continue in our own journeys, acknowledging that it is a matter of time
before we too are remembered as Saints.
I want you to imagine the following event. Close your eyes if it helps you imagine…but
please stay focused as to not start snoring.
He walked along the
roadside with them. They were talking
amongst one another as he thought about the approaching experience with a heavy
heart. How will they react to his
delayed arrival? Will they blame him? In their anger and grief, will they hurl
insults at him as if He didn’t care?
He felt so alone. The others in his group were walking and
talking about the previous miracles and the reactions of the crowd. They were giving no thought to what lay
ahead. Yet he cared so deeply for them
and wished they could grasp the bigger picture.
As the group came near, Mary ran up
to him. He could see the pain in her
face, the grief in her movements. She
fell at his feet and stopped him in his tracks.
Heaving with sobs she looked up into his eyes and submitted, “If you had
been here, my brother would not have died.”
The rest of the group suddenly went
quiet as they realized what was going on.
They stared at him and Mary, struck by the deep sense of loss, humbled
in the moment, and didn’t utter a sound as they wondered what he would do.
He couldn’t stop the despair from
affecting him. Lazarus had been a close
friend and his death left a void in his heart too. He closed his eyes and kneeled over Mary as
his own tears and sobs began to flood out from heart-felt emotion. Deep sobbing between he and Mary, two friends
sharing the loss of a loved one.
Everyone around looked with
compassion. Yes even this man that they
proclaimed as the Son of God was grieving the loss of Lazarus. Wow! How
much he loved him. But if this Jesus
could give sight to the blind, couldn’t he have prevented Lazarus from
dying? Is he REALLY the Son of God?
After a few minutes, Jesus asked
her, ‘Where is he buried?’ Mary stood up, composed herself, and led him to the
cave entrance that was blocked by a large rock.
Jesus looked around at the people.
They grieved and yet watched in curiosity. He knew that they wondered what he would
do. But they had no idea what impossible
things were possible through him.
He turned toward the group of men
and motioned to them. “Remove the
stone.” The crowd gasped and Martha
protectively tried to stop him. “Jesus,
he has been dead in there for 4 days.
Don’t go in there now, the cave will stink.” But Jesus looked at her with compassion, “Let
me show you the glory of God.”
The men began moving the heavy
stone. They grunted and pushed as an
opening appeared. Quickly, the smell of
death spread over the crowd. Jesus
looked up toward heaven and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard
me. I knew that you always hear me, but
I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe
that you sent me.” Then Jesus looked
into the cave and yelled out, “Lazarus, come out!”
The men and women looked at each
other like he was a madman. What was he
doing? Has he lost his mind? Then suddenly they heard noises. It couldn’t be! How is this possible? LAZARUS walked out of the cave!?
“Remove his burial clothes. Let him go.”
The crowd was in shock, disbelief, and amazement. Lazarus was alive. There was no rational explanation. Jesus had resurrected the dead. The impossible, possible.
You can open your eyes
now. Poor Mary and Martha. They were going to have to experience
Lazarus’s death a second time in the future.
But in the moment, Jesus had done the unthinkable. What was hopeless, dead, and stinking…was not
too much for Jesus.
We are all going to die one day. It’s part of our human experience. But through our belief in who Jesus says he
is, he promises to bring us back to life forever. And not only life after our physical deaths,
but his promise provides us new life in the here and now, since we have nothing
to fear in death and hope beyond hope for what comes after it.
Today we live in the hope of Jesus’ promise that those
who have gone before us live in the glorious presence of God; and one day we
will join them in perfect unity. What an
awesome promise we have. Amen.