Living in Hope

A Sermon preached on Lent V March 26, 2023 at St. Augustine’s, WI and St. Christoph, MZ

Ezekiel 37:1-14, Romans 8:6-11, John 11:1-45

It may seem a little strange to be hearing readings about people being raised from the dead before we have even entered Holy Week. And you will in fact hear the first reading from Ezekiel again soon, if you come to the Easter Vigil! But following the chronology of the Gospel of John, the raising of Lazarus is the last and greatest sign, that is miracle, before Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection! In some ways it anticipates it.

The first reading from Ezekiel is not really about dead people anyway, however much the story of the valley full of bones may make us think of them. The dry bones are the people of Israel. Physically and spiritually cut off from all that gives them life, from their home and the Temple, from their God – or so they believe – and therefore from all hope: ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ (Ezekiel 37:11) Israel in exile is danger of dying as a community, as God’s chosen, as a people of faith, just as the tribes of the Northern Kingdom did generations before, when they did not return from exile but were simply absorbed into the surrounding culture and population. What Ezekiel describes is the hope that God will act to restore the nation, it is not about personal, physical resurrection, although this passage was an inspiration for the development of that idea over the next centuries.  

Ezekiel’s description recalls the second of the creation stories. In Genesis 2.7 we hear that “then the Lord God (first) formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” It was a two-stage process of formation followed by inspiration, as it is in Ezekiel’s vision as well: First the bones came together, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Only then is Ezekiel told: “’Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived.” (Ezekiel 37:9-10) I don’t think the connection with the creation story is a coincidence. Ezekiel’s vision expresses his hope for a re-creation of the nation of Israel. And just as Adam only became a living being when God breathed God’s spirit into him – remember, both the Hebrew Ruach and the Greek Pneuma can mean wind, breath or spirit - so also we – as individuals and as a community – are not truly alive without that divine Spirit and if we are cut off from God: hold that thought!

Unlike the dry bones, Lazarus’ death is anything but metaphorical. By the time Jesus arrives in Bethany, he has been dead for four days. Mary and Martha had hoped that he would arrive in time to save their brother, but Jesus came too late – we know that he did not even set off when the messenger arrived – and now the only hope left is Martha’s belief in the general resurrection of the dead on the last day. It’s unclear whether Jesus would have got there in time even if he hadn’t waited. Still, his comment that, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (John 11:4) indicates foreknowledge and what sounds like a rather callous and even cruel plan to wait just to make it more spectacular.

Two things speak against that interpretation. Just as last week Jesus’ saying that the man “was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him” (John 9:2) did not mean that God made that man blind just so Jesus can heal him, so this week’s saying does not mean that God caused or exacerbated Lazarus’ condition just so Jesus could raise him. What it means is that this death of Jesus’ good friend will be used as the greatest sign – prior to Jesus’ own death – to glorify God and God’s Son, and as a result to save many, many more lives than just this one.

The other argument against such cruelty is how disturbed and emotionally affected Jesus was by Lazarus’ death and Mary’s tears: “Jesus was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep.” (John 11:33-35) This is the only Gospel passage that ascribes such an acute emotional reaction to Jesus. He shares in their pain, is angry at death, and saddened at grief.

The purpose of this final sign, the raising of Lazarus, is to identify Jesus as God’s Son and as the one who gives life. We are called to believe in him as one sent by God and endowed with God’s power over life and death. This belief brings eternal life. The purpose of all of Jesus’ signs in John’s Gospel, especially this one, is to awaken, affirm, and strengthen that belief. And so, he tells the disciples “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” (11:14-15) He asks Martha “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. Do you believe this?” (11:26) And to all the people watching and waiting with the two sisters he exclaims: “I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” (11:42) As a result, many of those who had seen what Jesus did, believed in him and Martha is led to make a confession of faith as strong as Peter’s: “She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” (11:27) In Matthew’s Gospel (16:16) Peter said “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” [As an aside, I wonder what would have happened, if Jesus had said to Martha “and on this rock I will build my church” instead of to Peter!]

In Jesus and in his signs, we see God's love and life-giving power. In Ezekiel’s day, vanquished and exiled Israel had lost hope. There is much around us today that could cause us to lose hope as well. To have faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, who cannot be stopped by anything, not even by death, not even by his own death, gives us hope and empowers us to act. That hope is grounded in God’s gift and promise of life – both a fulfilled and purposeful life in Christ now and life in God forever. Jesus tells Martha that those who believe in him, will live and never die and asks her, do you believe this? Her answer is not a yes or a no, but a confession of faith. Do you, do we believe this? Like Martha we too can answer with by confessing our faith - in the words of the Nicene Creed. Please stand as we say together:

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty…..