Fifth Sunday of Lent, cycle A

JOHN 11:1-45
I'VE SPENT MY CAREER TAKING CARE OF CANCER PATIENTS, AND AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, I'VE ACCOMPANIED A LOT OF PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES ON THAT LAST JOURNEY, BECAUSE WE STILL HAVEN'T BEATEN CANCER. SOME PEOPLE DIE IN OLD AGE, FULL OF YEARS, AND WHILE WE ALL HATE TO SEE A LOVED ONE DIE, SOMETIMES IT SEEMS RIGHT. SOME PEOPLE DIE AFTER A LONG TIME OF BEING DISABLED AND HELPLESS, RELYING ON DRUGS TO STAY OUT OF PAIN. SOMETIMES DEATH COMES AS A RELIEF. BUT THERE ARE TIMES WHEN DEATH SEEMS WRONG, SO WRONG.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO I MET A YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. SHE AND HER HUSBAND HAD SEVERAL CHILDREN, AND WERE VERY ACTIVE IN THEIR CHURCH, AND THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT. THIS COUPLE HELPED US WHEN WE WERE TEACHING NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING. AFTER JOAN AND I STOPPED TEACHING, WE LOST TOUCH. ONE DAY I GOT A CALL TO DO A CONSULTATION AND SHE WAS THE PATIENT. HER FACE WAS ALMOST LIKE A SKULL, AND SHE HAD LOST ALL HER HAIR; HER LEGS WERE BLOATED WITH FLUID, AND SHE WAS BARELY ABLE TO MOVE AROUND. SHE AND HER HUSBAND, AND ALL HER MANY FRIENDS AND THE MEMBERS OF HER CHURCH WERE PRAYING DESPERATELY – HOPING FOR A MIRACLE, A MIRACLE THAT JESUS SEEMED TO HAVE PROMISED HIS FOLLOWERS, WHEN HE SAID “ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE,” AND “WHATEVER YOU ASK THE FATHER IN MY NAME WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU.” BUT TO NO AVAIL. A WEEK AFTER I SAW HER, THIS GENEROUS, LOVING WIFE AND MOTHER OF SEVERAL YOUNG CHILDREN DIED.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
I DOUBT THAT ANY SERIOUS CHRISTIAN HAS GONE THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT ASKING THAT QUESTION. BECAUSE LIFE HAS TRAGEDIES, AND SOMETIMES WE CAN SEE THEM COMING. AND WHEN WE DO, WE PRAY THAT GOD WILL COME TO OUR RESCUE, GOD WILL AVERT THE DISASTER; MAYBE JUST A LITTLE MIRACLE THAT MIGHT SAVE MY BUSINESS, THAT MIGHT HEAL MY CHILD, THAT MIGHT SAVE MY MARRIAGE. AND YOUR BUSINESS FAILS, AND YOUR CHILD DIES, AND YOUR MARRIAGE FALLS APART.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
MARTHA AND MARY HAD LOST THEIR BROTHER. HE HAD BEEN SICK AND EVERYTHING HAD BEEN GETTING WORSE. THEY PRAYED TO GOD AND LAZARUS GOT WORSE. AND FINALLY THEY DECIDED TO CALL ON THEIR FRIEND, JESUS. AFTER ALL, HE WAS A HEALER; MAYBE IF HE COULD JUST COME AND LAY HIS HANDS ON LAZARUS. BUT DAYS WENT BY AND LAZARUS DIED. HE WAS IN THE GROUND FOUR DAYS BEFORE JESUS FINALLY SHOWED UP. AND MARY SPOKE FOR ALL CHRISTIANS WHO CALL UPON JESUS WHEN EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG: “LORD, IF YOU HAD BEEN HERE, MY BROTHER WOULD NEVER HAVE DIED.”
WHY DOES IT SAY THAT JESUS WEPT? WAS IT BECAUSE LAZARUS HAD DIED? BUT JESUS SURELY KNEW THAT LAZARUS WOULD RISE AGAIN AT HIS CALL – AFTER ALL, HE JUST TOLD MARTHA THAT HE WAS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. WAS IT BECAUSE JESUS, THE MOST PERFECT HUMAN BEING WHO EVER LIVED, SO POWERFULLY FELT THE GRIEF OF THE TWO WOMEN WHO WERE AMONG HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS? OR WAS IT BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF FAITH AMONG THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BETTER THAN ANYONE – AND HAD NOT YET ACCEPTED THAT HE WAS GOD IN THE FLESH? I DON'T THINK ANY OF THESE REASONS ARE WHY JESUS WEPT. I THINK JESUS WEPT BECAUSE HE LONGED FOR WHAT HE KNEW WOULD SOMEDAY COME – A WORLD WHEN THERE WOULD BE NO MORE PAIN, NO MORE FAILURE, NO MORE DEATH. DO YOU REMEMBER? ONCE JESUS SAID, “I CAME TO BRING FIRE UPON THE EARTH, AND HOW I LONG FOR IT TO BE KINDLED!” AND ANOTHER TIME HE SAID, “HOW LONG MUST I PUT UP WITH THIS GENERATION?” JESUS KNEW WHAT WAS TO COME, AND WANTED THIS WITH HIS WHOLE BEING.
