Sunday 04/06/14 Freeville/Homer Ave
UMC’s
Sermon Title: “He tells the dead to breathe”
Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Ezekiel 37:1-14
New Testament Scripture Lesson: Romans 8:6-11
Gospel Lesson: John 11:1-45
Brothers and sisters,
welcome again on this the Fifth Sunday in our Lenten Season. Holy Lent is the
season in our Christian calendar that we await the death and the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Given this, the Lenten Season is an invitation for
us to realize what Christ has done for us, and it is an opportunity to grow
closer Christ.
In this Lenten
Season then, let us seek to root out of ourselves all that separates us from
Jesus Christ. While some of us give up something for Lent, like chocolate,
coffee, or the internet, what if we gave up more than this, and what if we gave
it up for more than just forty-days? What if we gave up those things that bind
us, like anger, envy, greed, and jealousy? What if we gave up such things for
good? What if we use this time of Holy Lent as a purifying time, a time of
prayer, and a time to draw closer to Jesus Christ.
Instead of
making Lent a time of darkness then, what if we make Lent a time of light? What
if we can take the darkness and the coldness of the winter, and then realize
that new life that is springing up all around us? That Jesus Christ’s coming
resurrection is a call for us all to be “resurrected from within.” You see
while we await Jesus Christ’s resurrection in this season, Jesus offers us new
life in him.
This morning then, I want to talk a
little about the topic of resurrection. I am not speaking of two-Sundays from
now on Easter, when we will talk about Jesus Christ raising from the dead, I am
rather talking about a mere person, like you or I, being resurrected from the
dead. For our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is a savior that “tells the dead to
breathe.” While Jesus healed the sick, while he cleansed the lepers, while he
had power over the storm, and while he conquered life and death itself, he also
raised the dead. For “he tells the dead to breathe.”
In all of these ways, let us realize
in this season of Holy Lent, that there is power in the name of Jesus. That
through Jesus Christ, anything, and I mean anything is possible. Through Jesus
Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can continue towards holiness, and we
can continue to root out of ourselves all that is unholy and all that is impure.
Through Jesus Christ, we can have resurrection in our very souls.
When looking
at the reading from the prophet Ezekiel from this morning, in this scripture,
Ezekiel had a vision from God. Ezekiel tells us that in this vision, the Lord
and the spirit of the Lord set him down “in the middle of a valley,” that was “full
of bones,” and everything was dry. Then in this vision, the Lord caused “breath”
to enter the dry lifeless bones, and new life was created. The Lord then gave this
new life bodies, and all manner of things that they needed for life. Then the
Lord said to Ezekiel speaking of the valley of dry bones, “Mortal, these bones
are the whole house of Israel.” Then the Lord said speaking of Israel, they
say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.”
The Lord then told Ezekiel to tell the people of Israel, “I am going to open
your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring
you back to the land of Israel.” The Lord than says, “I will put my spirit
within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you
shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.”
In this
scripture from the Old Testament prophet of Ezekiel, the Lord gives him a
vision of new life, of resurrection, and of hope, for the then displaced and
scattered people of Israel. For with the Lord, death can be made into life,
hopelessness can turn to hope, as we serve a savior, who “tells the dead to
breathe.” We serve a savior that will very soon come up alive out of his own grave,
but in today’s gospel reading, Christ will breathe life into a dead person
named Lazarus. He will do this in the same way that the Lord spoke of breathing
life into dry and lifeless bones in the Book of the prophet Ezekiel.
You see with Christ then, there is no
death, only life. For in the song, “Save Your Life,” by the band the Newsboys,
it says, “if you surrender and you will live.” When we come to Christ then, we
will not taste spiritual death.
What is
certain for all of us in this earthly life though, is that we will experience
an earthly death, but not all will experience a spiritual death. For this
reason my brothers and sisters, Jesus gives us a choice every single day. This
choice is, that we can chose to die once or to die twice. For we will all die
once, which is the earthly death we must all experience. When we come to know
Jesus Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit however, we then die to
ourselves, we die to the sin and the vanity of this world, and in the depths of
our very souls, and we are resurrected to new spiritual life in Jesus Christ.
So as I said my brothers and sisters, we can choose to die once, or twice in
this life. I choose twice.
