Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / Rev. Dr. Sandra Stevens Poirel - "Right Now"
Transcript
- Belin Memorial UMC: The text this morning comes to us from the Gospel of John. We are going to share a portion of the text that is appointed to the day. The text for the day is about 45 verses in total. It is a story that you are probably familiar with and our sharing only a portion of it does not minimize the rest of the story. And thank you, Reverend Ayo, for what you said in your prayer. This is a scripture that we will get close to. and it is transformational and parts of it can be uncomfortable but it is such a good word and it is such good news. Jesus raises Lazarus to life. Then Jesus again, greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone was lying against it. And Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, already there is a stench, because he has been dead for 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 looked upward and said, Father, I thank you for having heard me. 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. When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. And the dead man came out. His hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. And Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. This is the word of God for the people of God. This story is dramatic. It is powerful. It is graphic. It deals honestly with grief, which is one of the reasons I love this story so much. In the midst of dealing honestly with death and grief, it also speaks the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it demonstrates and lives the power that Jesus has over death. It demonstrates God's empathy with our grief. We feel and hear coming off the pages God's deep love and care for those who are hurting. There is an old story, and you may have heard it, about a six-year-old boy who was given permission to go out and play with his friends. But he had strict instructions from his parents, always. It was the same one, be home by 5 PM. That does not mean 5.01. That means at least 5 PM. And he was always obedient. There had never been a problem. He came in. Well, this particular time, It was approaching 6 p.m. They had not seen him. They had not heard from him. They could not find him. Those of us who have children who have hidden in clothes in a store, in a department store, and they pop out, that one to two minutes feels like it's been three days. Well, at about till six, he just showed right up, popped in the door and asked what was for dinner and acted like nothing had happened. Well, he saw the look on his parents' face and immediately heard their concern in their voices. And his mother said, why are you late? You had us worried sick. And the boy looked at them very puzzled and pointed out the window and said, but the light, the light tells me when to come home. He still didn't understand. They understood the time had changed. The clocks had been reset, but not the boy's clock. So they explained this to him and he responded and said, with suspicion. Does God know about this? Well, that story reminds us that God's light lasts forever. There is no time change. There is no clock to reset. Mary and Martha and an entire community, including us, the world through this story We'll learn that. The raising of Lazarus actually was a pivotal moment in the ministry of Jesus. It is the last sign of Jesus in the gospel of John. John is known as the book of signs. There are seven. This is the seventh one. Actually, the raising of Lazarus, that actual story is recorded in only two verses. But you see the lead in and the after effects are so important. Now we know the story, but imagine rethink the story with me this morning and think about it as though you are there. You are there with Mary and Martha and you are experiencing this story for the first time in real time. They did not have the advantage of being resurrection people yet. They are living into, Jesus knows where he's headed. He's still close to the cross and we will see how much closer or he really is after this event takes place. There is a lot of suspense that builds to this final extraordinary scene of a dead man who ends up breathing and walking. Well, at first he's really not walking. He's sort of stumbling to begin with. He's been in a tomb for four days. And the tomb was a cave and we're told from the very beginning there was a heavy stone against it so that no one could disturb the grave. We're also told Lazarus had been dead for four days. Whenever we have that kind of detail given to us, that's code for pay attention. This is important. So when the news reached Jesus of Lazarus being ill, Jesus had just escaped death himself because there was a squad in Jerusalem that were after him and he had made it safely across the River Jordan. Now Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were three of Jesus' closest friends. Mary and Martha are now desperate. They want Jesus to come to them right now. And he does not. He waits two whole days. And then he has two more days of travel. So four days have passed before he can even get to them. Now why is this four days so important? Well, in the first century there was a belief that after three days the soul had left the body. So by the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus is dead. They would say he's really dead. They may even say he's four days dead. They would have understood that. When he arrived, Martha warned Jesus that he had been in the tomb so long that if you go to another translation, she said, he stinketh. Lord, she said, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. Did you hear that? If only. Now, most of us can identify and how many times have we gotten caught? in the cycle of the if only if only I had done this or if only I had done that or if only this could happen or if only that and it becomes a vicious cycle that usually gets us nowhere but here's what's really important Jesus already knew this nobody in this story told Jesus anything he didn't already know What he knows and knew