John 11:1-45
Ezekiel 37:1-14
“Greatly Disturbed”
This morning’s Gospel story includes the Seventh Sign of John’s Gospel, the final miracle of Jesus that is included by the Fourth Evangelist to help convince those reading this book that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the One sent by God into the world.
Within the narrative of John’s Gospel, this incident in which Jesus raises Lazarus from death, accomplishes two important things. First, it does convince many people to believe – the Twelve Disciples who came along with Jesus, Lazarus’ siblings Martha and Mary, their friends and neighbours, and others who were present to witness the absolutely shocking and amazing miracle of making a dead man live again. The text tells us that many of them believed in Jesus because of what they saw, and others likely had their faith strengthened and confirmed.
The other thing that this Seventh Sign does is that it convinces the authorities and those opposed to Jesus and his mission that they had better do something to stop him, and do it quickly. Immediately following this episode, the religious leaders decide that Jesus must be put to death (John 11:53). They are worried that a sign such as this will convince the masses to believe in Jesus, and the Roman occupiers, fearing an insurrection, will crack down on the whole Jewish nation.
It’s possible that they may have been thinking about Scripture passages like the one we read today from Ezekiel 37 in which God says, “You will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves.” In that passage, the prophet sees a vision of a valley full of dry bones that represent to the People of Israel in Exile in Babylon. Although the people have run out of hope for the future, God’s message to Ezekiel is that they can be restored. There is still hope for them to live again as a nation on their own land because God is going to provide a way for them to return.
So, when Jesus starts raising dead people to life, the religious leaders are prompted to do something drastic to stop him. They don’t want to risk a revolution that could result from such a miracle if the people began to believe that God was going to help them overthrow the Roman occupiers.
Biblical commentator, Jennifer Garcia Bashaw explains that this story functions as a climax in the Gospel of John in several ways. First, it presents the last and greatest sign of Jesus’ identity as God’s Son, and makes the climactic transition into the plot to have Jesus arrested and executed.
She also describes this story as a self-identification climax. We hear Jesus identify himself blatantly as God when he says, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life.” Following this, Martha makes one of the most clear and firm statements of faith when she says, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
And finally, John chapter eleven is an emotional climax in the story. Bashaw helpfully examines the text for emotional and relational terms and find all of these:
- The message comes to Jesus in verse three that “he whom you love” has died.
- In verse five we read that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”
- In verse eleven, Jesus refers to Lazarus as “our friend.”
- In verses 19 and 31 we hear about friends and neighbours “consoling” the sisters.
- Then there’s a lot of “weeping” in verses 31-35, by Mary, by the neighbours, and by Jesus as well.
- Remarkably, we hear Jesus’ affect described as “greatly disturbed in spirit” and “deeply moved.”
- And then the people exclaim, “See how Jesus loved Lazarus!”
Bashaw notes that “the whole passage is saturated with emotional responses.” Whereas Jesus has previously been characterized in a more aloof way, affected only minimally by those around him, here, Jesus is shown to love his dear friends very much. He is deeply moved, and even weeps.
In our Wednesday Bible study, some of us wondered if we are seeing a bit more of Jesus’ human side in this story as he grieves at the death of his friend and empathizes with his other friends who are devastated by this loss. Although we can assume that the Divine Christ already knows that he’s going to raise Lazarus back to life, still the Human Jesus feels the pain of the present tragedy.
Certainly, there are many things that we might conclude from this vitally important story in John’s Gospel, but the one that I found the most compelling this week is the message that God, in Jesus Christ, is truly with us in the midst of the trials and tragedies of our lives.
Most of us can think back over our lives and remember some times when we felt a lot like Martha and Mary did after the death of their brother. And if you’re young enough or lucky enough that you haven’t had one of those times yet, I’m sure that you will.
It’s one of those times when all your plans seem to be unravelling and your hopes are evaporating. The pleasant pattern of your life has been interrupted by illness, accident, failure, bad luck, or death itself. If you ever felt like you were in the driver’s seat of your life, the wheel has been wrested from your hands, and you just can’t seem to get it back.
Some of you have been hearing bits and pieces about my father’s recent health crisis over the last couple of weeks. I’m happy to report that my parents are doing okay now, thanks to a reasonably adequate health care system in Ontario and the determination of my siblings who live nearby to get them through the crisis and back to a stable situation.
But in the midst of the trouble, I am sure that there were a lot of feelings. Frustration and anger, fear and uncertainty, worry and anxiety, and probably a healthy dose of grief over the sudden loss of independence and well-being. Many of you know a lot about those feelings from your own experiences in life, whether in the past or even right now.
The good news of the Gospel today is that Jesus – who loves us as much as he loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus – shows up for us as well. Like the family from Bethany, there may be times when we wished he’d made his presence known sooner, or with more practical help, or a more miraculous outcome. But the gift is that he shows up – sometimes in the family members’ faithful help, in the nurse’s tender care, in the minister’s visit and prayer, or in the Holy Spirit’s hovering presence and consolation.
I recently came across a helpful analogy in a video sermon by preacher, Timothy Keller. When I first watched it, I thought I’d file it away to pull out at Christmas-time when we are talking about the Incarnation and the gift of God choosing to come into our world to be with us in Jesus. But then I realized that today’s Gospel story is all about that wonderful gift as well.
Keller begins by talking about Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut, who (in 1961) became the first man that went into space and came back. Keller notes that the official doctrine of the Soviet Union was atheism at that time, and Gagarin came back from space and reported that he went up into space and he didn’t see God, which he thought confirmed the atheistic viewpoint.
In response to that comment, the Christian theologian and author, C.S. Lewis wrote a little essay called “The Seeing Eye.” In it, Lewis argued that if there’s a God, you wouldn’t relate to God the way a person on the first floor relates to a person on the second floor. In other words, you don’t find God by going higher up in your own space.
If God is our Creator, then we would relate to God not as a person on the first floor relates to a person on the second floor, but as Hamlet relates to Shakespeare. Now, how is Hamlet ever going to know anything about Shakespeare? Hamlet’s not going to find him anywhere on stage. He can go all over, and he’s never going to find him.
The only way he’s ever going to meet Shakespeare is if Shakespeare writes himself into the play. Shakespeare created Hamlet, and if Hamlet’s going to know anything about Shakespeare, Shakespeare’s going to have to write himself in.
Scroll forward. Dorothy Sayers was a mystery writer, and she wrote a set of mystery short stories and novels about a detective, a fictional detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. About halfway through the novels and the short stories, a love interest shows up, Harriet Vane, and they fall in love.
You see, the detective was very lonely. But then Harriet shows up and they fall in love and they live happily ever after. And many experts on Dorothy Sayer’s work believed that she had written herself into her own stories – that she had looked into this world she created and this character she created, and she saw that he was lonely and she loved him, and she wrote herself in to save him.
Timothy Keller then said, “I’m here to tell you that almost, not completely, but almost, that’s exactly what God has done. And that’s what the incarnation is about.”
God created us, and God looked at us and saw us flailing and sinking, and he loved us enough to write himself into our story. And that’s what the incarnation is. Jesus Christ is the Creator God becoming a human being and coming here to love us and to save us.
That’s what we see so clearly in the story of Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus – that Jesus loved them, and Jesus came to them, and Jesus felt their pain, and Jesus helped them. In the same way, Jesus wants to be a part of our story too, to show up for us, to share our joys and our sorrows, to walk with us, and to help us on our journeys.
When we are greatly disturbed, like Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus, Jesus is greatly disturbed also, and deeply moved. May we feel his presence with us always, and place our faith in God who has the power to bring the dead back to life and give us a future with hope.