Jesus, Lazarus and two sides of the stone

This is a reflection on the story of Lazarus found in John 11.  It is the gospel reading for All Saints Sunday.

A day will come when three women will go to the tomb and ask one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"  But not today.

Today we stand before another tomb, immersed in the grief of two sisters who have lost their brother; we stand before a stone which holds at bay the stench of death.
And we want to believe.

We want to trust, that this tomb is not just another dead end, and the promises we have learned and then taught others are real and to be trusted.  We want to know that our loved one: a spouse, a friend, a child a parent, rests in the arms of a merciful Creator.

Yet it is is even deeper than that.  We want to know about the deep dark places of our world - our places of fear and loss, our places of worry and powerlessness - we want to know if these too can be redeemed, if these too can be healed.

We are all too familiar with this side of the tomb.  Some days the brokenness of this world overwhelms us; deaths pile up around us in our personal lives, our community, our nation: opioid addiction, gun violence, evil and terror, relentless diseases, and toll of poverty.

As we stand before the tomb today we know that this is no place for slapping smiley face stickers.  We want to know where is Jesus in all this misery and suffering.  We want to know if this is as good as it gets.  We want to trust.

But it is hard.  Very hard.  Because we only know what we know: this man Lazarus who once was is now no more.  The life has drained out of him and now he lies behind that great stone, beyond our reach.  We only know that there seems to be no end to the wounds we are willing to inflict on one another, the wounds we both give and receive.

So it is easy to laugh at Jesus' words, just like the neighbors did in the ancient story.  He promises life when the evidence is right before our face.  It is so easy to stand with Mary and Martha's neighbors and mock this so called Savior.......when in fact we are longing for a truth which makes fools of us and all we think we know.

It is so easy to doubt when one is standing before that giant stone which is a monument to the place where it all ended; a monument to our forever powerlessness.  It is so easy to let go of hope.

"If only you had been here our brother would not have died."  Jesus was Mary and Martha's hope, right?  Jesus who claimed to be one with the Creator, who claimed to be the way, the truth and the life.  Standing before that stone it is easy to feel foolish for having invested in this Jesus, believing that the great feast that God was preparing for God's people would include them and us.

We are led to ask ourselves, "Are we the greater fools for believing in a reality beyond the one we see here?  Are we the greater fools for using whatever power we have to build up others, to care for our neighbor and to forgive the offenders.....instead of grabbing all the fun and wealth we can now? Have we not hoped that this one called Jesus could hold us fast in the face of all the forces who daily deal death?

Is it not our hope that this one called Jesus would call our name and pull us out of the deepest darkness where there is no life at all?  That Jesus would hold our lives as precious?

Jesus cried out, "Lazarus, come out" and we watch as Lazarus stumbles from the tomb with the shroud of death still covering him.  So Jesus commands again, "Unbind him, and set him free."

Free.  From death.  Free to live.  Free because of Jesus.

On this side of the tomb and on the other.  Unbound and set free in Christ's name.

On that first Easter morning, three women go to another tomb and ask one another. "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"

For all the saints: those who draw breath today; those who are yet to be born, and those who now live beyond our sight, there is is only one answer and his name is Jesus.

Locked doors work both ways

The Gospel of John, 20th chapter tells us that on the evening of Easter Sunday, the disciples locked themselves in an upper room because they feared for their life.  Now the writer says that the disciples were afraid that the authorities would find them.  You have to think they were a little worried that a risen Jesus would find them too.  A 'he who we thought was dead' Jesus on the loose in the world might have been too frightening to consider.


Whatever they were thinking inside that room, they certainly needed time to process (great 21st century term).  Perhaps the more level headed amongst them were still trying to make sense out of the women's tales about a missing, risen, alive Jesus.  You and I both know that we have no category in our thinking for such a phenomena; they were wrestling with something that up to that very day was impossible.  Ridiculous.  Out of this world.

A dozen or so people crammed into an airless room, suspicious of each other, and afraid of everyone else.........it wasn't a good atmosphere for rational thinking.  But of this I am certain, no matter what they were thinking or believing, they weren't about to take it to the streets and blab it all over the place.  That kind of thing was dangerous! They locked the door.  To keep the authorities out.  To keep strangers out.  To keep themselves inside.

