Monday, April 07, 2014

The Lazarus Story (theva)



The Lazarus Story!
John 11:17-37
Dear Friends!
Grace and peace are already ours for we belong to the family of Jesus the Christ. The Lazarus story was one of my favorites among the Sunday school classics. For at age 6, I was mesmerized by the power of Jesus to give life to the dead ones. Later on during my seminary years I learnt of two more things about this story. No 1. According to some legends Lazarus was resuscitated at age 30, went away to France with the two sisters, worked there as a Bishop for 30 more years and then died there. No 2. This story is not a miracle story for John uses the word “sign” instead of miracle, which means it points us to something beyond. The signs help us understand the glory of God at its depth. There is both power and powerlessness in God. There is grandeur and a misery as well in the God head. For John the miracle of the water turned into wine is a sign. The healing of the paralytic by the pool is another sign. The sermon you heard last Sunday of a man born blind receiving sight is another sign. With each sign Jesus also gave a theological interpretation. For example with the feeding of the 5000 Jesus pronounced, “I am the bread of life”. What does that signify? If you can live on that Jesus diet the hungry ones can be fed and those who thirst can be quenched. With the healing of the blind man Jesus announced boldly: “I am the light of the world “which means if you follow the light of Christ you can become the light to those who stumble in darkness. With the sign of bringing Lazarus back to life Jesus made a powerful theological statement. “I am the resurrection and the life”, which means If you abide in Jesus’s word, you may be able to help the walking corpses to live life with enthusiasm and dignity.

I do not know the mechanics and the methods Jesus employed to resuscitate Lazarus. But I do know of the criticisms he faced by the sisters. I do know of the instructions he gave to the crowd to bring Lazarus out of the grave. The two sisters were upset that Jesus didn’t show up on time for the memorial service. The professional mourners have come and sang their dirge and gone. However when Jesus arrived at the Bethany home he received comments of accusation: “SIR IF ONLY YOU HAVE BEEN HERE ON TIME OUR BROTHER WOULD NOT HAVE DIED.” These accusations are the most tragic expression of our vanities and helplessness. “If the surgeon had done that procedure right, my cousin would be living today. If the pastor had not made those stupid comments those two families would be still with us in this church today. If the president of our country had consulted the secretary of defense on time we would not have been humiliated in the United Nations’ Assembly.” All of us are great in being Monday morning quarterbacks. Jesus now instructs the crowd at the graveside:  “TAKE AWAY THE STONE”. So they took away the stone. The stone had to be removed for Jesus to resuscitate Lazarus. And stones have to be removed for Jesus to resuscitate the church today. The stones of pride, arrogance and insensitivity need to be removed for us to be a living church. Otherwise we will continue to look like dead people walking. The stones of our dead habits, selfish lifestyle and our indifferent attitudes toward others need to be removed. On Easter morning when I preach I will remind you again of the importance of stone removal. When the three women approached the tomb, they were filled with fear. Who will come to that gave and remove the heavy stone was the reason for their fear? It was early morning hours and to their dismay the stone had already been removed. It can happen again, and again. A secular novelist by the name of Walker Percy in his novel “The Second Coming” says, “IF CHRIST HAS BROUGHT LIFE INTO THE CHURCH, WHY DO THE CHURCHES SMELL OF DEATH?”
Lazarus story speaks more of life than death. In fact when Jesus heard of the news of the death of Lazarus he said to his disciples “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep come let us go and wake him up.” In an ancient Indian book of Ethics (Thirukkural) this is how death and life are so vividly portrayed. ”Birth is to wake up as death is to sleeping, and both are natural occurrences and they illustrate the impermanence of life”. A well-known Indian sage by the name Tagore, who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize for English literature, wrote:” DATH IS NOT EXTINQUISHING THE LGHT-IT IS PUTTING OUT THE LAMP-BECAUSE THE DAWN HAS COME”. However every time when I think of my own death I am horrified. Nobody knows when I will face my death. We may talk of the clinical death, the legal death and the spiritual death. We may say that when there is a cessation of respiration, cessation of blood circulation and cessation of brain function, death happens. Jesus said in this story, those who live and believe in me shall never die. What does that mean? Who am I? Am I just a body and a mind? Am I just a bunch of arteries and veins, the left and the right hemispheres of brain? Or is there something more? Did God form me from the dust of the earth and breathed into my nostrils the breath of life? Am I still a living soul? What happens to this soul when my body decays? Think about this!

