The Raising of Lazarus
Two Sundays ago, Moses brought forth water from the rock, while in the Gospel, we overheard
the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well. But the Lord wasn’t just teaching us
about physical thirst. The deeper message was about spiritual thirst, for living water.
Last Sunday the man born blind came on to the Gospel scene. Here too, once Jesus gave the man
his physical sight, we were led to probe the effects of spiritual blindness. When we are open,
Jesus can open our eyes to all manner of truth.
Today is no different. Ezekiel, St. Paul, St. John are all leading us to consider physical life and
death, but also to contemplate spiritual life and death.
Let’s hear from Ezekiel first. It would have been good to hear all of chapter 37 in Ezekiel, to put
what we did hear in context. Let me summarize: (singing) Ezekiel cried: ‘Dem dry bones. Dem
bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Dem bones, dem bones, gonna rise again. Gonna hear the
Word of the Lord’ So there you have chapter 37. Ezekiel has a vision: a valley of dry bones.
Judah has been conquered, her temple destroyed, her people dragged into exile. All seemed lost,
hopeless, like dry bones scattered in the desert, dried up, dismembered, dead. But Ezekiel knew
God who breathed spirit into dust and created Adam could also speak the Word and breathe spirit
into those scattered, dried up bones. With mercy and forgiveness, God was about to breathe life
back into the nation and her people. Through Ezekiel’s vision, God announced hope to the
exiles: ‘This is what I mean to do.’ And God did it. The exiles did return. The nation was
revived. The passage we just heard: all this was no less miraculous than should people rise up
from their graves!
Does Ezekiel have a message for us? There are nations in death throes today. There are
communities that feel broken, shattered, without hope. God’s spirit can still work wonders. As a
community spiritually alive, we pray for communities that are suffering, broken, in need of an
outpouring of spirit, a Word from the Lord.
From the broader focus of nation or community, Paul narrows the focus, to each believer. But
before looking at what he has to say, an important reminder. Paul often contrasts living in the
flesh, and living in the Spirit. But he is NOT dividing every person into two parts, the flesh, the
body, bad part; the spirit, good part. Not at all! When he speaks of flesh, it is not just the body, it
is human limitation, human weakness, without God. Paul makes it clear, human limitation and
weakness, without divine help, leads to sin. If we wallow in that weakness, and fail to take the
hand God reaches out to us in Christ, the quicksand takes hold, and pulls us to spiritual death.
But let Christ take us by the hand, and pull us out of the mire, and we are empowered to live in
the Spirit. Hold on to that hand, strive to live in the Spirit, and Christ begins to dwell in us –
THAT is spiritual life, the life that cannot be conquered by death. Jesus doesn’t just pull us up
into spiritual life, he pulls us through the paschal mystery into eternity.
So God can breathe life and spirit into communities, restoring even those that seem hopelessly
fractured.
Christ reaches out to us, and can bring us to spiritual life, even life eternal.
And then we have Lazarus!
In his Gospel, John loves to begin on a simple, surface level. Then we are drawn to a deeper
level. He circles once again, to the deepest truth yet.
As a kid, I think I saw this Gospel story as pretty straightforward. Jesus was best friends with
Martha, Mary and Lazarus. He was very sad that his friend died, so he wept at the grave. It broke
his heart to see Mary and Martha so torn up by their brother’s death. So he brought Lazarus back
to life, and at the same time, could prove he was Messiah. End of story.
Eventually I realized, there is a lot more going on here. This is right before Jesus goes into
Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Often, Jesus tried to help the disciples understand what would
happen on that fateful trip to Jerusalem. He predicted his Passion, and how it would unfold. He
was transfigured – a glimpse of resurrection. So this Gospel is not just about Lazarus. Roll the
stone away – that is exactly what an angel would do after Jesus was buried. The grave wrappings
of Lazarus come off, Jesus’ grave wrappings would be left in the empty tomb. There is a
connection, a deeper truth here.
Then in ministry, I discovered Lazarus is not the only person trapped in a tomb. He is not the
only one Jesus calls by name, and brings back to life.
 Sometimes the tomb is grief. Loneliness, the pain of separation, the feeling that no one
understands, the emptiness. I’ve seen Jesus call people out of that darkness, and set them
free. Our faith can do that.
 Sometimes the tomb is guilt. Sin can take hold, we feel powerless, trapped. Walking out
of the confessional can be just like Lazarus stepping into the sunlight, and heading over
to Martha and Mary to give them a great big hug.
 Sometimes the tomb is addiction. I’ve watched, and I hope you have too, as someone
discovers they are powerless over some addiction. But friends in fellowship helps them
believe God can restore sanity, life. They begin listening to their higher power call ‘Come
Out!’, and truly, they experience new life.
 Sometimes the tomb is unforgiveness. When we fail to forgive, we are trapped in our
anger, hard feelings, and bad thoughts. But Jesus begins to call us, and the stone is rolled
away.
 Sometimes the tomb is despair. Jesus may lead us to help, and also whisper a word of
hope that calls us out of the darkness.
Lazarus is not the only person trapped in a tomb. He isn’t the only one Jesus weeps for. He isn’t
the only one Jesus calls into the light.
God is speaking to us through these readings about a love that can lead us from spiritual death to
new life. We have heard how that new life in the Spirit triumphs even over physical death and
mortality. This powerful message is preparation for our celebrating the paschal mystery, the
grand victory, with even greater appreciation this Easter.
Passing through death to life is Jesus’ story. It is the church’s story. It is my story and your story.
Living the story, we discover that Christ does dwell in us, and will at times use our voice to be
his voice, calling a Lazarus out of a tomb. Other times we may be instructed by the Lord to roll
the stone away. Sometimes, having had the Lord unbind us and set us free, he may speak to us as
he did to the bystanders: ‘Unbind that person and let them go free!’
May we experience the story, cherish it, live it, and share it.