Sermon 6th April 2014

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Simon Brindley, preaches.  

The reading is from John 11 verses 17-44

The Raising of Lazarus 

When Jesus was alive, he had lots of friends, people he seemed to get on really well with and who liked what he said and wanted to support him and follow him. And we know the names - and something about - just some of them.

One group of his closest friends and followers we call the 12 apostles and we know their names, people like Simon Peter and John and James and Judas.

And another group of his friends that we actually hear quite a lot about in the gospels -  the gospels are the stories about Jesus’ life - are two sisters called Martha and Mary and their brother, a man called Lazarus.

Now, do we have two sisters and a brother here today, from the same family?

[If Firmans at St Saviour’s then Jemima, Rebecca and Ben? If not, then two girls and a boy?]

[St Paul’s?]

Please could you come to the front, just for a few moments?

And I need three more volunteers please to stand at the side and hold up these signs…Every time you hear me say “first” you hold that up, if I say “second” you hold that up and “third” you hold that up. And when it is your turn to hold your paper up I’d like a big, big smile please! Is that OK?

So if I say “first”….

And if I say “third”…

And so on…

Obviously we need to pretend a bit but let’s pretend, just for a while, that [Jemima] is Martha, [Rebecca] is Mary and [Ben] is Lazarus.

And here are just a few of the things we know about these two sisters and their brother.

They all lived in a house, in a village called Bethany. All we really need to know about Bethany is that the village was not far from the capital city Jerusalem, about two miles away. And Jerusalem was where Jesus’ enemies lived, the ones who were trying to get rid of him because they felt threatened by what he had to say and what they saw him doing.

So, first, Martha

Martha loved to be busy and doing things all the time. So the first time Jesus came to their house, she rushed around getting the food ready and making sure everyone was OK and she even asked Jesus to tell her sister off for just sitting and listening instead of helping!

And the third time Jesus came to their house, again it was Martha who was doing all the work, serving the food.

Martha was what you might call a real Do-er, always busy, busy! You need people like that.

Next, Mary

Mary was a different sort of person. The first time Jesus came to their house, she just sat, quietly, at Jesus’ feet and listened really carefully to everything Jesus was saying.

And the third time Jesus came to their house is a very famous story because Mary had bought a large jar of incredibly expensive perfume – it cost about a year’s wages for a working man - and Mary poured it all over Jesus’ feet and she wiped his feet with her long hair. The whole house was full with the beautiful smell.

It does not really do her justice but perhaps Mary was more of a thinker than a do-er….you need people like that as well.

And Third, Lazarus

Now Lazarus doesn’t actually get a mention the first time Jesus came to their house. Perhaps he was working in the fields. But the third time Jesus came, the gospels say that Lazarus sat at the table and ate the food, while Martha served the food and Mary poured the perfume.

What does seem really clear is that these three and Jesus were really good friends. They were very close. They loved and trusted each other, as good friends do.

Pause…did anyone notice something missing from what we were just saying about Jesus’ visits to their home? [ah yes…the second visit….]

Today’s story is about the second time Jesus came to the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus and this time it is Lazarus who is at the heart of it…..

Thanks, now you three can go and sit down again…

In a few minutes I am going to ask all the adults here, aged 18 and over, to say something in a very loud voice. And I am going to ask all the children and young people here, and that means everyone aged 17 and under, to listen.

But before we get there, “first” and “third” can go and sit down again but “second” now this is your big moment, because I want you please to stand on this chair so we will all never forget that the story this morning happened the second time Jesus visited the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus.

So, just listen quietly again for a few moments to what happened when Jesus visited the place where Martha, Mary and Lazarus lived, for the second time:

Jesus had been in the city, Jerusalem, but he had left, as the leaders there were really getting angry with him and already some wanted to kill him. And he had gone away beyond the village of Bethany, which was just two miles outside of Jerusalem…

_

And one day Jesus got a message where he was, from Martha and Mary, to say that Lazarus was ill. But he did not go to see him straightaway. Instead Jesus just, waited for two whole days.

And the reason Jesus gave for waiting was this. He told the people with him that Lazarus’ illness was not going to lead to death. Rather, he said, all this was happening for a purpose and that was to bring glory to God and to bring glory to Jesus himself, as the Son of God.

Watch and see what is going to happen now he was saying to the people. You will see who I really am.

I think this was Jesus speaking with the Voice of Authority. A person speaks with authority when they both have a position of power and they speak in a way that you really feel is truly genuine and that you can believe. You just know for sure that they can be trusted……

_

After they waited those two days, Jesus said to his disciples that they needed to go back to the area of Bethany and Jerusalem but even though they knew Lazarus was seriously ill, the disciples were afraid and did not want to return because they knew that in Jerusalem were people who wanted to kill Jesus and who might want to kill them too.

But Jesus says that they must go, to help Lazarus and to do what is right.

