Lent Homily Series - Be Opened

...to Believe
 
Background
Death and Resurrection
The story of the raising of Lazarus, appears only in the Gospel of John. It is the seventh and final sign performed by Jesus in the Gospel of John. The parenthetical comment in 11:5, “…Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,” provides a verbal clue to the significance of the passage. The storyteller wants us to know that Jesus is relating to intimate friends.

The Purpose of the Story
The story is John’s way of dealing with the question confronting his community. The story centers on beliefs and attitudes toward death.

The story presents six attitudes about death. The first attitude is to prepare the one about to die to walk the journey to the other side. This is seen in Mary being described as the one “who anointed the Lord with oil.”  The second attitude is to avoid taking risks. This is discovered in the disciples counseling Jesus not to go to visit Lazarus and his sisters. The third attitude is denial. This is manifested in the disciples believing that Lazarus is only asleep and not dead, an attitude that Jesus quickly corrects, telling them that Lazarus is indeed dead. The fourth attitude toward death is to treat it as an occasion for making a living. This is seen in the professional mourners who came from Jerusalem and who are present with the sisters. The fifth attitude toward death is the hope of preventing it from ever happening, and this is seen in both sisters’ insistence that if Jesus had been present, their brother would not have died. The sixth and final attitude toward death is the one Jesus provides, telling Martha that he is the resurrection and the life. This is an attitude toward death that believes God is with us, even in the face of death.

Through the Eyes of the Two Women
Martha and Mary fit in with the mother of Jesus (John chapter 2), the Samaritan woman at the well (John chapter 4) and Mary Magdalene (John 20:1-18). Like the other women, Martha and Mary witness to great faith in Jesus. It is this faith that causes both women to send word to Jesus that Lazarus is very ill. Jesus tells his disciples to “love one another as I have loved you.”

Martha
Martha’s profession of faith in the power and ability of Jesus in this story is remarkable. In her dialogue with Jesus, she is formidable. First, she calls Jesus “Lord”, and then complains that if he had come sooner, her brother would not have died. She knows that even now whatever Jesus asks of God could be done.  Jesus acclaims, “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.” Jesus’ statement evokes an expression of partial faith from Martha. She “knows” that her brother will rise on the last day. Martha says that all along she has believed in the resurrection from the dead. Finally, she adds an extraordinarily mature profession of faith, saying, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (John 11:27).
Martha makes clear her unshakable faith before she saw any sign of Lazarus’s life restored. She thus functions as a witness to the presence of the Lord, an act of a true disciple.
 
 
Mary and Jesus Weeping
John then tells us that Mary arose quickly and, followed by other mourners, went to Jesus, greeting him with the same words that her sister had used moments before: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Then Mary wept, and seeing her weep, Jesus also wept. Jesus was not afraid to show his emotions. God, in the person of Jesus, cries and grieves with people in the face of death.
What evokes these strong emotions from Jesus? Are these the same things that evoke our emotions and reactions? When have we seen Jesus weep? Has Jesus wept over us in our death tombs? Yet the story does not end in tears but rather in the manifestation of the glory of God.

Exiting the Tomb
The story of the raising of Lazarus ends with Jesus calling him forth from the tomb. Jesus’ prayer is ours. “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd that they may believe that you sent me.” We believe that if we have died to ourselves in Christ, then we shall rise to a new life in him.
Lazarus comes forth from the tomb, still bound in the wrappings of death. Jesus orders his disciples and all of us to unwrap him, for we need a whole community to unwrap us from death’s throws to live a new life in the resurrection.

Believing in Jesus’ Power over Death
The story of the raising of Lazarus has to do more with Jesus and us than with Lazarus.  By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus gave a clear sign that he has the power over death and life.  The raising of Lazarus is a new statement about life. “Do you believe this?” Jesus asks Martha. He asks the same question of us. We spend our whole lives grappling with the mystery of Jesus bringing life out of death. Jesus comes to us as he came to Martha and Mary, with an invitation to believe that his death and resurrection have meaning for us in the messiness of our daily living.  The Gospel challenges us to believe that our daily dying to self is already a sign of the life we are given and a sign of the fullness of life we will receive at our resurrection. Have we, like Martha and Mary, come to believe?