"Looking beyond the flesh"

Pastor Ray
03/13/2005

“Looking beyond the flesh”
We’ve all been there… standing beside the grave. Sometimes literally. Sometimes our own lives feel lifeless. Regardless of the kind of death, Jesus calls us to new life. By God’s power and grace, we can be set free. True, at times we will sit and weep, but God promises to be with us always so that we may be given strength to live in the light of new life.
It’s a human emotion to fear the unknown. It’s frightening to feel abandoned, alone, and helpless. It’s only natural to cry out to God or even at God when life seems to crumble around us and we become so overwhelmed that these old bones of ours make us a good as dead. Fortunately, God invites us to have new life breathed into these old bones. But sometimes we must make a journey through the shadows of death before we are able to realize just what we need from God. Many have been there before us.
I think we can all relate to what Martha says in this morning’s Gospel. Jesus, where in the world were you? Why weren’t you here? If only you had come in time!
If only… very human words which cry out in pain, that life has fallen apart. It’s not the way we expect it to be. Mary and Martha’s life had fallen apart. Their brother Lazarus, a young man, a friend of Jesus had become very ill. So the family quickly sends for their friend Jesus. Certainly, he would come. Jesus knew them. He had stayed in their home. Mary had sat at Jesus’ feet. Of course, he would come to heal their brother.
But after receiving the message that Lazarus was sick, Jesus chose to stay where he was for two more days. Lazarus died. Even then… he had been in the tomb for a couple of days when Jesus arrived. No one could possibly think that he was merely asleep or in a coma. The evidence could not be denied. It’s no wonder that when Martha saw Jesus arrive her first words were, “Where were you?”
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Her words echo our own disappointments in life. Lord, I know who you are and what you could have done. You, Jesus could have healed him. If you can make the blind from birth see, if you can drive away the demons, if you can heal the sick and the lame…. if you had only been here. But now, it was too late, her brother was dead.
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha knew that and cherished the promised resurrection, but her grief was still real. When her sister Mary reached the place where Jesus was, she fell at his feet and began to weep. Deeply moved, Jesus wept. Oh how I find such comfort in his tears. Oh to know that my Lord loved his friend Lazarus so much that he cried at his death. Jesus understands our tears. In spite of knowing that one day, our loved ones will rise again, it hurts to give them up. Our Lord’s tears are one way He says, don’t worry I’m right here crying with you, bringing you comfort.
Take me to where Lazarus is buried, Jesus said. Even as they walked, there were some people there who still complained that Jesus should have been there… had he come, Lazarus would be alive. Jesus faced the cave and the stone which blocked the entrance and kept the people away from the body. Of course, the people didn’t know it, but Jesus was about to show them that a stone could not keep him from bringing forth new life. Lazarus, come out! …Jesus cried out. Still wrapped in the grave clothes, he stepped out of the tomb. Four days worth of death didn’t prevent Jesus from making Lazarus whole again and full of new life. It’s the promise of resurrection miracles. If God could make us in the first place, God can certainly put us back together again… only better.
I chuckle when I think about this verse: Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. Well…. Of course they did. Probably fell on their knees in praise of God. This Jesus truly is the son of God! Everybody there must rejoiced at the miracle.
But what about Lazarus? Have you ever paused and thought about that? Wonder what Lazarus thought as he stepped into the sunlight. “Hey Jesus, what do you think you’re doing?” “Yes, it’s good to see you, but thank you very much, I was very happy in heaven.” “I was very content living in God’s kingdom.” “And now here you are and here I am. So, where do we go from here?”
Only Jesus knew where life’s journey would lead him. Jesus is now the one led to face his own tomb and heavy stone guarding its entrance. In a short time Jesus himself would cry out to his Father, Where are you? Why have you forsaken me? Our Lord and Savior has lived life beside us and knows the feelings we have….
Today’s lessons are filled with emotion. Whether it’s the emotion of a dying brother, or the emotion of placing a family member in the grave, or the emotion of feeling alone and abandoned by God… (This is God’s promise….) Jesus walks with us through it all. But the message for us to hear is that Jesus doesn’t stay at the tomb. Jesus cries with us and pushes us forward with him. He gives life again. Lazarus, get up. Unbind him. Let him go. His life is just beginning.
Though we are not dead, we have been in one sense, for we once were dead to the wonderful and grace-filled life God wants for his children. We were dead because in sin we turned our backs to God. But God said, get up. Wash in these life-giving waters of Baptism. Get up. Unbind yourselves from the grave clothes of sin. Look beyond the flesh and old dry bones…. and embrace new life.
It truly is a gift of second life, of a second chance. It’s just as much a miracle as the second life Jesus gave to Lazarus. And certainly, if Jesus can bring life to a body already in decay, Jesus can bring life, new life, to us and to our souls. Jesus has already called us from the tomb of death. For because he died and rose, we live with a new vision beyond mere flesh and old dry bones. But perhaps the real message for today is that in our darkest moments, Jesus is beside us, weeping with us, walking with us. And Jesus is always victorious because God’s promises never fail. “I am the resurrection and the life. Believe in me and you shall never die.” That’s one of the last promises Jesus made as he continued his Lenten journey to the cross. And it’s that promise that brings us to the foot of the cross and that gives us a glimpse of life beyond the flesh and bones of today.