Difference between revisions of "Sermon for September 23rd, 2018"

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John 11:32-44

32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Miracles: Raising Lazarus

For six years now, I have had the privilege of preaching to you from the scriptures just about every Sunday morning. And for about ten years now, I have had today's sermon in mind. I sincerely believe that what I'm about to share today may be the most important sermon I ever have the opportunity to preach.

It's possible it may be too soon, and that I really should have waited another ten years before tackling this subject in this way.

It's likely that, at the conclusion of today's sermon, many of you will simply dismiss this message, saying, "Oh, that's just one of Pastor Neal's crazy soapboxes. He's kind of nerdy that way." If you do, that's okay. I'll keep preaching, and in the coming weeks will probably return to more conventional subjects and a more traditional interpretations.

It's also possible that some of you will be uncomfortable with today's sermon, and will disagree passionately with my interpretation of this scripture passage and its implications. That's okay, too. Honest disagreement and respectful exchange of ideas is what makes Presbyterians (in my opinion) unique among Christian denominations.

For a small handful of you, however, this message may strike home and change your life as profoundly and powerfully as it did my own ten years ago when I first began to seriously contemplate death, resurrection, and eternal life in the light of both historic biblical teachings and modern, 21st century reality. It was in the wake of all this that I re-evaluated everything I thought I knew about Christianity and made the decision to devote the rest of my life to teaching and preaching, in whatever way I could, today's message.

How's that for an intense introduction? Now that I have your attention, let me lighten the mood with a funny (but relevant) story. I've used this one before, but it's been awhile and it's overdue for a resurrection (ha!).

Three old friends were sitting around one day, discussing death. One of them asked the others, "What would you like for people to say about you at your funeral?" The first friend replied, "I'd like them to say 'He was a great humanitarian, who cared about his community.'" The second one said, "I want them to say 'He was a great husband and father, who was an example for many to follow.'" And then the third friend, the one who had asked the question, thought about it for awhile...and then finally looked up and said, "I'd like for them to say, 'Look! He's still moving!'"

Today's scripture passage is the story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. It is the last in our sermon series on the miracles of Jesus, and in the Gospel of John, the last miracle Jesus performs as part of his earthly ministry, before his own death and resurrection.

Throughout this sermon series, I have said many times that the key to understanding the miracles of Jesus is to not get so distracted by the flashy, shiny miracle itself that you miss the underlying point that the author of the gospel is trying to make. There are four different gospels, with four different authors, most of whom did not likely witness these miracles firsthand, but who inherited the stories from those who came before them. Each gospel author shapes the story to his own ends and purposes, with his own community in mind.

So rather than asking the question, "Did that really happen?" (which would be almost impossible to prove or disprove one way or another), I find it is far more helpful to ask the question, "What is the writer trying to teach his people here, and what does that have to do with us?"

Fortunately, the writer of today's story (let's call him John) answers that question for us near the end of his gospel, in a chapter helpfully subtitled, "The purpose of this book."

John 20:30-31. "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name."

The Gospel of John is a "Signs Gospel." The narrative is structured around seven signs, beginning with Jesus changing water into wine, and ending with the resurrection of Lazarus. In Matthew, when Jesus does a miracle, it's to prove to Matthew's Jewish audience that Jesus is the new Moses, and the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies. In Mark, when Jesus does a miracle, it's a secret that only a select few (presumably those in Mark's audience) get to see and understand. When Luke's version of Jesus does a miracle, it's to show his compassion for women, for the poor, for gentiles, and those outside the usual circles of power (again, presumably those in Luke's audience).

But when John has Jesus do a miracle, it's a sign for EVERYONE to see, so that, as Jesus says to a skeptical Martha in verse 40 of today's passage, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" For John, if you had only been there to SEE Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, then you would clearly BELIEVE. And if you were too late to SEE (like most in John's audience and like us today) then just BELIEVE first...and then you will be able to SEE what others cannot. Seeing is believing and believing is seeing. That's how it works for John; that's how John wants it to work for everyone, so his gospel emphasizes signs and wonders, and how these things influence faith and belief (and vice versa).

Unfortunately for John...I'm not buying it. I'm more like Martha--I'm a skeptic. And if you're honest, so are you. Let me prove that: If you went home today, and tonight you began to feel all of the symptoms of a heart attack, who would you call first: Your pastor or your doctor? I love you all, but I hope you'd call the doctor first.

Some of you are probably thinking, "I might not call you, pastor, but I'd sure say a prayer to Jesus while the ambulance is on its way!" That's great, but how many of you would just say a prayer for Jesus to heal you and not bother calling the ambulance? No? Why is that? It's because while we may *say* we believe in miracles, we all know the odds of that miracle happening are substantially greater in the ambulance, under the care of skilled medical professionals.