Bethel Lutheran Church - Pastor Luke Bernthal (Your Name Here), Come Forth! ; John 11: 30 - 45; 2008-03-09 The Bulletin (order of service) Text: John 11: 30 - 45; Well, apparently this pastor wasn’t informed that as it turns out for many people, including many who profess to be believers in Christ, this story of Lazarus does NOT give them comfort! It actually makes many people upset and angry! Not long ago this account of Jesus raising Lazarus was brought up while I was talking with several pastors and many of them had personal stories of members telling them that they didn’t like hearing the story of Lazarus as a devotion before or during their loved ones funeral. One pastor shared a story of a Christian counselor who was using this account of Jesus raising Lazarus at a Grief Share group meeting and was shocked to hear from the grieving family members that they “hated that story!” Why? As one of the pastor’s recounted, “Because whenever I hear it I want to ask God, ‘Then why don’t you bring my loved one (husband, son, father, mother, sister, etc.) back also?!’” Perhaps you’ve felt this way before at the death of a loved one also. I can imagine that as my cousin’s wife sat before his casket suddenly finding herself a 27 year-old widow that she had similar thoughts go through her head and heart, and probably has many times since, “Why did you take him, Lord? Why can’t you bring him back like you did Lazarus?” That is not the question that John’s account of Jesus raising Lazarus even attempts to answer, nor is it the point or the source of comfort in this story. As the pastor at Micah’s funeral last week reminded the grieving loved ones, “Our comfort is not found in focusing on the “why’s” and the questions that God has not chosen to answer or reveal to us, but rather in focusing on what He has promised and revealed very clearly to us!” Notice that in our text we see Mary, Lazarus’ sister struggling with very similar thoughts, Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (v. 32). In other words, “Jesus, why weren’t you here; You could have stopped this from happening?!” Jesus, of course, had His reasons for allowing Lazarus’ death. He had purposely delayed coming to see Lazarus while He was sick on purpose. Earlier in this same chapter John writes, When Jesus heard that [Lazarus was sick], He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it" (John 11:4). Would He ever! The last verse of our text tells us, Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him (v. 45). Other than His own resurrection from the dead, Jesus’ raising of Lazarus was the greatest miracle, the most rock-solid proof, that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God—true God—just as He had claimed to be (just look at the words of His prayer in v. 41-42, And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me") By His words and actions Jesus was calling Mary and Martha to trust Him, even though He did not reveal all His reasons or ways to them. Jesus said to her [Martha], "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" (v. 40). At the death of a loved one, and in fact in any tragedy, trouble, hardship—or even just in an ordinary, regular old day—Jesus calls us to trust Him as well. Yes, He calls us to trust in His many promises He’s given and fulfilled to us in the Scriptures and is constantly fulfilling in our daily lives, but also—and perhaps we could say especially—He calls us to trust Him in the things He in His perfect wisdom and love has chosen NOT to reveal to us. Will we still trust Him even in those times? We can and we should because He’s proven Himself to us time and time again in what He HAS revealed about Himself and promised in His Word and because of what He’s continued to do for us in our lives. Even when the test is excruciatingly painful and sorrowful we can trust Jesus. We can take comfort in the fact that we know He grieves with us. He’s walked in our shoes before and knows what it feels like to lose loved ones. Do you think Lazarus was the only loved one that passed away during Jesus’ lifetime? His father was no longer around at the time of His death (cf. John 19:26-27). Who knows how many other friends and family members died while Jesus walked the earth. We see from this account of Lazarus that death and the effects of sin grieve the Lord deeply, even as He was grieved and troubled at the death of His friend Lazarus. Our text tells us, Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!" (v. 33-36). Death was not a part of God’s original, perfect creation. It is not “natural.” But that’s why Jesus came: to put an end to sin and death! The writer of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “He [Jesus] too shared in [our] humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14 NIV). Jesus came to be “the resurrection and the life,” just like He told Martha, so that those who “live and believe in Him shall never die” (John 11:25-26). Yes, even believers will eventually die physically, unless Christ comes again first. We have all seen first hand proof of this recently. But because Jesus lived, died, and lives again for us we will never die eternally in hell, despite the fact that this is exactly what our sins deserved! Let me share with you one final observation that touched me profoundly at my cousin’s funeral last weekend and relates to our lesson for today: One of the hymns that was sung in near the middle of the service was “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” a hymn that is near and dear to many of us; one that has been sung at many funerals. While we were singing that hymn I was flooded with a very cherished memory of Micah sitting next to me at our great grandpa’s funeral when we were about 7 or 8 years old. This same hymn was sung at his funeral and I remember Micah (who was always very musical and an excellent singer) singing his little heart and lungs out. It was a memory that tugged at my heart and my emotions. That was a deeply personal and special recollection that that hymn invoked. However, the hymn that affected me the most profoundly at the funeral was the last hymn we sang, an Easter hymn from our Worship Supplement (Hymn 733). Listen to the words of this hymn, This Joyful Eastertide.
While we were singing those glorious, triumphant words, it hit me—I mean it really hit me: This is what it’s all about! If Jesus had not come; if He had not died; if He had not risen again “Our faith had been in vain,” as the hymn sang. I would never see Micah again; you would never see your loved one again. “But now is Christ arisen!” the hymn goes on to sing! This is the comfort of Jesus’ resurrection. This is the comfort the account of Lazarus’ resurrection brings us. Right here; this is why He came! Not to be the subject of some nice, happy Children’s bedtime stories. Not to be someone and something that we celebrate a couple of times a year in the springtime and on December 25th. He came to defeat death and take away its power and sting (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57). He came to turn this horrible, unnatural event that causes the depths of sorrow and ends all our earthly lives into the very gate to life—real life; eternal life in heaven! That’s why Jesus came! That’s why He died, that’s why He rose again! He came for those loved ones of yours who believed in Jesus and have gone before you. He came for you who believe in Jesus. He came, died, and rose again so that when He comes again He will say to your loved ones just like He said to Lazarus, “____________, come forth!” He lives again so that on the Last Day He will also say to you “____________, come forth! And we will hear His all-powerful, unstoppable voice and we will “come forth”—not to be reunited with loved ones once again on this earth only to die physically again, like Lazarus—but rather to be reunited with Jesus and all the believers who have gone before us forever in the mansions of heaven! There is where we find the comfort for all our sorrows. There is where we find the hope and help for all our troubles. Lay all your burdens and troubles at the foot of His cross; bury all your sorrows and cares in His empty tomb. You are forgiven, you have been restored to new life through faith, and have been promised life everlasting! What more do we need? As Paul said in our Epistle reading, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). How could Jesus not, along with this great promise of salvation, “graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). He has, and He will forever! Amen. |