AND HE CALLED LAZARUS FROM THE TOMB, AND LAZARUS, WHOSE LAST MEMORY WAS OF PANIC AND PAIN AS HIS LIFE LEFT HIS BODY, WOKE UP AND STRUGGLED TO HIS FEET AND WALKED TOWARDS THAT VOICE, THE VOICE THAT HE COULD NOT RESIST EVEN WHEN DEAD, THE VOICE OF HIS FRIEND, THE VOICE OF GOD.
JESUS WEPT, BECAUSE HE REMEMBERS FORWARD, JUST AS WE REMEMBER BACKWARD. JESUS BEING THE SON OF GOD KNOWS HOW IT WILL ALL TURN OUT. HE KNOWS THAT LIFE ON EARTH IS ONLY THE PRELUDE TO REAL LIFE. AND HE SEES SO MANY OF US WHO LIVE AS THOUGH THIS IS ALL THERE IS, AS WE STRUGGLE TO MAKE SURE WE ARE SECURE, HEALTHY, COMFORTABLE. AND HE SEES US SETTLING, SETTLING FOR THE APPETIZER, WHEN WE SHOULD BE GETTING READY FOR THE FULL COURSE SUPPER. HOW MANY OF US REMEMBER FORWARD, BELIEVING, REALLY BELIEVING, THAT WHAT HE PROMISED IS TRUE? CHRISTIAN MARTYRS BELIEVED THIS. THOMAS MORE, TO NAME ONE, HAD NO DOUBT, AND CHOSE TO DIE WHEN HE COULD HAVE SAVED HIMSELF. HE REMEMBERED FORWARD.
AND WHEN JESUS CALLED LAZARUS FORTH FROM THE TOMB, HE DID NOT DO IT BECAUSE HE LOVED MARTHA AND MARY AND THEIR BROTHER. HE DID IT TO SHOW THOSE AROUND HIM WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE, WHEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD WAS FULLY REALIZED. HE DID IT SO THAT YOU AND I WOULD KNOW THAT WHEN WE GO DOWN INTO THE GRAVE, IT ISN'T THE LAST WORD, IT ISN'T THE END. LIKE LAZARUS ALL OF US, IF WE ARE FAITHFUL, IF WE ARE HIS FRIENDS, CAN WITH CONFIDENCE FALL ASLEEP AT THE END OF OUR LIVES KNOWING THAT THE NEXT VOICE WE HEAR WILL BE HIS VOICE, CALLING US OUT OF THE GRAVE.
WHERE IS JESUS? WHERE IS HE IN THE MIDST OF PAIN AND SUFFERING AND DEATH? HE COMES ACCORDING TO HIS SCHEDULE, NOT OURS. BUT HE COMES. AND BECAUSE HE CAME INTO THE WORLD, BECAUSE HE SHARES OUR HUMAN NATURE, BECAUSE HE HAS ALREADY GONE THROUGH THE GATES OF DEATH AND RISEN AGAIN, WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT HE COMES FOR US, AND THAT OUR PAIN WILL TURN TO JOY, OUR WEEPING TO LAUGHTER, OUR DEATH TO LIFE.
LAZARUS DID DIE, YOU KNOW. I DON'T KNOW WHEN HE DIED, OR HOW OLD HE WAS, OR UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES. WE CAN BE SURE THAT HE DIED AFTER JESUS HIMSELF DIED. LAZARUS AND HIS SISTERS WERE AMONG THE FIRST CHRISTIANS. AND YOU CAN BE SURE THAT WHEN LAZARUS DIED THAT SECOND TIME, PERHAPS WITH MARTHA AND MARY AT HIS SIDE, THERE WAS NO FEAR, THERE WAS ONLY ANTICIPATION. BECAUSE JESUS HAD ALREADY SHOWN THAT HE WAS GREATER THAN DEATH, THAT TO HIM DEATH WAS NOTHING. AND THIS TIME LAZARUS AND MARTHA AND MARY KNEW THAT JESUS WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH, AND WAITING FOR EACH OF THEM.
WHERE WAS JESUS?
TODAY, AND EVERY DAY IF WE ARE SUFFERING, HE IS THERE; IF WE ARE IN PAIN, HE IS THERE; AND IF WE ARE DYING, HE IS THERE, CALLING US FORTH FROM THE GRAVE INTO NEW LIFE.