The shortest sentence of the whole bible is found in this story.Jesus wept.” Jesus wept because he cared for a person called Lazarus. Jesus wept because he loved the Bethany family. Jesus was a person of love. Jesus with his love can remove all the stumbling stones in our midst. What then is the message of the Lazarus story? It is simply this:  When we weep and feel the pain of being human, crushed by the weight of the circumstances of life, struggles to get on with life itself, there is one who understands our feelings and our emotions. There is one who will weep for us.  For hundreds of years, year after year during the 3rd and the 4th and the 5th Sundays in Lent we have been hearing the same stories; the Samaritan woman’s story, the story of the man born blind and the Lazarus story. In the early church after 40 days of the long hours of study and discussion they asked some hard questions. Perhaps these stories helped them towards self-examination or self-diagnosis. I know we need them today to know more about our own selves.
A story is told of a patient who was complaining to his physician of a pain in several places. The doctor asked him to indicate where it hurts. He pointed first to his leg, then to his side and finally to his head. “Every time I press in these places it hurts”, he said. After a careful examination, the physician diagnosed his problem. “You have a broken finger”.

 The Samaritan woman reminds me to ask the question: Where do I thirst? The man who was born blind helps me to pose a question: In what ways am I blind?  Helen Keller once said “the saddest thing in the world is people who can see but have no vision”. And the Lazarus story raises to me the question: What part of me needs resuscitation and revivification?









The Lazarus Story!
John 11:17-37
Dear Friends!
Grace and peace are already ours for we belong to the family of Jesus the Christ. The Lazarus story was one of my favorites among the Sunday school classics. For at age 6, I was mesmerized by the power of Jesus to give life to the dead ones. Later on during my seminary years I learnt of two more things about this story. No 1. According to some legends Lazarus was resuscitated at age 30, went away to France with the two sisters, worked there as a Bishop for 30 more years and then died there. No 2. This story is not a miracle story for John uses the word “sign” instead of miracle, which means it points us to something beyond. The signs help us understand the glory of God at its depth. There is both power and powerlessness in God. There is grandeur and a misery as well in the God head. For John the miracle of the water turned into wine is a sign. The healing of the paralytic by the pool is another sign. The sermon you heard last Sunday of a man born blind receiving sight is another sign. With each sign Jesus also gave a theological interpretation. For example with the feeding of the 5000 Jesus pronounced, “I am the bread of life”. What does that signify? If you can live on that Jesus diet the hungry ones can be fed and those who thirst can be quenched. With the healing of the blind man Jesus announced boldly: “I am the light of the world “which means if you follow the light of Christ you can become the light to those who stumble in darkness. With the sign of bringing Lazarus back to life Jesus made a powerful theological statement. “I am the resurrection and the life”, which means If you abide in Jesus’s word, you may be able to help the walking corpses to live life with enthusiasm and dignity.

