This sermon was part of our online service, 29 March 2020, full text of the sermon below.
Now a man named Lazarus was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay ill, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is ill.’
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This illness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.’ 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.’
8 ‘But Rabbi,’ they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?’
9 Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the day-time will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.’
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’
12 His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’ 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 ‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’
23 Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’
24 Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’
25 Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’
27 ‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. ‘The Teacher is here,’ she said, ‘and is asking for you.’ 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked.
‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then 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 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 ‘Take away the stone,’ he said.
‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.’
40 Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth round his face.
Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’
John 11:1-45
Have you ever had that moment a line from a song just sums up exactly how you’re feeling? I was listening to Bruce Springsteen’s song the River last week, it’s about a young guy whose life gets turned on its head when his girlfriend gets pregnant. And there’s this line in the song that spoke to me,
And all them things that seemed so important, well mister they vanished right into the air.”
And that’s sort of how it feels at the moment. Everything that seemed so important a few weeks ago – it’s gone. Church gatherings, meetings, visiting, report-writing, buildings, APCMs, PCC meetings. They’ve vanished right into the air.
Now granted your list of what seems important might be different to mine, but the truth is, the Covid-19 lockdown has changed all of our lives.
So how do we navigate this new reality? What does God want us to do with this period of enforced Sabbath? Is it just to sit in the house and go stir crazy – or are there some more useful things we can do to prepare for what’s coming next?
And its with all that flowing through my mind, that we turn back to our Bible passage, from John 11, Jesus does three things which I hope will be a help and a comfort to you in this strange time.
First Jesus Weeps. Then Jesus speaks. And finally Jesus trusts. Let’s take a look at each in turn.
1) Jesus Wept
And let’s start with Jesus weeping, look at v33,
When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked.‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’” (John 11:33-36)
One of the things you might ask at a time like this is,
How does God feel about Coronavirus?”
Well I wouldn’t presume to give you a precise answer because the Bible doesn’t tell us. But it does tell us how God reacts to suffering: he weeps. Jesus wept. It’s the shortest verse in the Bible but it tells us such a lot about God’s heart. He weeps over death. Every death. Death was never part of his original plan for the human race. That’s one of the major points of the creation story at the very beginning of the Bible. Death comes into being as a consequence of the world being out of shape, broken. And God weeps over it.
And it’s the same with disease. You might have heard last week celebrity Kourtney Kardashian saying that Covid-19 was a punishment from God for evil, but it isn’t. At least, not like she meant it. Covid-19 is just another consequence of our world being out of shape, broken, fallen. And God weeps over that. He weeps over his children. Which might make you wonder why he doesn’t he just snap his fingers and stop Coronavirus. I mean, look at what Jesus does in our reading. He doesn’t just cure disease– he raises a man from the dead. A man who’s been dead for 4 days.
I love how Lazarus’ sister tries to stop Jesus opening the tomb, and let me read it from the King James translation,
Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.”
But fear of creating a stink won’t stop Jesus calling Lazarus back, not from death’s door, but from several steps beyond it. Jesus makes what was dead alive again. He has the power to do that, he is Lord over both life and death.
So why not use that power to stop Coronavirus? Well again we can’t presume to know the mind of God, but it could be that he’s chosen to work through the many brilliant healthcare professionals and scientists who are healing the sick and working towards a cure. God uses doctors to heal the sick. But what’s clearer from elsewhere in the Bible is that the reason God doesn’t stop Coronavirus in an instant is that if he did, he’d have to stop everything. That’s the point of the parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13. You can’t remove the tares without trashing the wheat. If God intervened to stop all disease and evil and death if he crushed Coronavirus and flu and Aids and Ebola and Syria and Ukraine and murder and rape, then he’d also have to stop all the things that cause those tragedies: selfishness, greed, lust, pride, lies. And those things get very close to home. For to a greater or lesser extent, we’re all part of what’s wrong in the world. The Bible tells us,
all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
If we want God to stop all evil now, then we’re asking him to stop us.
