Sunday
04/02/17 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “The shortest verse of scripture”
Old Testament
Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14
New Testament
Scripture: Romans 8:6-11
Gospel Lesson:
John 11:1-45
My friends, my brothers and sisters, welcome again on this
the Fifth Sunday in this season of Holy Lent. This season where we are called
to prepare our hearts, our minds, and our souls for the coming crucifixion of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Next Sunday, we will celebrate Palm Sunday, with the waving
of Palm branches to the shouts of “Hosanna”. The season of Holy Lent will then continue
through Saturday, or the day before Easter Sunday. I hope and pray that this
season in the life of the church has been a time of renewal and a time of growing
closer to Jesus Christ, for both you and for your family.
With this said, this morning I am going to talk about the
shortest verse of scripture in the entire Bible. When I say the shortest verse
of scripture, I don’t mean the shortest book of the Bible, or even the shortest
chapter. I mean, the shortest single verse of scripture. For example, John 3:16
is one singular verse of scripture.
Does anyone here this morning know what the shortest verse
of scripture in the entire Bible is?
Generally speaking, the shortest verse in the entire Bible
is John 11:35, which says, “Jesus began to weep” (Jn. 11:35, NRSV). Now the
verse that I just read to you is from the New Revised Standard Version translation.
Let me read to you though what John 11:35 says from the New King James Version.
In the New King James Version it says, “Jesus
wept” (Jn. 11:35, NKJV). In the New International Version, or what we sometimes
refer to as the “NIV,” it also says, “Jesus wept” (Jn. 11:35, NIV).
Depending on your Bible translation
there is one other verse of scripture that is sometimes a tie with John 11:35
for it shortness. This scripture is 1 Thessalonians 5:16 that says in the New
Revised Standard Version, “Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16, NRSV). Some other
translations might also vary in length on this verse, but to be fair there are
two verses that rival each other for the shortest verses in the Bible.
In preaching this morning about the
shortest verse in the Bible however, my intention wasn’t to just have a history
lesson about the shortest verse in the Bible, but rather on this Fifth Sunday
in Lent to discuss the significance of this the shortest verse of the Bible.
This verse once again is John 11:35, that says “Jesus wept” (Jn. 11:35, NKJV).
You see, since the time that Jesus
walked the earth almost two-thousand years ago, much of human kind has been
fascinated by him or curious about him. The things he said, the things he did,
and the claims that he made. Jesus is arguably the most famous figure in the
history of the world.
Jesus also made some great claims about who he was. For
example, Jesus Christ said of his Lordship in the gospel of John 14:6, Jesus
said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6, NRSV).
In the gospel of John 1:14 it says of
Jesus Christ, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen
his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14, NRSV). This means
that God was made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians
2:9 of Jesus Christ, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”
(Col. 2:9, NRSV). This means that the Apostle Paul is saying that Jesus Christ
was no mere man, but that he was fully God and fully human.
In fact, Jesus Christ himself says in John
14:9b, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”. (Jn. 14:9b, NRSV).
I have given you these scriptural
examples to reinforce that the majority of the early Christians and the
majority of Christians for the last two-thousands have believed that Jesus
Christ wasn’t just a man, but was also fully God.
Every year then on Good Friday, we
remember and reflect on how Jesus Christ, the fullness of God and fullness of a
man, died on a cross for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. By our
natures we tend to be broken and sinful, and only God can reconcile us to our
sinful nature. Specifically, God took on flesh in the name of Jesus Christ,
lived a sinless life, came to seek and save the lost, and die for our sins.
Through the forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ, we can be reconciled to God,
and we can be forgiven.
Yet this morning, my sermon, as I said,
is about John 11:35 that says, “Jesus wept” (Jn. 11:35, NKJV). While the
historical Christian belief is that Jesus was divine, or fully God, he was also
fully human.
As humans we experience suffering, we
sometimes cry, we sometimes have great joy. As humans we have days that we wish
would never end, and we have days that we feel like we should have never gotten
out of bed.
What makes the Christian faith so
powerful to me and many, is that not only did God create the heavens and the
earth. Not only does God come to us in the form of the Holy Spirit, but God psychically
and bodily came amongst us in the form of Jesus Christ. This is what makes our
Christian faith so powerful, is that we make the claim that God came amongst
us, wrapped in flesh, and experienced what we experience.
The God man, Jesus Christ experienced
thirst, hunger, pain, joy, exhaustion, worry, and etc. This morning, Jesus Christ,
the God man, our savior, weeps. God in the flesh cries, with tears likely
falling all over his cheeks. The magnitude of who Jesus Christ is to me and to
so many, especially in this season of Holy Lent cannot be greater.
This is the same Jesus who had righteous
anger at the temple, when people were cheating people as money changers, or
selling animals to sacrifice at a premium. Jesus flipped the tables and
displayed righteous anger. He was God, but was also human.