I do not know the mechanics and the methods Jesus employed to resuscitate Lazarus. But I do know of the criticisms he faced by the sisters. I do know of the instructions he gave to the crowd to bring Lazarus out of the grave. The two sisters were upset that Jesus didn’t show up on time for the memorial service. The professional mourners have come and sang their dirge and gone. However when Jesus arrived at the Bethany home he received comments of accusation: “SIR IF ONLY YOU HAVE BEEN HERE ON TIME OUR BROTHER WOULD NOT HAVE DIED.” These accusations are the most tragic expression of our vanities and helplessness. “If the surgeon had done that procedure right, my cousin would be living today. If the pastor had not made those stupid comments those two families would be still with us in this church today. If the president of our country had consulted the secretary of defense on time we would not have been humiliated in the United Nations’ Assembly.” All of us are great in being Monday morning quarterbacks. Jesus now instructs the crowd at the graveside:  “TAKE AWAY THE STONE”. So they took away the stone. The stone had to be removed for Jesus to resuscitate Lazarus. And stones have to be removed for Jesus to resuscitate the church today. The stones of pride, arrogance and insensitivity need to be removed for us to be a living church. Otherwise we will continue to look like dead people walking. The stones of our dead habits, selfish lifestyle and our indifferent attitudes toward others need to be removed. On Easter morning when I preach I will remind you again of the importance of stone removal. When the three women approached the tomb, they were filled with fear. Who will come to that gave and remove the heavy stone was the reason for their fear? It was early morning hours and to their dismay the stone had already been removed. It can happen again, and again. A secular novelist by the name of Walker Percy in his novel “The Second Coming” says, “IF CHRIST HAS BROUGHT LIFE INTO THE CHURCH, WHY DO THE CHURCHES SMELL OF DEATH?”
Lazarus story speaks more of life than death. In fact when Jesus heard of the news of the death of Lazarus he said to his disciples “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep come let us go and wake him up.” In an ancient Indian book of Ethics (Thirukkural) this is how death and life are so vividly portrayed. ”Birth is to wake up as death is to sleeping, and both are natural occurrences and they illustrate the impermanence of life”. A well-known Indian sage by the name Tagore, who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize for English literature, wrote:” DATH IS NOT EXTINQUISHING THE LGHT-IT IS PUTTING OUT THE LAMP-BECAUSE THE DAWN HAS COME”. However every time when I think of my own death I am horrified. Nobody knows when I will face my death. We may talk of the clinical death, the legal death and the spiritual death. We may say that when there is a cessation of respiration, cessation of blood circulation and cessation of brain function, death happens. Jesus said in this story, those who live and believe in me shall never die. What does that mean? Who am I? Am I just a body and a mind? Am I just a bunch of arteries and veins, the left and the right hemispheres of brain? Or is there something more? Did God form me from the dust of the earth and breathed into my nostrils the breath of life? Am I still a living soul? What happens to this soul when my body decays? Think about this!

The shortest sentence of the whole bible is found in this story.Jesus wept.” Jesus wept because he cared for a person called Lazarus. Jesus wept because he loved the Bethany family. Jesus was a person of love. Jesus with his love can remove all the stumbling stones in our midst. What then is the message of the Lazarus story? It is simply this:  When we weep and feel the pain of being human, crushed by the weight of the circumstances of life, struggles to get on with life itself, there is one who understands our feelings and our emotions. There is one who will weep for us.  For hundreds of years, year after year during the 3rd and the 4th and the 5th Sundays in Lent we have been hearing the same stories; the Samaritan woman’s story, the story of the man born blind and the Lazarus story. In the early church after 40 days of the long hours of study and discussion they asked some hard questions. Perhaps these stories helped them towards self-examination or self-diagnosis. I know we need them today to know more about our own selves.
A story is told of a patient who was complaining to his physician of a pain in several places. The doctor asked him to indicate where it hurts. He pointed first to his leg, then to his side and finally to his head. “Every time I press in these places it hurts”, he said. After a careful examination, the physician diagnosed his problem. “You have a broken finger”.

 The Samaritan woman reminds me to ask the question: Where do I thirst? The man who was born blind helps me to pose a question: In what ways am I blind?  Helen Keller once said “the saddest thing in the world is people who can see but have no vision”. And the Lazarus story raises to me the question: What part of me needs resuscitation and revivification?







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