They had come to Jesus because their
brother—Jesus’ friend—was sick. These
sisters—Mary and Martha—believed that Jesus could heal their brother; but,
Jesus did not jump up and run to bring healing upon their brother. No, Jesus stayed put and Lazarus dies much to
the chagrin of his sisters. Needless to
say, Mary and Martha are sad and disappointed.
Now Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days when Jesus finally
arrives . . . deader than a door knob and getting quite smelly lying in the
tomb.
Mary could not hide her
disappointment, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Seeing the sobbing of the sisters, hearing
the wailing of the mourners, Jesus was disturbed. Mary told him to “come and see” when Jesus
asked where he was laid. The reality was
setting in . . . Jesus was moved to tears.
Those who witnessed is tears understood how much he loved his friend,
Lazarus . . . yet, at the same time, they were curious as to how a person who
could make a blind person see did not keep his friend from dying.
True, in the start of this story that
was not shared in this reading this morning; Jesus had stated that this would
happen . . . that it would be a show of the power of God . . . that Lazarus
would die. He told the disciples that in
the end it was all necessary in order for them to believe. And, sure enough, it happened just as Jesus
said it would happen . . . Lazarus was dead and had been dead for several days
before Jesus showed up. He had been in
the tomb for four days when Jesus arrived.
There ain’t much hope for a person who had been dead for four days.
Yet, Mary came to him believing that
he could save Lazarus from the illness that ailed him . . . she believed that
Jesus could keep him from dying . . . believed that if Jesus only showed up
everything would be fine. Thus she was a
little appalled when Jesus shows up too late.
Those who had seen him perform miracles had also believed . . . they
believed that Jesus could have cured Lazarus of his illness, kept him from
dying . . . believed that Jesus could do this; but, he didn’t and now it was
too late.
The writer of this gospel does not
explain the reason for Jesus’ emotional response when he asks to see where they
had laid his friend. The writer does not
tell the reason for Jesus’ tears. No,
the writer only tells us that Jesus “. . . was deeply moved in spirit and
troubled.” The writer leaves
that up to the conjecture of the reader and listener of this story. One could think that it had to do with the fact
that Jesus did not like seeing those he loved suffer . . . did not like seeing
them cry. One could think that maybe it
had to do with the knowledge he had that he could have prevented this whole
mess had he only done as Mary had asked him to do. One might believe that Jesus understood that
this was an unfair situation to thrust upon his friend . . . to allow him to
die, just to prove a point to his disciples and those who would witness the
miracle. You can believe whatever you
want to believe, but the writer gives us no clue as to why Jesus weeps beyond
the fact that he “. . . deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”
So, they go to the tomb.
Here at the tomb the glory of God
would be revealed . . . just as Jesus had told Mary when she first came to ask
him for help. But Mary, Martha and those
gathered around, could not understand . . . could not believe . . . how the
glory of God would be revealed through the body of a dead man. When Jesus asks them to remove the stones
that sealed the tomb, Martha insists that it is too late . . . Lazarus had been
in the tomb for four days . . . he was deader than dead. “But, Lord,” Martha said, “by
this time there is a bad odor . . .” For
those gathered, the whole situation was beginning to stink.
Yet, Jesus remained staunch in his
words . . . “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of
God?” He remained adamant in
request . . . in his actions . . . he wanted the stones removed. With the removal of the stones it all came to
be . . . Lazarus was restored to life . . . the people witnessed the glory of
God . . . there was belief. They
discovered faith.
“Take away the stones,” he said.
Isn’t that the secret to any
relationship? Isn’t that the key to
intimacy? You have to remove the
barriers . . . the stones . . . that keep the light out . . . that hide the
truth . . . that separates. Jesus knew
that by removing the stones the glory of God would be revealed in the
resurrection of Lazarus . . . that in seeing a dead man restored to life . . .
the people would believe. That they
would discover faith. With the stones
removed the writer of this gospel tells us that “. . . therefore many of the Jews
who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in
him.”
With the stones removed the people
could see. So it is for all of us.
I imagine that we could all names the
stones that keep us from seeing . . . that keep us from believing . . . because
we all have them. It could be the many obvious
ones like prejudice, race, education, wealth, poverty, dogmatism, culture . . .
we all could probably name a few of these as they usually fall under the
various “isms” we all know. It could be
our traditions and having always doing the things that we have always done in
the same way over and over again. It
could be any number of things that separate us from God and one another . . .
stones that shut out the light . . . that hides the truth . . . that keeps us
from believing and having that relationship with God and one another. It does not matter what the stones are in
each of our lives . . . we all have to identify them on our own; what matters
is that we begin to recognize them as being barriers that separate and keep us from truly seeing the glory of
God in our lives.
What matters is Jesus telling us to “move
the stones.”
Jesus tells us, “Did I not tell you that if you
believed, you would see the glory of God?” Faith begins with the removal of stones . . .
begins with removing that which keeps us from seeing the light . . . that keeps
us from experiencing the truth. Jesus
can reveal it, but we have to move the stones first. Until the stones are moved we can never truly
experience the glory of God . . . we can never have faith.
Jesus said, “Take away the stones.” Amen.
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