When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
Saints are divided into different tribes. The top 10 traits of the Lutheran tribe are.
10. Lutherans believe in miracles and even expect them especially during their stewardship visitation programs and passing the offering plates.
9. Lutherans believe their pastors will visit them in the hospital even if they do not notify them.
8. Lutherans feel guilty for not staying and cleaning up after their own wedding reception in the fellowship hall.
7. Lutherans believe the bible forbids them from crossing the aisle while “passing the peace”.
6. All your relatives graduated from a college named “Concordia”.
5. Its 100 degrees F, 90% humidity, and you still stay for coffee after service.
4. When Lutherans watch “Star Wars” and they hear “The Force Be With You” they automatically respond, “And also with you”.
3. The communion cabinet (including the wine) is accessible to all but the coffee cabinet is under lock and key.
2. Lutherans believe that all those Garrison Keillor’s stories are totally factual.
1. Lutherans serve Jello in the appropriate liturgical color for the season but think that peas in a tuna casserole is way too flamboyant.
Today is the festival of All Saints Sunday in the church year. Today we remember all the people of God, living & dead, martyrs & mothers, seniors and preschoolers, Lutherans and Catholics, Baptists and all the believers among the Trinitarian tribes. Today we focus on our God-given identity as saints. We are sinners who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, baptized into Christ, and destined for eternal life. We are walking around sacraments and vehicles of God’s grace. It is tradition to name those in our community who have died this past year; Kaare Taylor, Hershel “Pete” Peterson, Charles Thomas, and Leroy Lindahl. It seems good to also name those newly baptized this last year; Emma Banzer, Jack Nelson, Michael Cole, and Marie Rye. The Greek Word for saint literally means “holy”. Holy means sacred, set apart, blessed, dedicated to God, & belonging to or derived from divine power.
How do you become a saint? People, like places, communities, sacraments become holy only through contact with the Holy God. Being a saint comes as a gift from God, not something you do or decide for yourself or your denomination. Today is not a spiritual hall of fame day. We celebrate, that in his mercy, God has welcomed us into this fellowship of recovering sinners via Christ. The gospel is about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. John shows us once again that our sainthood comes only through the power of God. When Jesus arrives on the scene his friend is dead, buried, & ripe. Lazarus can only passively receive the resurrection life.
We join the story in progress. Lazarus has already died, Jesus has intentionally extended his stay, and the Savior has finally arrived to a chaotic funeral site. The sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, have both accosted Jesus & plainly expressed their grief and anger that he did not show up sooner. The setting is sheer bedlam and no wonder, the stench of death dominates. The sisters and many others present are weeping & wailing. Accusations are flying around that Jesus could have saved Lazarus if only he had been more timely. Jesus is greatly disturbed. Not just moved with compassion or gently weeping. Jesus is troubled and traumatized. By what? The lack of faith present, the very real death of his friend, or is it the doubts and disappointment he is experiencing? Whatever it is, Jesus is impacted. Our Lord is never impervious or insensitive to our human pain, grief, fragility, & fear of death.
In an episode from House, Doctor Gregory House, part genius/part curmudgeon orders a chest X-ray, an EKG, a bone-marrow biopsy, a colonoscopy, an MRI for the head, as well as blood and stress tests. On House, the assumption is that the more money you spend and resources you expend and action you take, then the better the odds of saving the dying patient. Policy-makers, as part of the health care debate, say they have to battle public perception shaped by such medical shows. In a recent survey, 33% of those interviewed said what they have seen on television has assisted them in making decisions about their own health care. With fear of death panels and illusions of the might of medical science, I wonder if we are realistic about what is reasonable to expect from our life expectancy with limited resources. When I was on jury duty in the instruction phase the attorneys warned us to disregard what you think you know about crime & evidence from the popular CSI series. Are we overly optimistic about solving crimes and prolonging life?
Or I wonder if we are paralyzed by hopelessness. I saw an editorial from the New York Times this week, “I am thinking about the sense of helplessness so many ordinary Americans have been feeling as the nation confronts one enormous, intractable problem after another. The helplessness is bordering on paralysis. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going poorly, the concern over a Swine Flu epidemic, and our government’s finances resemble a Ponzi scheme. The tendency is to assume there is little or nothing ordinary individuals can do.” The Lazarus story captures the stench of death, the helplessness of human intervention, and the future without God. Old Lazarus is dead. Snuffed out. No breath. No pulse. He has got nothing. The only thing to do is damage control. Don’t open that grave. Keep the stench behind that stone. I guess the old King James says, “No, O Lord, now he stinketh”.
Everyone knows this is the best that they can do. Everyone but Jesus. He orders the stone rolled away so he can face death head-on, stench and all. On his command, by his Word, against all odds and common sense, Jesus says, “Lazarus, come out!”
Church is where we go to be made unhappy, maybe even greatly disturbed, with present arrangements. As God’s people, we are called to share God’s discontent with the stench of suffering and sin that seems to prevail. We’re not just here to hunker down, hide out, and make the most of this muddled world. We live between heaven and earth, between the cross and empty tomb. God has put his saints in the world as vehicles of grace, walking-around sacraments, and witnesses to what God is doing. This present world, for all its occasional beauty & blessing, stress & struggle, is not God’s final act. God is the one who stands at our end. This world is not destined for incineration, as some churches even teach. In Christ Jesus, this universe is moving toward fulfillment, healing, completion, & restoration. In Revelation, God declares that this end will be new, very new. N.T. Wright says, “Resurrection, we must never cease to remind ourselves, does not mean going to heaven or escaping death or having a glorious and noble post-mortem experience but rather coming to bodily life again after bodily death. In the Christian tradition, resurrection from the dead not only holds center stage but holds the whole stage.”
The “Jesus Trail” is a 40 mile trek that wanders from Nazareth in Northern Israel through Arab villages, kibbutz farmland, scenic vistas, to the Sea of Galilee. It is an increasingly popular pilgrimage for Christians who want to see Jesus boyhood home, roads that the Savior traveled, Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, and the locations of other miracles and ministry on the Sea of Galilee. As you sojourn, there are peaks and valleys, exertion and rest, solitude and fellowship with other pilgrims. The trail gets unclear and even confusing at times so some travelers will utilize a hand-held GPS to clarify the route. When you arrive at the waters of the Galilee you’ve reached the end of the Jesus trail. Your journey is now complete.
In the early years of the Christian movement, we had more distinct burial practices.
Thomas Long writes, “The theme of the service was the completion of baptism, and the church accompanied a brother or sister to the place of union with God through the resurrection of Christ. Taken as a whole, the early Christian funeral was based on the conviction that the deceased was a saint, a child of God, and a sister or brother of Christ, worthy to be honored & embraced with tender affection. The funeral itself was deemed to be the last phase of a lifelong journey toward God and the faithful carried the deceased along the way to the place of final departure. The burial phase took place at the graveside and included prayers, singing, & the commendation of the deceased to God and actual burial of the body. Often the Lord’s Supper was shared at the grave. There was a mixture of grief & joyful hope.
As the baptized we are all on the Jesus trail. We are the people of the resurrection. We are the saints of God by grace alone living by faith alone. When the new day dawns, Jesus will call our name, too. “Come out! See I am making all things new!”
Return to Top
