John
11:1-45
Lazarus is dead. And one of Lazarus'
sisters, Martha, can’t make sense of it. She can’t make sense of it because she
knows that Jesus loved Lazarus. And she knows that Jesus loves her. Yet when
they really needed him he didn’t come, at least not in any timely manner. And
now Lazarus - her beloved brother, and likely her sole provider and protector
as well - is dead.
Lord, if you had been here!
It’s the first thing out of Martha’s
mouth when Jesus finally decides to show up. “Lord, if you had been here!” Did
Jesus hear anger, grief, confusion, fear? Probably all that and more. Because I
know when I or others have made similar cries to God they are loaded with
layers. Lord, if you had been here...my loved one would not have died. Lord, if
you had been here, my ability to pay my bills would not have died. Lord, if you
had been here...my marriage, my sobriety, my dreams for the future...would not
have died. Lord, if you had been here!
So what do we do as people of faith when
Jesus, who we hopefully know loves us - and not just loves us passively, but as
our Bishop Susan is wont to say, loves us fiercely - what do we do when God who
loves us so doesn’t show up in our lives and save the day? Perhaps Martha can
show us the way as she goes to Jesus and pours out her distress.
“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus
tells her. Cold comfort for a grieving sister. Likely it rang in Martha’s ears
as a hollow religious platitude along the lines of, “Don’t be sad, he’s in a
better place,” or “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” or “Don’t
worry, this is all part of God’s plan.” Martha was a woman of faith. She
already knew that her brother would rise again in the resurrection on the last
day. But what she didn’t know was that’s not what Jesus was talking about here.
Jesus wasn't offering some far off hope to grasp, but a present reality to
live. The truth that right there and then, in the present moment of Martha’s
grief Jesus was, Jesus is resurrection and life. Even though circumstances
hadn’t changed on the outside - Lazarus was still dead and Martha had no idea
what was coming - her encounter with Jesus changes her on the inside. Something
shifts or opens in a way so that she is able to say, “Yes Lord, I believe.”
Jesus is the resurrection and the life in
all times and in all places, for sure. But that truth, and the peace that comes
with that, can only be known to us in the present. Martha experienced it,
amazingly, in the midst of her grief. We too can experience it right now, no
matter what this moment holds for us. For it is only and always in the here and
the now where we find Jesus as our resurrection and life.
Is that what you want? I know I do. I not
only want resurrection and life I need resurrection and life, especially in
these unsettled times. So if you are like me, I invite you to join in seeing
that need, that desire, as a gift. A gift of the Holy Spirit prompting us to
pause more often in our disrupted days, seek Jesus in the moment and trust
God’s resurrection and life.
That’s not to say that resurrection and
life protects us from all harm - as in “Lord, if you had been here…” everything
would be ok. It’s quite telling, isn’t it, that the one who is himself the
resurrection and the life is not protected from harm and, in this account, is
deeply affected by human grief and loss- so much so that Jesus joins the
mourners in weeping for Lazarus. And in doing so his tears make our tears holy.
But even tearful or worrisome times Jesus
remains the resurrection and the life. And we can trust that nothing, not the
powers of pain or fear or even death, as real as they are, can stop the spirit
of God from working her ways in our lives and in our world. For God’s love -
God’s fierce love - will always bring forth life from death.
“Those who believe in me,” says Jesus,
“even though they die, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will
never die. Do you believe this?”
Together, for we are one in the Spirit,
let us answer with a resounding “Yes!”
Yes, Lord, we believe!
We believe in the one who meets us in
this very moment. The One who is our resurrection and our life.
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