Bet you recognize that attitude, that reluctance to take the news about Jesus to the streets.  You know, I believe in God deeply but I don't talk about it with other people.  I don't want to offend.  I don't want to look like a fanatic.  I don't want to lose friends, business, or dinner invitations.  I keep my faith to myself.

We have all kinds of locked doors to protect ourselves. We lock out those of questionable background.  We lock out those who talk about God differently from us.  We lock out those who don't know our special way of doing things.  We lock out those whose children are unruly.  We lock out those who can no longer make the stairs or hear the preacher or drive their cars.  We lock out those who speak a different language.

We lock out anyone who qualifies as 'other.' which of course is the most ironic, if not sad.  In the name of Jesus, we lock out the very people Jesus went out of his way to invite in.  Jesus who spent his entire ministry changing the locks, throwing open the doors, welcoming everyone and anyone, is now the reason we keep to ourselves.  Jesus found a way to speak with every stripe of human being; we huddle behind all kinds of barriers and avoid speaking to the stranger.

But when we lock others out, we also lock ourselves in.  We huddle in our worship spaces, repeating the prayers of the centuries, singing the most familiar music, as our numbers slowly diminish.  We lock the future out - and the fear inside only escalates. The very peace which we know in Jesus suffocates in our locked spaces, our locked minds and hearts.

....and we lose Jesus and the peace that he brings to us, the peace that he is to us, and the power of life that comes with that peace.

Yet, hear the good news.  No lock is going to keep Jesus from coming to you.  This crucified and risen Jesus will not be stopped by a cross, a tomb, a locked door...or a barricaded heart.  In him is peace, and that peace is a whole new life.  There is no end or limit to it.

Jesus appears to the grieving and frightened disciples not to scold or to judge, but to bring them peace.  That is the gift he continues to offer to every single person, a gift so powerful that once it is yours, you cannot lock it in either.

Doors.  Locks. Fear.
Jesus. Peace. Life.

Behind locked doors

For those of us allowed the privilege of proclaiming the gracious love of God in Jesus on a weekly basis, the story of "Doubting Thomas" is familiar.  It is always the lesson assigned to the first Sunday after Easter.  If you been preaching for 20 years, you have wrestled with a message about Thomas 20 times.

Many times the message is about faith v. doubt.  Since I believe most folks have moments - months - years of doubt, I think this kind of reflection can be helpful.  I'm pretty sure I've preached a couple of these myself.

But this year, I want to talk about doors.  The story tells us that the disciples had locked themselves in an upper room because they were afraid.  Now the writer of the gospel of John says they were afraid of the Jews, but if you know a little bit about the community for which John wrote, you begin to realize that 'the Jews' was shorthand for anyone who strongly opposed this new way of believing.  So we might substitute 'the Jewish leadership' for John's constant harping on 'the Jews'.  I expect the disciples were afraid of the Romans who had the authority to arrest and execute whomever they wished,   But to compromise, let's use the phrase 'the authorities.'

The disciples were afraid of the authorities; they didn't want anyone to know where they were - huddled together, with the rank fragrance of sweat pooling in the small, airless room.  Ten men plus some women crammed in this room, scared to death - not just of the authorities, but of one another!  Who knew if there was yet another Judas in their midst?  I expect they kept a close eye on one another.....

....which brings me to doors. They locked themselves in.  They closed themselves off from the rest of the world.  They were suspicious of strangers and not really sure of one another I would guess.

None of which stopped the risen Jesus.  Not the door.  Not their fear.  Not their total failure to stand by him in his most agonizing hour.  Jesus simply appeared.

If a cross, a stone and a tomb can't lock you in, do you really think a locked door is going to keep you out?  Jesus simply appears - to bring a word of peace, which is a word of forgiveness and love.  "Do not be afraid"  he says.  A tall order on any day of the week.

Jesus steps into the center of their grief and paralyzing fear, not to scold or judge, but to bring peace.

.....which is what Jesus is doing today as well....stepping into all those locked places of our lives, places which hold grief, anger, wounds, fear, doubt, hunger....and offers us peace.  Not judgement.  Not guilt.  Peace.

