God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is
entitled These People, This Person and Predicaments, and my focus is on our
Gospel (John 11:1-44). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I
rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now
that our feet are standing within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As
we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love
deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
Have you ever asked yourself, “Who are these people?” I
remember asking myself that when flying to Israel a number of years ago, and
then realized that they were rabbis. I asked myself when we were grocery
shopping in some Midwest supermarket, and realized all these young women over
6’ tall were members of a college volleyball team. It’s a question we ask today
of three people with important roles in John’s Gospel and life of the Church:
Martha, Mary and Lazarus.
The family lived in Bethany, a village one and three-quarters
miles east of Jerusalem. There is no mention of the town in the Old Testament,
and there is some doubt that the site of the current Bethany is the same as
that mentioned in John’s Gospel. The name Bethany means either “House of Misery”
or “House of Dates.”
In Bethany Jesus received hospitality. In Mark we read that while
Jesus “was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was
reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure
nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head”
(14:3). Matthew wrote that after Jesus cleansed the Temple, he went to Bethany
(21:17). Luke records that as Jesus approached Jerusalem, “he drew near
to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet” (19:29). He
also wrote that this is where Jesus led the disciples before he ascended into
heaven (24:50ff.). Thus, it is known that Bethany is a place where Jesus went
often and everyone knew his name.
Martha is mentioned twice in John, chapter 11 and 12. She is
mentioned in Luke 10, where she welcomed Jesus into her house. We are all
familiar with Martha’s complaint that her sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet
while she prepared and served the meal. Both sisters were disciples who sought
to please the Lord.
In today’s passage, St. John identifies Mary not only as the
sister of Martha and Lazarus, but also as the one “who anointed the Lord
with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair” (3), which is reported
in chapter twelve, when Jesus went to Bethany before Passover. “Martha
served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary
therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed
the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with
the fragrance of the perfume” (1-3).[1]
Apart from being the sister of Martha, there is some
confusion on the certainty of who Mary was. When we take all four Gospels together,
some believe that there are three distinct women: the “sinner” of Luke (7:
36-50); the sister of Martha and Lazarus (Luke 10: 38-42 and John 11); and Mary
Magdalene. This goes back to the Greek and Latin Fathers and today, among
Catholic and Protestant scholars. If you are interested in that detail, check
the footnote.[2]
Lazarus is the Latin form of Eleazar, a name that means “God
has helped,” and mentioned throughout the Old Testament. During the time of
Jesus, Eleazar was one of the more popular names for Jewish males. Other than
being a close friend of Jesus and sick, there is little to know about Lazarus.
We should note, however, that this is not the same person identified in Luke’s Parable
of The Rich Man and Lazarus. To conclude my first point, we now know something about
“These People.”
My second point is This Person. In
this passage the sisters properly addressed Jesus as Lord and Teacher or Rabbi.
The way people identified Jesus was much different than how Jesus identified
himself. Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus identifies himself using the phrase “I
Am.” The phrase is used 45 times leading many interpreters to believe that St. John’s
Jesus was making divine claims. The use of this phrase is connected to the Old
Testament.[3] In Exodus, God revealed
himself to Moses by saying, “I AM WHO I AM.” God told him to tell the people, “I
AM has sent me to you” (3:14), and later God said, “I am the LORD” (6:2).
Recall that
several weeks ago that Jesus said to the Samaritan Woman at Jacob's well, “I
who speak to you am he” (4:26). Several times while speaking to the Jews in
Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus used the phrase. He said, “When
you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am (he), and that
I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me”
(8:28). Later, he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am”
(8:58). He also used the phrase at the Last Supper and when arrested.[4]
Using this phrase,
Jesus identified himself as the Bread of Life (6:35, 41, 48, 51), the Light of
the World (8:12; 9:5), the Door (10:7, 9), the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14), the Way,
the Truth, and the Life (14:6) and the True Vine (15:1, 5). Again, all of these
have roots in the Old Testament where they are used primarily to speak of God.[5]
His opponents, who
supposedly knew the Scriptures, did not understand why Jesus used these phrases
to identify himself as God the Son, and accused him of blasphemy. Even his
disciples did not understand. We read how Jesus chastised them by saying, “Have
I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me
has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? … The hour is
coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home,
and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me”
(14:9; 16:32).
In today’s
passage, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (11:25). Her
confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ was steadfast. No doubt that Mary
confessed the same faith in Jesus. So, what does Jesus mean when he calls
himself the Resurrection and the Life?
First, when Jesus
responds to Martha’s belief that her brother will rise again in the
resurrection on the last day, his statement is a direct answer to this and he
is telling her that he is the present realization of what to expect on the last
day. Jesus is the Resurrection! If you believe in Jesus, even though you will
go to the grave, you will come to eternal life because life is from above –
from God – and through the Spirit, life conquers death.
