Sunday
03/26/23 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Jesus Raised The Dead!” (“The Journey to the Empty Tomb” Series: Part 5 of 7)
Old Testament Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14
New Testament Scripture: Romans 8:6-11
Gospel Lesson:
John 11:1-45
The topic of death is a
challenging topic for many of us. Most of us don’t like to talk about this
topic, and many of us struggle even with the idea of death. I have always found
it interesting, for example, that in many of the funerals I have officiated,
how alive someone can look on the day of their own funeral. The casket is open,
and it looks as if the person who has passed away could literally just sit up at
any point. They looked like they were just sleeping.
In addition, there is the
real grief of death, and for some fear. People have asked me before, “Pastor
Paul are you afraid of death?” My answer is generally, “I am not afraid of
death, but the process of dying does not sound too exciting to me!” Death is a hard
reality. We lose pets, people, friends, etc. In the winter months it can seem
like death is all around us as the trees have dropped their leaves, and the
life of summer is far gone. As I have said many times, and as I have written in
some of our church newsletter articles, it never ceases to amaze me what
happens every year in the spring. What seemed like the cold, darkness, and
death of winter is renewed. God renews the earth every year, and new life is
all around us.
It is an odd combination
really, death and life. Sometimes life and death also seem to happen at the same
time, or close to each other. During my seven-months as a chaplain intern at
SUNY Upstate University Hospital, sometimes in the morning, I could be comforting,
grieving, and praying with a family that had lost a loved one. Yet by the afternoon,
I am sitting with a woman celebrating finally getting a clean bill of health.
This woman was full of life and it is like she was reborn. This was amazing to
me that this all happened within one day, but such is hospital chaplaincy.
In the scriptures we not
only hear about physical death, but we also hear about spiritual death. A
person can die and live forever in eternity, but a person can also be alive and
be dead inside. In the same way that Jesus healed a man born blind in our
gospel lesson from last Sunday, we can see the eyes in our heads, and we can
see with the eyes in our hearts and our souls.
Jesus came into this world
to, as he said in John 10:10b:
“I
came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10b, NRSV).
The life, mission, death, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ are all supposed to bring new hope, new life, new light, and new
love to the world.
I say all of this, because in the gospels
Jesus encountered people that were literally dead, as they died, and Jesus also
met people that were very much alive, but who were dead inside. Jesus
resurrected people that were spiritually dead. People that were lost, people
that were broken, people that were rejected by the world. Jesus offered new
hope, new life, and rebirth of spirit to many.
In our gospel of John lesson for this
morning, Jesus’s friend Lazarus died. Lazarus doesn’t die spiritually or inside,
but literally dies. Lazarus is entombed, and Jesus resurrects him not only physically
back to life, but no doubt resurrects him mind, body, and spirit.
As I said, death is a challenging
topic, but a reality in our culture, and in the world. Having someone we love
or care about no longer be there is a struggle for many of us. Yet, I have met
some people, as I have said, that are alive but are dead inside. I have visited
people that are elderly that feel like they are all used up. Some of these
people feel like that they have nothing left to offer their communities or the
world. They feel sometimes like that they are just lingering until God calls
them home.
As the church, as the body of Christ,
Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, equips us to be people of God in our
communities and the world. We when do this, we encounter all manner of people.
In going to someone, spending time with someone, and loving someone, sometimes
that person can experience new life. Sometimes in ministering to and loving
that person, we too can experience new life.
It saddens me as a pastor and as a
person, that we have so people in this area and in general who are suffering.
We all suffer in different ways, but we have some people here in Sidney and near
and far that really suffer. Jesus, when he was on earth went directly to people
like this. In my seven-week sermon series, “The Journey To The Empty Tomb,”
Jesus was tempted and tried, a wealthy and a prominent Pharisee named Nicodemus
came to him in the middle of the night seeking new spiritual birth from Jesus.
A Samaritan Woman at the well was offered new life and new hope, and last
Sunday Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus not only opened
the eyes in that man’s head, but he opened the eyes of his heart too. Jesus
came, my friends, so that we have life and have it abundantly.
So, this morning, as we are preparing
to celebrate the life of a man who is almost 100-years old, do we have life
abundantly? Or are we going through the motions, but not really as happy and as
fulfilled as we used to be? Do we have joy, hope, peace, and mercy? We will all
die one day physically, but some people that I have meet, while alive, seem
already dead inside. In the sense of eternity then, we can die but alive, and
we can be alive, but be dead.
I really love our Old Testament reading
for this morning from the Prophet Ezekiel. In this reading from Ezekiel 37:1-14,
we hear about new life. This prophetic vision of God restoring his covenant people.
This prophetic vision that Ezekiel had starts once again, in 37:1 for this morning.