In the Apostle Paul’s Epistle or
letter to the church in Rome or the Romans from this morning, he says the church
in Rome, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but set the mind on the Spirit
is life and peace.” For when we focus on the dry bones and this world, we
surely have death, but when we focus on the Spirit and Jesus Christ, we will have
life eternal. We will die not once, but twice, and we live on spiritually in
eternity with the Lord.
The Apostle
Paul continues on by saying to the church in Rome, “the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and
those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” For if we live just for the
world, and just for our flesh, we will surely become dry and lifeless bones. The
Apostle Paul then tells the church in Rome, “But you are not in the flesh; you
are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.” The Apostle Paul
then concludes by saying, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your moral
bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” So through Jesus Christ,
through the Holy Spirit, you can have resurrection from within, and new life.
In this morning’s
gospel reading, Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus is very ill. Mary was the
same Mary of course that dumped the nard of Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her
hair. Since Lazarus was ill, Mary and Martha then sent a message to Jesus that
Lazarus was very ill, and asked if could come quick to heal him. Yet Jesus said
that, “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.” Jesus then stayed for another
two days where he was staying.
After these
two days, Jesus then told his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” Yet when
Jesus said this, the disciples were worried that Jesus would be attacked or
stoned if they returned there. Jesus said though, “Our friend Lazarus has
fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples then told
Jesus that if Lazarus was merely sleeping that he would be fine. Jesus then “told
them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”
By the time
that Jesus and disciples then arrived in Bethany where Lazarus was laid to
rest, Jesus “found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.” The
scripture then says, “Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away.”
Remember that Jesus will be crucified and resurrected in Jerusalem, as he is now
getting closer to the cross.
When Martha then
heard that Jesus was in Bethany, she went to him, and said, “Lord, if you had
been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus then says to Martha, “Your
brother will rise again.” Jesus then tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and
the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and
everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
Shortly after
this, Martha’s sister Mary then came to Jesus, she “knelt at his feet and said to
him, “Lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary and
the Jews that where with her were weeping and grieving the loss of Lazarus.
Jesus then said, “Where have you laid him?” “They said to him, “Lord, come and
see.” The gospel then says, “Jesus began to weep.”
When Jesus got
to the tomb, he asked for the stone to be rolled away from it. Martha then
said, “Lord, already there is a stench because he had been dead for days.”
Jesus then tells Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you see the
glory of God?” The stone was then rolled away. Jesus then prayed to the Father
and asked for his power, so that crowd gathered might believe in him, and then
he said, “Lazarus, come out!” At this point the gospel says, “The dead man came
out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a
cloth.” Jesus then said, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews who
were with Mary came to believe in Jesus Christ that day.
Brothers
and sisters, in this season of Holy Lent, let us remember that we serve a
savior that “tells the dead to breathe.” In him, we find resurrection, we find
new life, and we find eternal salvation.
I would like to
close this message this morning with one of my favorite stories called “Pearly Gates,” by author
unknown. Here is how the story goes: “A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course,
Saint Peter meets him at the pearly gates. Saint Peter says, “Here’s how it
works. You need one-hundred points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the
good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each
item, depending on how good it was. When you reach one-hundred points, you get
in.” “Okay,” the man says, “I was married to the same woman for 50 years and
never cheated on her, even in my heart.” “That’s wonderful,” says St. Peter,
“that’s worth three points!” “Three points?” he says. “Well, I attended church
all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service.” “Terrific!”
says St. Peter, “that’s certainly worth a point.” “One point? Golly. How about
this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless
veterans.” “Fantastic, that’s good for two more points,” he says. “TWO
POINTS!!” the man cries, “At this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the
grace of God!” Saint Peter then smiled, then opened the Pearly Gates and said, “Come
on in!”
Brothers and sisters, what
continues to amaze me as a pastor and as a young Christian, is just how much
the Lord loves us all. That he loves us so much, that we are offered spiritual
resurrection through our Lord Jesus Christ every day. Every day we are offered
eternity with Jesus Christ, if we but believe. If we receive the free gift of
God’s grace. For while Jesus is very soon coming to die for us all, and while
he will triumphantly be raised to new life on Easter Sunday, on this morning “He
tells the dead to breathe.” Let us then, let the Lord of life, the King of
Kings, breathe some life into us this morning. Amen.
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