Second, Jesus is
that life. Whoever receives the gift of life through belief in Jesus
will never die a spiritual death, for this life is eternal life.[6] The resurrection and life
are what Jesus is in relation to people. They are what he gives to people, to
you and me.
Martha probably understood
Jesus in the same way the Samaritan woman did – as a prophet. Only when he told
her to go and call her husband did that woman begin the search for a deeper,
more meaningful faith. In that exchange, Jesus taught. Here, he will act out
the drama that raises Lazarus to life.
Folks, what is it
that Jesus said to you – whether in Scripture or in prayer – that led you to search
deeper for a more meaningful faith, a more profound faith in Christ and what he
can do for you, not so much as individual believers, but to a greater degree,
as Church, as a congregation?
You know, as we
explore the Gospels throughout the Season of Easter, we will hear Jesus pray
for us (John 17) and break bread before us (Luke 24) so that we come to see
ourselves not simply as a group of 50 people who come together for an hour on
Sunday mornings, but as a powerful sign of God’s sovereignty actively alive in His
world. Realizing that will be much more exciting and longer-lasting than the
thrill of basketball’s Final Four.
Martha and Mary
saw the miraculous work of the Father when Jesus raised Lazarus. Jesus’ prayer
was for people to see this miracle, this sign, and even more importantly, to
come to know the Father and receive life themselves. John does not dwell on the
act of raising Lazarus. For John – and for us – what is crucial is knowing that
Jesus has the power to give eternal life on this earth and a belief in Jesus’
promise that in time he will raise the dead. That will include my parents and
your parents, our ancestors and friends, and every blessed believer we have
ever known.
And that, brings
me to my third point, predicament. A predicament is an unpleasantly difficult,
perplexing, or dangerous situation. But for those of you who took the required
college philosophy class, you may remember that a predicament was one of
Aristotle’s categories, meaning something that is predicted or asserted. The
Romans borrowed the word from the Greeks, and formed praedicatus, meaning
to assert, proclaim or declare publicly before it happens. Here, Jesus made one
bold public assertion before he and his Father made it happen.
The predicament
was that his friend was dying, and he waited until he fell asleep to go see
him. This may have perplexed not only his disciples, but also Lazarus and his
sisters. As I said in my children’s message – the distance from Jesus to
Bethany was from here to Blackhawk High School. Google tells me that I can walk
the distance in 38 minutes. But God does not think or work like Google or us.
By waiting Jesus did more for Lazarus and his sisters than by going to see him
breathe his last breath. It is how God worked then. It is how God works today.
We’re in a
predicament. We will gather here only for four more Sundays. After that, we gather
in a new space. We believe, however, that God’s plan is always bigger than
ours, at least his plan is always bigger and better than mine; and so, there is
something to be said about faithfulness. If you recall my sermon on the First
Sunday of Lent, the Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness, I spoke of how
Israel did not prove themselves to be faithful to the God who delivered them
from Egypt, and how Jesus showed himself and us to be the faithful Son of the
Father. God calls us to be faithful like Jesus to the Father’s plan and to
worship Him wherever we are.
Friends, I have
led worship in many churches, and I have led worship in nursing homes and state
mental hospitals, on ships and in social halls, in gymnasiums and parks, even
in a pub in Ireland. God can be worshipped by the Church anywhere because we
are Church. Because we are Church, may the peace of God that surpasses all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] A
careful reading shows that John does not conflict with the accounts in Mark and
Matthew for one cannot prove that Martha could not serve in Simon’s house. See https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09721b.htm
[3]
For more on this, a good online resource is https://catholic-resources.org/John/Themes-IAM.htm
and https://catholic-resources.org/John/Sharing8.html.
[4]
John 13:19; 18:5, 6, 8.
[5]
Bread of Life / Bread from Heaven - Exodus 16; Num 11:6-9; Ps 78:24; Isa
55:1-3; Neh 9:15; 2 Mac 2:5-8; Light of the World - Exod 13:21-22; Isa 42:6-7;
Ps 97:4; Good Shepherd - Ezek 34:1-41; Gen 48:15; 49:24; Ps 23:1-4; 80:1;
100:3-4; Micah 7:14; Resurrection / Life - Dan 12:2; Ps 56:13; 2 Mac 7:1-38;
Way - Exod 33:13; Ps 25:4; 27:11; 86:11; 119:59; Isa 40:3; 62:10; Truth - 1
Kings 17:4; Ps 25:5; 43:3; 86:11; 119:160; Isa 45:19; Vine / Vineyard - Isa
5:1-7; Ps 80:9-17; Jer 2:21; Ezek 17:5-10.
[6] Raymond
E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (I-XII). Garden City, NY: Doubleday
& Company, Inc. (1966), p. 434.
No comments:
Post a Comment