Picking up in 37:1 it says:
37 The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezek. 37:1-6, NRSV).
The God of the universe is in the
business of new life, not death. Where there is death, sorrow, and hopelessness,
God will bring new life and new hope. As the body of Christ, we are part of that
process. We are to go to all people loving, healing, and forgiving. Letting the
elderly know that their wisdom and knowledge is something that we all need more
of. Letting all people know that God loves them, and that they have a home in
places like the Sidney UMC.
The scripture then continues on, as
this vision from God to Ezekiel is that of dead and dry bones coming together.
What is dead is reanimated, reinvigorated, and death become new life. A place
that was once full of death, is now full of life. God tells Ezekiel that these
bones, this death is the whole house of Israel, or God’s covenant people. Yet
God tells Ezekiel to preach of new life, or resurrection. Picking up in Ezekiel
37:12, it says once again of God speaking to Ezekiel,
12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: 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. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 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” (Ezek. 37:12-14, NRSV).
Some Jews believe that in the end of
days, they will literally and bodily be resurrected to new life. When I stood
on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Israel in 2014, up the hill from the Garden
of Gethsemane, I saw the graves of many people. None of them were buried
underground however, as they all were buried in crypts or mausoleums. These
Jews believed and believe that on the day of resurrection they will be the
first to rise, be reanimated and have new life in the kingdom of God.
Resurrection, new life, new hope, rebirth,
very much was what Jesus lived and taught. Not just eternal life, but new life
here and now. For those that we know that are suffering so much, how can God use
us to bring them new life and new hope? How can God fill us, so that the Holy
Spirit might use us to bring the love, kindness, and mercy of Jesus to the word?
In our reading from the Book of
Romans, once again, the Apostle Paul tells us that this earthly life is not
found just in things, not found just in pleasure, but in holy things, spiritual
things, and in things of love and mercy. Picking up in our Book of Romans
reading for this morning, it says once again, starting in 8:6 this:
6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you (Rom. 8:6-8, NRSV).
Our consumer culture tends to tell us
that joy and life is found only in possessions, consumption, and pleasure. The
Apostle Paul reminds us that faith, peace, mercy, love, are things that can
really sustain us. For the things that we buy will break down, will rust, and will
fade away. Yet do we love, do we have life, do we have new birth? I am
concerned more with the person down the street who is feeling broken then the latest
pair tennis shoes, or a new car.
This leads us to our gospel of John
reading for this morning about Jesus’ friend Lazarus. Once again, starting in
John 11:1, it says, once again:
11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “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. 11:11-4, NRSV).
Jesus
hears that Lazarus; the brother of Mary and Martha is sick. Yet, Jesus said
that Lazarus’ illness leads to life, not death. Jesus says this, like when he
healed the blind man in our gospel reading from last week that this healing or
resurrection will reveal God’s glory through him.
In a way then, some people get very fixated on the
physical resurrection of Lazarus after four days of being dead. Now the miracle
is recorded. A named Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, died. Four days
later Jesus called to him and he walked out of the tomb alive. Yet there is so
much more here than just physical resurrection.
For
starters, Jesus doesn’t seem shocked or worried that Lazarus is really sick.
Instead, Jesus says that God is going to be glorified through this. Further,
after hearing that Lazarus was really sick, Jesus stayed where he was two more
days, and Lazarus died during that time. Jesus then tells his disciples that
Lazarus had fallen asleep, and he was going to wake him up. Jesus then elaborated
and said that Lazarus had died.
When
Jesus arrives, Lazarus’ sister Martha comes out to meet Jesus, and she is very
upset. Jesus tells her that Lazarus will raise from the dead, and not in the
future, but right there and then. Jesus then reminds Martha in John 11:25:
25 Jesus said to
her, “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 (Jn. 11:25-26, NRSV).
Lazarus’
sister Mary then comes to Jesus, and Mary was weeping in grief, and some other
Jews were weeping. This caused Jesus to be emotionally moved, and the shortest verse
in the bible, or one of them, is John 11:35 that says:
35 Jesus began to weep (Jn.
11:35, NRSV).
Imagine, Jesus
Christ, crying, potentially tears running down his face.
Jesus then proceeds with the resurrection of Lazarus
from the dead. Martha was concerned that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four
days, and Martha was worried that there was a stench. In the gospel of John 11:41,
the gospel says, once again:
41 So they took away
the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having
heard me. 42 I
knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd
standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had
said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man
came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in
a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 45 Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with
Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him (Jn.
11:41-45, NRSV).
On
this day Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but many around him were raised
spiritually from the dead. For some die but live, and some are alive but are
dead inside. Jesus came to bring new life, new hope, and new joy. Friends,
beyond just a physical resurrection and the miracle that Jesus performed, how
we can ask the Holy Spirit today to resurrect us anew? There are so many people
in this community and in this world that need you, your ministry, and your
gifts and graces. There are people that are dead, yet alive, and may we be among
those who suffer, and among all people. For “Jesus Raised The Dead! Amen.
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