So instead, Jesus speaks:
2)Jesus Speaks
He speaks a word of hope into the lives of Martha and Mary – he says,
I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
You see God’s plan to fix his broken world involves a promise of life beyond death. Of a world made new where there is no more sickness or death or mourning. In God’s new creation – there will be no Coronavirus. No ebola. No aids. And no selfishness, greed, lust, pride. None of that. A resurrection world. Like this one, but made new. Filled with people. But made new. We will live, even though we first die. That’s the plan. That’s our hope. And as the threat of Coronavirus draws close – cling to that hope. For whilst dying is not a pleasant experience, we do not need to fear death. Because if we trust in Jesus – we will live, even if we die.
Many of you know our sister in Christ, Ruth Brown, died last week. I got to see her a few days before she died. She wasn’t happy about being unwell. But her faith in Jesus was strong to the end, and saw her through. And because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can look forward to the day when we see our sister Ruth again. In glory. Where she’ll probably want to give us all a tour of the new creation version of Earls Croome Church.
For whoever lives by believing in me”, said Jesus, “will never die.”
Ruth believed this. I hope you do too.
Final thought,
3)Jesus trusts.
All through this story of Lazarus, Jesus had a plan. He knew Lazarus was dying, and yet he didn’t rush to him. Instead he said something surprising,
this illness is for God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified through it.” (John 11:4)
And then he does nothing until the news of Lazarus’ death reaches them, when he says something even stranger,
For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” (John 11:14)
What’s going on? The answer is down in v40, just after Martha says the tomb is gonna’ stinketh, where Jesus turns to his disciples and says,
Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)
and they take away the stone, and there’s Lazarus fit as a fiddle. This whole incident was about God’s glory. About giving the disciples a chance to learn what it is to believe in our all-powerful, all-loving God. And Jesus trusted the disciples to learn the lesson.
And I wonder if at this strange time, when all them things that seemed so important have vanished right into the air, whether Jesus isn’t also trusting us to learn an important lesson, so that he might again be glorified.
I was listening to a church leader last weekend talk about the lockdown as an enforced Sabbath rest for the church, and he asked a great question:
what will this time reveal about us and our faith?
Will we see lockdown as a burden, or a blessing? So to finish, let me make a few suggestions of how you can use this time profitably to help you see this time as a blessing.
First, read those Christian books you’ve been putting off reading for lack of time. You know, the ones you got with the best of intentions, but never got around to reading.
Second, you’ve got masses of time on your hands, so take time every day to encounter God, in prayer and bible study. If you find it helpful, join us online each day for a 6-7 minute service of daily prayer, which includes a bible passage and some questions to reflect on. Make the Sunday service a priority too. Next week it’s Palm Sunday and then we’re into Holy Week, and each day we’ll have something for you to engage with.
Third, take care of one another. I had a call from Bishop John the other day – just to check everything was okay. And that’s something we can all do for each other. We’ve all got a phone, so use it to love your friends and neighbours.
Fourth, if you’re locked down with your family, decide now to enjoy them, rather than get irritated with them. Paul told the church to bear with one another in love. Families need that too. So turn this into a time for reconnection. Play board games. Do DIY. Go for your daily walk. Take longer over meals, and just talk and laugh together.
Fifth, ration the news. The government’s 5pm briefing is great – that’s new news each day. The rest of it – well that’s just been two weeks of the media talking to itself about how tragic the situation is. So ration your daily dose of despair! If anything urgent happens, you’ll hear about it!
And finally, do some of those other things you’ve been putting off until you had more time on your hands. Reconnect with long-lost friends, write that novel, start that big DIY project. We’ve already sorted out and redecorated our garage to change it from a junk room into a useful space. And we’re gonna’ sort our sheds and build a pond, and you never know we might even sort through some of the boxes of nick-nacks that Carol and I have been carting from house to house unopened for the last 20 years. We might as well do it – as one day the kids will have to do it for us anyway!
We don’t know what the long-term impact of Coronavirus will be. Things may go back to how they were, or maybe things will never be the same again.
But while all them things that seemed so important have vanished right into the air, let’s use this enforced Sabbath rest wisely in the service of Jesus, who weeps with those who suffer from Coronavirus. Who speaks words of hope over and above all disease. And who trusts his disciples to grow despite hard times.
Let’s pray