Lent 5 + John 11:17-27, 38-53 + Rev.

Charles Lehmann
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
In the Eastern churches, even the Lutheran ones, many
Christians love to call their Savior by the name, "Lover of
Mankind." They love to sing and to pray, "You, O Master are
good, and the Lover of Mankind." This is no small thing that they
are saying. In the midst of their ungodly ways, even though they
know God hates evil, and even when they recognize that their God
could in full justice be a dread Lord who rains down death,
destruction, and ruin on them for their sin, these Christians say,
"You, O Master are good, and the Lover of Mankind."
You, people loved by God, know your Lord's will to you. He
has manifested it on the cross. He who has the power to destroy
the heavens and the earth at a word was pleased to be crushed for
your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities. The
chastisement that is upon Him has brought you peace, and by His
wounds you are healed. That is the kind of God you have. That
He is the Judge before whom you must one day stand. And even
though He is the Holy One before whom no one can stand, that is
no cause of fear for you. You know what sort of God He is. You
know what sort of Savior you have.
When the Eastern Christians call their Lord "the Lover of
Mankind," I can't help but wonder: Are they thinking of today's
Gospel lesson? Are they thinking of the one who weeps at His
friend's tomb? Are they thinking of the one who comforts Mary
and Martha even though He knows what's coming next? The
raising of Lazarus isn't the only story that reveals who God truly
is. All of the Scriptures extol the tenderness of our Savior. But it's
hard to beat a God who cries at funerals.
We have heard the words of comfort that Jesus spoke to
Martha. "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in
me, even though he dies, yet shall he live, and he that lives and
believes in me will never die." The Lord promises to Martha that
her brother will rise again. He will personally empty the graves of
all His beloved. And it is while Jesus gives this comfort that Mary
comes to her Lord and says to Him the very same words that
Martha had already spoken. She says, "Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died."
God sees Mary's pain. We have no hint of husbands for Mary
and Martha, and for them their only means of support in this world
is gone. Not only have they lost their beloved brother, but they
have lost their support, their breadwinner, their source for daily
bread. Death shatters the world of those who survive. A raw
gaping hole is torn that only the resurrection will completely heal.
Though Mary and Martha hope in the resurrection at the last day,
that doesn't help them so much now. Now is the pain. Now is the
grief. Now is their brother rotting in the tomb. Now they have to
bear all the consequences that the enemy death has wrought on
them.
Jesus sees this. Jesus feels it. His guts are turned inside out.
He gasps for breath. His beloved children are grieving. Their
brother, our Lord's friend, is dead. The Lord's compassion is
fueled by his love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and His
implacable hatred of death and hell. Our Lord will not let this
stand. Lazarus will live now, and then he will live forever in the
resurrection at the last day. When Mary says to Jesus, "See where
they laid him," it's all over. There is no manly strength with
Jesus. He will not, like a stoic, keep emotion from marring His
holy face. He weeps. He sobs quietly. He allows the pain to flow
from his eyes and his throat.
The Jews who see it recognize exactly what's going on. They
say, "See how He loved him!"
God cries at funerals. He cries because He loves His
children. He cries because of His deep compassion for those who
are left behind. He cries because the greatest evil, has the
appearance of victory in the decay of the tomb. But the Lord's
tears will yield to His words. The Lord cries because God is a
man. The Lord speaks because this man is God. Death is being a
little proud. But it shouldn't be. Life Incarnate now stands before
Lazarus' tomb. The words that John Donne penned centuries later
are easy to imagine on the Saviour's lips:
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty
and dreadfull. For, thou art not so! For, those, whom thou think'st,
thou dost overthrow, die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill
me. [Thou] dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, and
poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well. One short sleepe
past, wee wake eternally. And death shall be no more; death, thou
shalt die."
The grave is going to be robbed today. At the word of the
Lord death flees and life comes. "Lazarus! Come forth!" Gone is
decay. Gone is death. Empty is the tomb where they laid him.
The Lord speaks with the words of Hosea, "Oh death, I am thy
plagues. Oh grave, I am thy destruction." Jesus is the resurrection
and the life. Lazarus, even though he has died, has come forth
from the tomb. He has heard His Savior's voice, because when
life beckons even the dead can hear it.
The Jews say, "See how He loved him!" And they will.
Lazarus will. Mary will. Martha will. They will all see how
Jesus has loved them. Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem.
Even as He gives comfort to Mary and Martha and gives Lazarus
back to them, the Lord will not be satisfied until He has destroyed
death forever. And so Jesus goes to the cross. He carries with him
the sins of Lazarus, Mary, Martha, you, and me. He suffers all of
the pangs of hell. He delivers Himself into the grave so that He
might destroy death forever.
Lazarus' body is awake from the sleep of death for a time, but
he will die again. The sin that brought him to the grave the first
time will eventually win again. This is not acceptable to Jesus.
This is not the way He created the world to be.
The Lord created you for immortal joy. His intent for you
from the very foundation of the world has been that you would
live with Him in your body forever. I'm sometimes told that death
isn't that bad. It's the liberation of the soul from the flesh. And
really, our human flesh is a bad thing. It limits us. When we get
rid of the body, then we'll be truly free. Then we'll be at peace.
We'll be at one with the universe and never have to suffer any of
the body's pains or joys.
These are lies, dear Christian. They are lies told by Satan to
try to make you forget what you were created for. You were
created for life. Your very eyes will behold your Savior's face
forever and ever. Your very lips will sing His praises. If the flesh
were so evil... if our destiny was to be delivered from our body,
then I suppose we could have had a spiritual Savior. We could
have had some sort of apparition who would appear and teach us
how we should live so that eventually we could shed our mortal
coil.
A pastor in the early church, Peter Chrysologus extolled our
Savior's love for life when he preached, "Brothers, how wrong
those have been who have tried to write about the good of death.
And what is so surprising about that? In this case the worldly-wise
think that they are great and remarkable if they convince simple
folks that the thing that is the greatest evil is the greatest good….
But these things, brothers, truth dispels, the Law banishes, faith
attacks, the Apostle censures, and Christ blots out, who, while
restoring the good that life is, discloses, condemns, and banishes
the evil of death."
If our goal was to get rid of the body, I suppose that death
could be seen as good. Your Savior is the Lamb who was slain,
but He is not dead. Your Savior is the firstborn from the dead, and
He lives and reigns forever. He is the source of your life, and
even though your body will sleep for a time, death cannot kill
you. Death is the enemy. It is the ultimate evil. But because of
your Savior it is weak. Jesus will not leave you or your loved
ones to the grave. On the day of your Lord's return, every grave
will be empty, and all his saints will go with Him, body and soul,
into paradise forever.
That, dear Christian, is the way of the God who cries at
funerals. He loves you. He desires you. He wants you to live
with Him forever. And He will have His way with you. He, your
Master, is good, and the Lover of Mankind. Every funeral He
attends ends with a resurrection.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.