Walk any street and consider what truths are hiding behind all those locked doors. Consider all the hurting people hiding themselves away.  Know that this Jesus won't let a locked door stop him from bringing a word of peace.  You can count on it.  You can count on him.  He's right there waiting to be peace in your life.

Do not be afraid of this one from God.  He comes in peace.

Is it over? Did I miss it?

The last egg hunt has ended.  The baskets and candy are half price, and the lovers of Peeps are stashing a bunch before the supply is gone. You are now entering the season of 50 New and Exciting Ways to Eat Hardboiled Eggs! Easter is done.  At least it is at WalMart where all things Easter are in the Very Deep Discount aisle.

Is this really true?  One and done?  Did I miss it? All this fuss is about bunnies and chocolate eggs?

Not really. According to the story, when the women found the tomb empty, no one believed them.  Some of the men then went to see and behold! The tomb was empty!  There are stories of appearances and angels and even an earthquake.

Tell that story today and they still won't believe you.  It is an outrageous story.  The dead one was now alive.  He walked out of his own funeral.  He is living a new kind of life.  Outrageous.

So folks tells stories about crocuses and butterflies and renewal of the spirit; they are substituted for this crazy story about a dead man walking.  We understand green sprouts pushing through the thawing ground of our winter earth.  We are lifted by the return of life to our winter world of the north.  Daffodils and tulips and lilies and Alleluia.

Except that is not Easter nor is it resurrection.  That is not the world being turned upside down and inside out.  That is not the power of the Divine beyond the visible of this world.  That is a fraud.

Easter is not like anything else.  Easter is not a metaphor nor is it a Feel Good story about overcoming the odds.  Easter is as unique as the word unique can engender.  Easter is LIFE even when we cannot understand it, or most especially when we cannot understand it.

It is almost impossible to believe, but on those days, or in those moments when you do really truly believe.......it will turn your world around.

We wait and watch........

This day is called Holy Saturday, a day of watching and waiting.  Which, of course, we are not doing.  We do not watch and wait and the women who loved Jesus did not watch and wait either, at least not in the same way.

They were not biding their time until the Sabbath was over in order to proceed with the Great. Divine. Plan because...they had no idea what the Great. Divine. Plan. was.  They had no expectation of an empty tomb.  Perhaps they spent this day (im)patiently waiting for observance of the Sabbath to pass. [Not that Jesus was all that strict a Sabbath rule follower and that scene in the temple seemed to imply that there was a whole new set of rules to be applied. Yet, women have learned since the dawn of time that standing in front of a male dominated power structure and breaking the rules has some serious, often life threatening consequences.]  More importantly I think, the women were no different from the others - when they watched Jesus die on that cross they were certain the story was over.  They waited, ready to do the work of anointing Jesus' dead body on the morrow. Nothing more, nothing less. Deep grief.

In fact,they may have been watching for approaching danger, either  Roman or Jew, come to arrest them because of their association with this Jesus.  In the gospel of John the disciples (and I am sure it wasn't just men) had locked themselves in an upper room because of their fear.  They may have been keeping an eye on each other - wondering if there was another Judas among them.

I expect they were sitting shivah.  They were observing that time of disbelief and yet horrid 'it's all too real' belief that descends upon every family when a loved one dies, especially when it is unexpected, violent, tragic.  They would stare at one another without seeing a thing.  They would have no energy, unable to keep focused on much of anything, not really hungry, dazed, surprised that the world seemed to continue on its axis when their world was crushed.  Every so often someone would begin a story with "Remember that time when....." and for a moment or two he would be present again and the terrible burden of the truth would be lifted.  I expect they found themselves in that space between now and the rest of their lives.

We, on the other hand, are not observing some religious rule in our waiting for this holy day to pass.  Neither are we watching for the danger of approaching authorities, nor the betrayal of a Judas.  We are not making plans for purchasing spices to anoint a dead body.  We do not hang in suspense whether the tomb will truly be empty on the morrow.  The Easter proclamation "He is not here.  He has been raised." was the dawn of a new creation.  The Jesus who was raised then, is raised now.  The tomb is forever and eternally empty.