Jesus is the person of God who was
among us, who experienced what we do, and on this day, who wept with us. For I believe
my sisters and brothers that when we suffer, that God suffers with us.
Jesus Christ also came to earth to
give us life, love, and light. The Book of Ezekiel reading from this morning
talks about dry bones having new life. Jesus came and comes still to bring new
life to dry bones. He came to be with us, and give us new life.
While Jesus was God in the flesh, the
Apostle Paul encourages us in Romans 8:6-11 to no be focused on our flesh, but
to be instead be focused on God, on the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul tell us
that in the flesh is death, “but to see the mind on the Spirit is life and
peace” (Rom. 8:6, NRSV).
For many of us then as Christians we
have a perpetual struggle between our flesh and our souls. For so many of us we
so often look at the world, when we should be looking to heaven. Who better
then to understand our human condition than Jesus Christ, who came into our human
condition? He endured what we do, he lived as we do, and he gets it. This is
what makes Jesus Christ so wonderful, and part of what qualifies him to be our
all sufficient Lord and Savior.
In our lengthy gospel of John reading
for this morning, we have one of the many Biblical miracles attributed to Jesus
Christ. In this gospel story, a man named “Lazarus of Bethany,” the brother of
Mary and Martha was very sick.
When Jesus received this news of
Lazarus’ illness though, he said of sick Lazarus, “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” (Jn. 11:4, NRSV).
The gospel then says that Jesus
remained where he was for another two days, and during this time Lazarus had died
(Jn. 11:7-14, NRSV). Jesus was about 18-miles away from Bethany, where Lazarus
was. Even though Lazarus had died, Jesus had told his disciples that Lazarus
was sleeping, but that he would awaken him (Jn. 11:7-14, NRSV).
The gospel goes on to say, “When Jesus
arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days” (Jn.
11:17, NRSV). Some people struggle with this gospel story as they wonder why
Jesus would let Lazarus die. Jesus said that he would raise Lazarus so that
people might have faith in him, but Lazarus’s death was still painful for many.
How painful, when Jesus arrives he
finds great grieving and sadness over the death of Lazarus. In fact Lazarus’
sister Martha went to Jesus and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you
ask of him. Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again” (Jn. 11:19-23,
NRSV).
Martha, Lazarus’s sister then responds
to Jesus by saying of Lazarus, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection
on the last day” (Jn. 11:24, NRSV). Jesus then said, “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” (Jn. 11:25-26, NRSV). Martha then
agreed with Jesus about what he said about himself, and after this, Martha went
and told her sister Mary what Jesus had said (Jn. 11:27-28, NRSV).
When Mary then came to see Jesus, who grieving
heavily, the gospel says that “She knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if
you have been here, my brother would have not died” (Jn. 11:29-32, NRSV).
The gospel then says, “When Jesus saw
her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly
disturbed in spirit and deeply moved” (Jn. 11:33, NRSV). You see brothers and
sisters, Jesus gets it, and he gets us.
Jesus then says of Lazarus, “Where
have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see” (Jn. 11:34, NRSV).
The next verse of scripture, based on
your translation of the Bible is the shortest verse of scripture. In John 11:35
is says, “Jesus began to weep,” or “Jesus wept” (Jn. 11:35, NRSV, NKJV). Jesus
Christ, the savior of the world, who was fully God and fully man, saw the suffering
Mary and others. So moved by this was the savior that he “wept” (Jn. 11:35,
NRSV).
This is powerful for me, as it shows
me that the Jesus Christ that I follow isn’t just divine, but was also human as
we are. The Jesus we love and follow is acquainted with our human condition,
and because of this, Jesus Christ knows what suffering us. Jesus suffers with
us when we suffer. Jesus is for us.
Many of us know the rest of this
story, as Jesus ordered the stone moved away from Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus prayed
that Lazarus would be raised from the dead, so that we might believe in him.
Jesus then he ordered Lazarus to be raised (Jn. 11:38-43, NRSV).
The gospel then ends with Lazarus being raised from the dead,
being unbound from his body wrappings, and many believed in Jesus as a result
of this (Jn. 11:44-45, NRSV).
To me, this is a powerful story of the
power of God, the power of faith, and of who Jesus Christ was and is. In addition
to this, I am drawn to the shortest verse of scripture, because to me it shows me
much more, how human Jesus was. That Jesus was amongst us that suffered with
us, and that on Good Friday he suffered for us.
I believe my sisters and brothers that
in our suffering that God is with us, and that Jesus Christ knows and
understands our suffering. As the church, we are also called to walk to together,
to laugh together, and to suffer together, as this is what Jesus Christ, the
savior of the world modeled to us.
May we seek him this day and always. May we also be with each
other, when we weep, when we laugh, and when we hurt, for this is what Jesus
our Lord taught us all. Amen.
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