I think this was Jesus speaking with the Voice of Courage. A person speaks with courage when they do and say the right thing even when they know they might get hurt. And here, in this case, Jesus actually knew that in going back towards Jerusalem he would in fact be killed. And I am sure he knew that if he helped Lazarus, again there would be those who would not like it but would use it against him, maybe even as an excuse to kill him……

_

Before they arrived in Bethany Jesus made it clear to the disciples who were with him that Lazarus had in fact already died.  And when they get near Bethany, they find out that Lazarus has already been buried in a tomb, it’s a cave with a stone placed in front of it. And he has already been dead for 4 days..

And as they get closer Martha goes out to meet Jesus before he gets to Bethany and she tells him that if he had been there he could have healed Lazarus and prevented him from dying. Jesus tells Martha that Lazarus will rise again and Martha says she believes, yes, Lazarus will eventually rise again at the end of this world.

But then Jesus says this. He says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in me, even though he dies, he will rise again. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die”.

These are astonishing words and I think they are Jesus speaking with the Voice of the Creator, the one who made all of life and with the Voice of the Saviour, the one who will conquer death…..

_

So Jesus in a few short days has spoken with the Voice of Authority, as the Son of God, with the Voice of Courage, knowing what must be done even if it means people will hate him and kill him, with the Voice of the Creator, the source of all life and with the Voice of the Saviour, the conqueror of death.

_

And at this point Martha rushes back to Bethany and tells Mary that Jesus wants to see her too. So Mary too goes to find him and she is deeply hurt and is crying because her brother is dead and she too tells Jesus that if he had only been there Lazarus would not have died. And everyone around is crying because the brother and friend they loved has died.

And now Jesus shows us something more of what God is really like…..because he too starts to cry because his friend has died. “Jesus wept” it says in this gospel of John. 

Here I think we hear from Jesus the Voice of Compassion. Compassion means you do not leave someone to suffer on their own but you stand with them and suffer with them.

And Jesus asks them where Lazarus is, and they take him to the cave in Bethany…….and he tells the people to take the stone away.

You really can imagine what the people must have been thinking as Jesus told them to take away the stone. What does he think he is doing?? So they tell him that there will already be a bad smell because Lazarus has been dead for 4 days but Jesus insists that they take the stone away.

And Jesus stands in front of that cave and he calls out, in a loud voice:

“Lazarus, come out!”  are the words he uses.

But what I wonder is what those words sounded like? What do you think? Did Jesus speak loudly but calmly, with the Voice of Authority? Did he speak loudly and boldly, with the Voice of Courage, aware that there might be those in the crowd who would report back to his enemies? Did Jesus speak with the voice of the one who was there at the beginning of all things, the maker of all of life and all there will be, with the Voice of the Creator? Or did he speak with the voice of the one who knew that death could and would be conquered, the Voice of the Saviour? Or did Jesus speak from his heart, the heart of love for his dead friend, did he cry out through his tears, with the Voice of Compassion?

Or do you think if you had been there you would have heard something of all of those things as Jesus called out in a loud voice?

We are just going to try something now. It’s quite a serious moment…

When Jesus cried out, in a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come out!”

Lazarus was in the tomb, but he was bound up with cloth including cloth round his head. So it would have been difficult for him to hear. So in a moment, I am going to ask all the children and young people, aged 17 and under, to close their eyes and cover their ears tightly with their hands as if they were Lazarus with a cloth wound tightly round his head.

Then I want the adults on the count of 3 to call out in a loud voice,

Lazarus, come out!

I am only going to give you one chance at this so I want the adults to put into that voice what you think you might have heard in Jesus’ voice had you been there that day in Bethany, whether it would have been calm Authority, or bold Courage, or the life giving force of the Creator or the redeeming love of the Saviour or the Voice of Compassion through Jesus’ tears.

And if we really do this well we might even be heard down the street or at the top of the park. We will certainly be heard in the crèche!

“Second” you can be an adult for today as you are standing on that chair!

So first all children and young people, just try to imagine you are Lazarus in that cave with his head bound up in cloth and soon you may just hear something of what he heard that day……eyes closed please and hands tightly over your ears…and wait until you hear the adults’ voices…

And adults, on the count of three, with whatever you think might have been heard in Jesus’ voice that day and….really….I mean really….with the loudest voice you can manage, from deep inside, on the count of three cry

“Lazarus, come out!”

Now, are you really ready to give this whatever you have got this morning??

One…deep breath in….two…three

“Lazarus come out!”

And Lazarus came out of the cave, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth and Jesus told the people to unbind him from the cloths and let him go.

And whatever they had heard in his voice, the people now saw in Jesus’ actions that he was who he said he was, God’s Son, doing what had to be done whatever the consequences, the giver of life and the conqueror of death. And they saw how much Jesus felt for his friend.

There is only one more thing to say from this story this morning and that I think is this. Wherever we might find ourselves, in whatever darkness now or in the future, in whatever dark place like the cave where Lazarus was, Jesus still speaks to us in those same voices, telling us, ……Come out! You might just like to think during the rest of this service if Jesus is speaking to you with one of those Voices, this morning.

And Thankyou, for helping to recreate on 6^th April 2014 just something of what might have been had we been there to see Jesus’ friend Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, brought back to life four days after he had died.

Amen