However, this might be true.  On that day of waiting and watching, the disciples were weighed down with love and grief.  On this day of waiting and watching, we are weighed down with disbelief - or perhaps even worse, disinterest.  The disciples were so close they could barely breathe; we are so far distant we barely pay attention.  Our danger is not in the authorities but in our disconnect from the Divine Story, and the wondrous grace being poured out.  We wonder what difference this makes, even if it is true.


I too have been paralyzed by the disbelief of sudden grief and loss. It is difficult, painful, lasting.  In the end, it is preferrable to the empty void of meaninglessness  carved out by a life of unbelief.

We wait with longing for the sunrise on the morrow and the proclamation, once again, He is Risen!  He is risen indeed! because, in the end, our very lives are found in those words and in that Savior.

Thinking about funerals

It has been a year of funerals.  Some of them expected.  Some of them made it hard to swallow.

Today I did a graveside service for a family.  I had sat with them as their loved one slowly let go of this life and embraced the next.  It took a lot longer than any of us expected, but then you could always count on this person to say or do the unexpected.

It got me thinking about what I would want when I was the one lying in that bed, looking nothing like myself and certainly nothing like I would want to look.  I am thinking I'd like to hear my children tell stories and laugh; I'd like to hear some solid hymns (I'll be sure to leave a list) and a few pieces of classical music; prayers would be nice, especially the old liturgical ones.

But in the end, I think I would like to have someone reading scripture: the stories I have come to love which have opened the door to the transcendent God for me.  The story of Moses arguing with God; Jeremiah's complaint that the Word of God was a fire in his belly.  I'd like to hear again Mary's song of praise and trust in God from Luke and the story of the woman with the 12 year flow of blood who touched the hem of Jesus' garment.  Perhaps in the end I would like to hear again of how Mary anointed Jesus' feet and then Jesus turned around and washed the feet of the disciples.

Then finally, Mark 16.1-8  Early in the morning on the first day of the week the women went to buy spices.and then went to the tomb.  They said to one another "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"  When they looked up, the stone had been rolled away and a young man said, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here....."

When the moment comes when those who have loved me (for reasons I will never truly understand but for which I am deeply grateful) see that I am no longer there, I want them to know that those were the words that shaped my life and they are my legacy to them.

As for me, I will be with the risen Lord.

When was the last time........

......the demons drove you into the wild?


When was the last time..... life as you knew it stopped on a dime and you couldn't catch your breath and day after day you saw no way back to normal again?

When was the last time.......a hurt became a grudge became a quiet campaign (conducted in lower voices) to defame the source of your pain?

When was the last time.....a minor mishap became a explosion of emotion and energy that forced family and friends to duck behind some kind of shelter until the storm passed?

When was the last time....you watched as a friend moved from disappointment to fear to despair as they began to believe the voices in their heads telling them they had no worth?

There are forces in our world which want to deprive you of life.......the ease to breathe, to move among us, to walk with self-worth, to make plans for the future, to feel safe in your own body.  There are forces that will seep into our broken places and then drain us of the life that God has given us.

We have heard much in the news of the Stanford rape case.  When I read the victims letter I thought - ahhh, there are the demons at work.   I am not speaking of the man who assaulted her. That young woman spoke of her struggle against all that wanted to hold her prisoner in a place that is only dark and never light- a place of constant vigilance and fear, a place where she would forget who she was.  Rather, in the wake of that horrible experience, the victim was assaulted again and again by forces that would rob her of her future.  She has fought powerfully to find her way back to life again.  To live without fear and without hate.

I know, we modern people don't believe in demons or evil spirits, but I think that a little thought will lead us to see times when we 'just couldn't let it go' or times when 'somehow it got blown all out of proportion' or times when disappointment crushed us and made it hard to step forward again.

These are the times when our relationship with God becomes our lifeline.  It is exactly the time to remind ourselves that we are children of the Divine Creator; God knows our name and desires goodness for us.  It is exactly the time to be surrounded by others who are strong, who will say the name of Jesus and pray for our welfare.  It is exactly the time to eat bread and drink wine and be filled with our Lord's strength.

