A starting point for you straight up this morning: think of something you wish could happen…
Something you would love to see happen, something that isn’t happening right now, but you wish it could.
Some examples?
Better health, better financial security, better relationships with those we care about could be some
That’s the first part > keep that in mind for our moment of prayer later on.
Now think of something that’s stopping that thing you wished about from happening…
Things that are in the way, problems that don’t seem to go away.
Some examples?
Illness, cost of living, that lingering hurt or pain in that relationship with that someone in your life
That’s the second part – keep that in mind too!
And now we come to God’s word before us today, words from the prophet EZEKIEL and the story of Jesus’ friend LAZARUS –
We go to God’s word to see how God speaks into these things in our lives, how God speaks into things like what we wish could happen and the things that are in the way.
LAZARUS
In the story of Lazarus we hear about a friend of Jesus who has died, this causes Jesus to be ‘deeply moved,’ he and the people in his close-knit community are really feeling it here.
Twice we hear Jesus being told what? That he should’ve been there!
If you were here this would not have happened, Lazarus’ sisters both direct this at Jesus when he finally does show up.
If you were here this would not have happened – I think that might be a complaint we’ve all directed at God at some point.
So the wish is that Jesus had been there to stop Lazarus from dying, that Lazarus would still be alive, and what was the barrier to saving him? Jesus wasn’t there, that’s the perceived barrier to Lazarus remaining alive and well.
There’s a couple things going on here – there is actually a statement or even a confession of faith in these words from Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha.
They know who Jesus is, they know what he has done and what he can do > an acknowledgement of Jesus actually being who he says he is there.
But the other thing here is doubt, a lack of understanding of how God works > that doubt and that lack of understanding of how God works that all humans possess, none of us know exactly how God will work in our own circumstances, and we might even doubt that he’s going to do anything at all!
So it’s a mix of faith and doubt going on here > not uncommon in intense personal and emotional situations.
And Martha goes further, she says she knows ‘even now’ God will give Jesus exactly what he asks (11:22) > strong faith on show there, and then what does Jesus tell her?
Your brother will rise again.
She thinks sure, in the resurrection at the last day you mean?
But then Jesus says how he is the resurrection, how to believe in him is to never die, even though someone has literally just died.
Hard to hear I’m sure in that moment for Martha, but also pointing to the ultimate hope and joy of what God has in store for us at the same time.
So that’s a bit on Lazarus, let’s put that together with what we hear about in Ezekiel >
EZEKIEL
In this passage about the valley of dry bones, these dry bones that God breathes new life into, we see again the MAJOR BARRIER to being alive and well > that’s being not alive, in fact being dead. Dry bones, not much to work with there Ezekiel might have thought.
But not for God.
That’s all he needs, God can make something out of nothing!
That’s what he did when created the world and everything in it, God doesn’t need help he’s got the power to get it done!
We confess this in our creeds, we say we believe in the resurrection of the dead, we’re looking for it!
Important to notice what we are saying, the BOLD CLAIMS we make when we say these words together as community! Words we speak in solidarity with God’s church around the world.
This is a BOLD CLAIM – to say ‘I believe in the resurrection from the dead,’ serious talk!
Think about what we’re saying here, what this really means > this is not simply doing worship correctly, in a ‘good Lutheran way’ or something like that. This is LIFE AND DEATH talk, serious stuff!
This has serious weight to it – we can easily skim over these serious words when we’ve heard and spoken them countless times – you might notice that’s why we have different words in our prayers and confession of faith from time to time, to help us think more deeply about what we’re saying and what it all means.
It is a BOLD CLAIM to confess our faith, with God’s help we need to know the weight of what we’re saying and what we’re doing.
So in both of these passages God reveals what he can do, which is exactly what the people present cannot do, what you and I can’t do.
God can breathe new life into dry bones.
Ezekiel sees it happen, he is the vessel God uses to command these bones to come back to life! Incredible scenes.
And Jesus can bring people back from the dead.
Mary and Martha see this happen as their brother Lazarus is brought back to life, not only at the resurrection at the end of days but there and then. Incredible scenes.
These incredible scenes are displays of God’s power aren’t they, of his power over life and death, and for what?
Does God do these things to impress us, to make us feel small and make himself bigger, to show us that we’re no good and he’s got it all!?
All of those results might actually happen, but God has more for us than that >
Why does God breathe life into dry bones?
So they may live, (Ezekiel 37:9) and so ‘then you will know that I am the Lord’ (37:6).
Good news for the dry bones, good news for us!
Because of what God does, that means we can know who he is.
We don’t have to guess, we don’t have to make it up, we don’t have to come up with our own idea of God > he’s right here, this is the God we’re talking about.
And it gets intimately personal with Lazarus, why does Jesus bring him back?
Well firstly we know he is feeling this one, he is deeply moved twice here about Lazarus being unwell and his passing.
We can see Jesus had love for this man, that’s why he brought him back. Love like a brother, love like a dear friend.
Like the love he has for us.
He wouldn’t go and die on the cross if he didn’t care, if he didn’t love us and want us to be with him.
Two other things we didn’t hear in our gospel reading >
Jesus actually knows what’s going to happen here before it happens, and he lays it out, before he even gets to Lazarus and somehow also has these deep feelings about what’s happening:
He says ‘this sickness will not end in death’ (John 11:4)
And he says ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up’ (11:11)
These are words we can hope in today! Even if it looks like Jesus isn’t there, he tells us we can trust that he is! He knows what’s happening, he is with us in our time of need and all the time.
In the face of the ultimate wish we could say, that there could be life instead of death, there are MAJOR BARRIERS for us. We can’t do a thing about it, we do not have the power to beat death.
But God does.
In him we have both hope in this life and eternal life beyond, in life that goes on with him.
Hope, peace and joy there > very soon we get to hear all about that once again at Easter.
So there are going to be times when the bones are all dried up.
There will be times when people we love move from this life to the next, when that happens for us too > but even more sure is the hope that we have in Jesus.
The words of Jesus may be all we have in times like those, but we know the words and actions of Jesus carry serious power, serious weight, where because of him we go not from life to death, but from death to life.
Lord we thank you for the incredible scenes we hear about in your word, your incredible power on display that has reached and continues to reach all people who know you. Help us in the major barriers of life, help us to trust in you and to know that even if you are all we have, we know with you we have all we need. Amen.
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Tom Kitson 