Lent 5

Sermon preached by Richard Ames-Lewis

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” This is the opening sentence of the Church of England Funeral Service. I must have recited it hundreds of times over the course of my ministry. So must our vicar Anna. Sadly, we shall soon hear these words recited again at the funeral of Anna herself.

What does it mean to repeat these words “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live”? They are words of comfort, of course. They place the departed loved-one in our imagination into the open arms of our risen Lord.

These words come from St John’s gospel, The strident, confident proclamation of Jesus “I am the resurrection and the life” is the last and greatest of the I am sayings, the utterances by which Jesus described himself: – I am the good shepherd; I am the gate; I am the bread of life; I am the Way the Truth and the Life. The wonderful I am sayings have been building up to this point.

At a funeral, “I am the resurrection and the life” introduces the service. But when we hear it read, as we have today, during the gospel reading in the Eucharist, we hear it differently. We hear it in the context of the whole of St John’s gospel, chapter 11, the account of the most astonishing and dramatic of Jesus’s signs, the raising of Lazarus.

This is a story which combines tension, love, death, distress and glory. John has composed a narrative which takes us down to the depths of frustration and despair and up to the heights of awe and wonder. The raising of Lazarus is the last of his signs and marks a change in the direction of the gospel account:
from now on Jesus is facing danger and the inevitable path towards his trial and crucifixion. As in all John’s narratives, the purposes is to challenge us with the question, Who is this Jesus?

The story is in three scenes, and each scene has a climax. The first scene deals with Jesus making his way to Bethany, the home of Martha, Mary and their brother Lazarus. The second scene concentrates on the emotions of this family in the face of death. Scene three describes the raising of Lazarus itself. The storytelling skill of the gospel writer means that each scene in the story has a shape which takes the listener down to the depths and up to the climax, and, as each builds on the one before, the final climax is both extraordinary and glorious.

Let us look at each scene and each climax.

We have learned that Lazarus was ill. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha. We also learn that Jesus loved them – the first people in the gospel said to have been loved by Jesus. Clearly this is a household and a family where Jesus was at home. The sisters send a message to Jesus “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But Jesus delays to go to them. He tells his disciples “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory.” Then he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. After this delay, he sets out, and he knows that by now Lazarus has died. “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas misunderstands. He speaks for all the disciples when he says “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” By the time they get to Bethany, Lazarus has been in the
tomb four days. Martha meets Jesus, while Mary stays at home. You can sense her anger and resentment, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” The tension builds and there follows this amazing conversation “Your brother will rise again”, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” Then comes the climax, the funeral verse, “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.” This is the ultimate proclamation of Good News. “Jesus says, “Do you believe this?” Martha says, “Yes Lord I believe that you are the Messiah.”

We then move to scene two. Here we enter into everyone’s emotions, and especially those of Jesus himself. Martha goes to fetch Mary, who is at the house with all the mourners, and she comes out with the crowd. Mary kneels at his feet and through her tears repeats exactly the complaint of her sister “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Again, the tension builds. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved”. This word “greatly disturbed” is repeated later on in Scene 3. It is the Greek word embrimaomai. It means literally “I groan” with displeasure, anger, indignation. Jesus is groaning here, with sorrow mixed with anger. I think this is an emotion which we have all been feeling in recent weeks, and it is good to know that Jesus shared this emotion. But this is not all. He says, “Where have you laid him?” When they reply, “Lord, come and see”, “Jesus began to weep”. This is the climax. The shortest verse in the New Testament, John 11.35, is also the most profound. Jesus weeps in the face of the death of his friend. Jesus may be the son of God, but he is human, and he weeps. Again, an emotion which we are all familiar with these last two and a half weeks. Jesus shares it.

Then we come to scene three. The tomb. Jesus again is deeply disturbed. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. The reference to the Good Friday sepulchre is unmistakeable. Jesus says, “Take away the stone”. Martha says, “Lord already there is a stench because he has been dead four days”. But the stench of death is to be contrasted with the glory which will be revealed. The stone is taken away. Jesus looks up to heaven. He prays in communion with his heavenly Father, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I know that you always hear me, and I say this for the sake of the crowd standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” And then we move to the climax: Jesus cries “with a loud voice”. You will remember that Jesus, hanging on the cross,
cries with a loud voice. On Good Friday we shall hear just such a cry “It is accomplished”. Now this cry to Lazarus connects us to the terror of the crucifixion. Jesus cries, “Lazarus come out!” The Good Shepherd, whose voice is recognised by his sheep, who calls them by name, and who lays down his life for them, now calls Lazarus by name. And “the dead man came out”.

But Lazarus’s hands and feet are bound with strips of cloth; his face is wrapped in cloth. John is careful that we should take note of this. So Jesus says “Unbind him and let him go.” This is different from the Easter sepulchre, where the graveclothes will be found lying in the tomb, with the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head rolled up in a place by itself. What has happened in the raising of Lazarus may prefigure what will happen to Jesus, but it is resuscitation not resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus, and the hoped-for resurrection of us all, will only be achieved through his betrayal, passion, crucifixion, death and burial. This is a mystery through which Jesus redeems the sins of the world, brings us into the new light of forgiveness, and overturns once and for all the darkness of death.