then is when people are hurting, when they are grieving. Jesus is already right there right now. And Jesus calls us to be the reminders. And you are the reminders. You send cards, phone calls, visits. Our bereavement team shows up. All of those are examples. It's not an exhaustive list, but you show up. Well, for Martha, Jesus was the person who needed to show up. He was their friend. He was the one, the one, they could count on, the one who could do something about this, but he wasn't there. And now it's too late. My brother has been dead for four days. It's just too late or so she thought. But ⁓ even she takes it a step further. She wants to believe, Lord, if you had only been here. But even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him. And they have this brief conversation about resurrection. But you see, for Martha, for Mary, for the gathered community, they were talking about something that is going to happen. They're talking about something futuristic. Jesus is talking about right now. Jesus talks about the resurrection happening now, and he said to her, I am, and I will add, I am right now the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, they will live. Do you believe this? Wow. In two short verses, Jesus set the entire record straight. Jesus said to Martha to marry that community and to us There's another of the I am statements I am the resurrection and the life not I will be I might be you have to wait a while there the time is coming He said I am he is all of those things right now in the present and Isn't it interesting though when we read the story that? everyone in the story is focused on death and how to prevent it. Everybody in the story except Jesus. Jesus is focused on life. Jesus is focused not on death, but outliving death and does. So he says, shall be where you've laid him. So they did. They took him to the tomb and Jesus saw Mary and those with her weeping. And John tells us Jesus was, quote, greatly disturbed. Now the Greek word there is more than even greatly disturbed. It is intense. There really is not an English word for it. It is a visceral response. It means his insides were being torn into knots and turning upside down. And then we come to the shortest verse, but one of the most powerful in all of scripture. Jesus wept. Jesus wept, demonstrating the depth with which Jesus felt their pain and feels ours. You see, Jesus knew he was not there to say any goodbyes to anybody, including Lazarus. Jesus did what Jesus does. He demonstrated, as he said from the very beginning, if we read the whole story, this is not an illness that will lead to death. This is an illness that will lead to basically demonstrating the power and the greatness of God. Jesus never went in He this as death. He went into it with life. And after he arrived at the tomb, he began with a prayer and he thanked God for hearing him. The first thing he did was thank God for hearing him. And I know you always do, but thank you for hearing me. And we're told that Jesus said in a loud voice and only twice in scripture, or we told that Jesus speaks in a loud voice. This was one of them when he called Lazarus out of the tomb. The other is when he commended his spirit as he was dying on the cross. So in that loud voice, Jesus said, And he did, stumbling out, eyes adjusting to the light. He's trailing all sorts of grave bandages behind him, strips of burial cloth, and he's coming into God's light. And then he gives a word to the gathered community. unbind him and let him go. That was not spoken to Lazarus. That was spoken to everybody who was gathered. You unbind him and let him go. You see, Jesus in one phrase shifted the focus from death and a few to the many. In one phrase, Jesus invited and had the entire community participating in the ministry and mission of life of Jesus Christ. He knows where he's headed. but they were participating in the good news of the resurrection that is for the whole world. It was not just for Lazarus, it was for the whole world and still is. He tells them, help him, tend to him, care for him, comfort him. You have become the hands and feet. You are the face of ministry and I want to say to you thank you. Thank you for the many ways that you participate and respond in the ministry of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the triune God, serving one another, serving God and serving neighbor. We know that Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb of death to life. And if we keep reading in the next chapters, In 12 and 13, we're told that Lazarus shows up. He is sitting at a table at a meal, dining with Jesus, sharing food and fellowship. And we're told that the raising of Lazarus caused many to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. It is also the event that seals Jesus' fate and catapulted him straight to the cross of crucifixion. The very next section is the plot to kill Jesus. Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. The next death in the scriptures is the death of Jesus. Yet, Jesus said, remember, he already knew. There was nothing anybody could tell him. He didn't know. He knew where he was headed. And he said, I am right now the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this? Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world. So like the little boy pointing to the light, the light tells us when to come home. That light never, ever fades. It never changes. and we have the promise that it too will lead us home. The true light, the light of the world, the light that has overcome death. You see, we are living eternal life right now. And that is the beauty of this story. Jesus demonstrates the power and the strength of God and Jesus is the giver of life. Jesus is the giver of new starts. Jesus is the giver of new chances. And he asks us the question, do you believe this? And we can answer confidently. We trust the one who lived it. We trust the one who lives it. We trust the one who gives it and invites us to live in it with him right now. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.