It is exactly the time to remember the day we call Good Friday when evil took hold of people's cowardice and fear and executed the one who brought healing into this world...the day evil thought it was in charge.

Then remember this.....'early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women brought spices so to anoint Jesus' body....'

but he was not there.

In the end, love wins.

Resurrection, baptism and Monday morning

Monday morning.  Most maligned hours of the week.  Shut off the alarm, jump in the shower, grab some breakfast....begin the familiar routine of yet another work week, another foray into the world filled with challenges, disappointments, responsibilities and not as much peace as we would like.

After the different rhythms of even a busy weekend, Monday morning demands our attention, so it is not surprising that resurrection and baptism are not the most present things on our minds.  Resurrection and baptism are things that were checked off our To Do list long ago.  Right now we need peanut butter and jelly and gas for the car.

If I weren't writing this right at this moment I would be right behind you in line for use of the bathroom.  This world demands our attention and we pay a huge price if we lose focus and get caught day dreaming.  Living out our day as a baptized child of God feels like one more responsibility, not the great adventure that God intends for us.

It seems that life has managed to get more and more complex and the pressure to keep up or wash out just grows daily.  Any request to take on one more thing is considered suspiciously because at some point all our plates will stop spinning and china will crash to the floor.  We are perilously close to our limit - that place where our worth and ability run out and we are empty and useless. So baptismal covenants and resurrection life have found their place at the back of the closet; two more things that I don't have to think about right now.

Let's drag that baptismal water and empty tomb out from storage and re-consider.  Let's consider the power of the Holy Spirit - the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead into new and eternal life - the Spirit that anointed you in your baptism - the Spirit that works through you in this world to bring people and situations out of death and into new life.....THAT spirit.  Could you use a little of that today?

Let's consider that good news that you are beloved.  Today.  Right now...even though the laundry didn't get done this weekend and the dog is throwing up on the rug.  You are God's beloved and anything that might keep you separated from this God is off the table: forgiven and forgotten.  Even in the midst of one of your worst tantrums, when you are egregiously wrong, you are loved and Jesus walks beside you like your friend from elementary school.  Could you face a time today when that memory will hold you together and give you a glimpse of the holy?

Let's consider that God knows your name.  Sure, on the bus you are one face among 60 others; people you don't know.  Sure, HR knows you when they locate your file but even that won't matter if they need to lay off 15 people.  Sure, the soccer coach only knows you as that mother who runs in late and keeps murmuring about Sunday practices.  We are one of the great crowd of anonymous people to everyone out there but God.  God never forgets and is always available for a chat, a confession, a cry of fatigue.  Is it possible that today you will need to know that you are known by God?

The water of baptism is the beginning of resurrection life for us - real life, authentic life, life that gives life rather than continually subtracting it into nothingness.  The water of baptism calls us into a relationship that can mold and nurture us every moment of every day.  It is a new pair of glasses with which to see the world.  It is a new medicine that regulates our heart.  It is a pair of Italian leather loafers which cushion our walk through this lifetime.

So when you stand in the shower tomorrow morning, think baptism.  Your day will be changed because your life has been changed.  T
he baptismal waters are meant to disturb your life, your day, your dreams, your actions, your hopes, your plans. You go out into this world as a baptized child of God to live the life of resurrection and spread it around willy-nilly to absolutely everyone.

Here's a prayer to start your day:  Lord, disturb me this day.

I won't answer for you, but as for me, my day could use a little more disturbance by this God who loves me so dearly.

Do you want to be made well?

It seems a straightforward enough question:  "Do you want to be made well?"

This anonymous man had been waiting by that pool at Bethsaida for 38 years, waiting for a healing.  The rumor around the pool was this:  every so often an angel stirred up the water of the usually quiet pool, and the first person into the water received healing.  Unfortunately, this man had no one to help him into the pool and, well, someone always got there ahead of him.  So, 38 years later, he was still waiting.

.....which would, to me, make his answer to Jesus' question all the more obvious.  "Do you want to be made well?"  Of course!  Finally!  Thank God!  Yes, please!  Any of these would do.

Yet that's not what we get.  All of this set me to wondering why he would hesitate to embrace the opportunity, even if it turned out to prove false.  Why wouldn't he want to be healed?

First, he would have to go home.  The pool was a place for healing, not hanging out with some friends.  His place there would disappear.  In fact, the only place that had been home for him for 38 years would no longer be his.  That might cause a person to pause.

Second, we have no idea if he had a home to return to.  If he had truly had no one to help him into the water for 38 years, perhaps he had no family at all waiting for his return.  Perhaps they had forgotten him long ago, wrote him off as a burden.

Furthermore, would they even recognize him?  Up until this moment his identity was as the paralyzed man who lived next to the pool at Bethsaida.  If he picks up his mat and goes home, well, he could easily just blend into the crowd, no one special, identity gone.  And now that begging would no longer be an option for him, he would have to get a job.  Like being a farm hand.  Labor.  Hard labor.  After 38 years of nothing.

Perhaps it isn't so difficult to imagine his hesitancy.

Our Maundy Thursday confession includes this same idea when we say  "I ask for healing, Lord, but in the end, I prefer my sin to your healing."  Or, to state it another way, 'rather the often uncomfortable life I have to the unknown comforts of a new and unfamiliar life.'...like the life we are called in to in baptism, where the water is disturbed by the Holy Spirit, wholeness is ours as a gift from God, and our lives are forever disturbed.

Healing would disturb this man's life.  All the years he waited and watched for the water of the pool to be disturbed so he could chase after healing. Now that healing was simply offered to  him perhaps he had time to consider how much it would disturb his life.

I wonder if we are stuck in an old, paralyzed life, afraid to truly grab hold of a life of wholeness offered by God in Jesus.

so, to re-cap: love one another

The love that called Jesus out of the grip of death and into life, out of the back of the tomb, out of the darkness into eternal light.......

that is the same love that God expressed when God created all that exists.  It is a love so powerful that its expression is life, its goal is life, its being is life.  The same love that broke the bonds of this earth will break those bonds again when it calls each and everyone one created by God out of the tomb of fear and into the new life which is life in God.

 Jesus was certain God's love was sufficient to call him out of the tomb and into resurrection.  Jesus was certain it could and it would.  Jesus' presence among us is to remind us and to make us certain it can and it will.  This is resurrection love: it is powerful and it is life giving.

That isn't to say that it is easy.  Loving another into resurrection is demanding work.

It's not just that the tomb is dark and deep, but we cling to its walls, refusing to let go of the very things that hold us captive.  We see the light and dismiss it as a figment of someone's imagination, a false hope, a dead end.....without ever seeing the irony of our own image of 'dead end.'

We wrestle with the gift of life.  In order to pick up the life offered by God we must put down the weight of all that burdens us, wounds us, wounds others, drains the goodness out of us and leaves us without the energy to claim the life that is offered.

We argue with the gift of life.  When we look around us we can see no sensible order; seems some folks are way ahead on the 'light of life' game.  We get angry when the wounds of others crash into us and we are wounded as well.  We get so angry we pickup our weapon of choice: jealousy or revenge or even building higher walls so we can 'protect' ourselves....when in fact we are locking ourselves away.We reject the gift of life because it is offered to folks we think are unworthy with words like immoral.  We slap at the hands of those who offer to lead us into the light.

Jesus is God's concrete call to all of creation to come out of the tomb and live in the light.  "Follow me," Jesus said as he offers to lead us to a better place, an eternal place.

Oh yes, and bring your friends.  Tell them the story.  Tell them your story.  Invite them to walk with you on this journey called faith - not a journey into darkness but a journey into revealing light.  Work with them, walk with them, hold fast to them, cajole them when necessary.  Bring food for the journey and good hiking shoes because this is a stoney path.

Along the way you will begin to experience the very resurrection you seek.  You will slough off that which kills and strive towards the love that Jesus incarnated.  You will become love yourself and be the guide for others to Jesus' side.

That's what we're talking about.  Resurrection love.  Manifest in Jesus.  Given to you.  For you to share with others.  It's so powerful that death will flee and only God will remain.

Like I said at the beginning, we're not talking about fairy dust and unicorns here.  We're talking resurrection.

"Love one another.  As I have loved you, love one another."