“Lord, If You Had Been Here…” John 11.20-46, Lent 5A, April ‘17

1.     Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The message from God’s Word this 5^th Sunday in Lent is taken from John 11:20-46 and is entitled, “Lord, If You Had Been Here,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.     I can remember the first time I ever visited a funeral home when I was a boy. I can’t remember whose funeral it was, or where it was, or even who brought me. But I can remember how it felt—the mood in the room. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. There was something different about the way people talked to one another, something different about the way people acted—the timid tones, the hushed language. And then I realized it was because of death. Death was the cloud that hung over the whole room. Its power, its finality, its merciless advance into the life of some loved one touched every heart, leaving a trail of sorrow and grief in its wake.

3.     When Jesus approached the tomb of Lazarus, the Greek says that his body literally shook (Jn 11:33). Not only did Jesus cry. He sobbed. He trembled, wept and wailed, almost as if he was one with the whole weeping, wailing mass of humanity. And he is—he is one with us. Our God is a man. He sympathizes with us in our weakness. He shares our grief. He knows what it is to suffer as you are now suffering, because he’s been there before, at Lazarus’s tomb.

4.     John the Apostle tells us here in chapter 11 of his Gospel that Lazarus had died. 4 days had passed. We can well imagine that Mary and Martha must have said to themselves over and over again, “If only Jesus had been here, this thing would never have happened.” Small wonder that, when the Lord arrived and Martha ran out to meet Him, her first words were “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died”—and small wonder that, when Mary came running to Him several moments later, she greeted Him with the identical words: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” That was all they had been thinking, so it was natural that it should be the first thing they said: “If You had been here!” But now their Lord was there. Was He too late?

5.     But, John tells us that Lazarus’s death is for the glory of God.  When Jesus hears the news about Lazarus’s illness, he stays put in Bethany for two days. There’s no mistaking—Lazarus is dead.  Jesus allows Lazarus to die that all might see the glory of God (v 4), that all might believe (v 15). 

6.     Lazarus’s death is an occasion to call Martha to faith.  Jesus gets to Bethany. Martha approaches. Where was Martha’s mind?  Martha was stuck in the trauma of the past: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v 21).  Martha’s mind was on the hope of the future: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (v 24).  Where was Martha? Anywhere but the present.  Jesus takes Martha out of the past, out of the future, to himself: “I am the resurrection and the life” (v 25).  To believe in him is to live forever and not die.  To believe in him is to have the resurrection as your own present possession.  To believe in him is, at the day of death, merely to fall asleep in the hope of waking up again.  Jesus asks Martha if she believes this, which elicits a wonderful confession of faith from her. She confesses him to be the Christ, the Son of God.  Lazarus’s death and rising point to Jesus’ own death and resurrection . . . and ours on the Last Day.

7.     Let us read the blessed record from John chapter 11… “So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met Him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.”

8.     Could there be anything more comforting to the heart of the Christian than the words we have just read? The glories of our Savior Jesus seem to crowd the verses as we read them. We see in Him, first of all, our compassionate Redeemer, and then the mighty and majestic God who is the resurrection and the life.

9.     Our compassionate Redeemer! See our Lord Jesus weeping as He walks along the road that leads from the village out to the place of burial. He who was “in the beginning” (John 1: 1), He by whom “all things were made” (1: 3), He who “upholds the universe by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1: 3)—He weeps tears of sorrow and compassion as He beholds the misery and anguish not only of Mary and of Martha but also of all of humanity. His heart beats fast, His spirit groans, His throat is choked, His eyes run over.

10.  What a blessed assurance to know that this sympathetic Savior is even now at the right hand of God, making intercession for us! “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin…. For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 4: 15; 2: 18). Christ has come down with us into the depths of human misery. He knows our sorrows and He has mingled His tears with ours to assure us of His tender and divine compassion.

11.  But our Savior has more than compassion—He has power! He has power over all our enemies, even our final enemy, death. In this chapter of John’s Gospel, He both claims and demonstrates that power. He claims it when He speaks those never-to-be-forgotten words to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” And He demonstrates His power over death when He speaks the life-giving words “Lazarus, come out,” and “the man who had died came out.”

12.  The 5^th Sunday in Lent is a sort of dress rehearsal for Holy Week, preparing us for the Passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Why did Jesus die? To take our sin upon himself, so that, by his death, “he might destroy the one who has the power of death” (Heb 2:14).  Now death has no more power over Jesus. He has the last word.  Eternal life is ours through faith in Christ and his work for us.  We share in the hope of the resurrection. Just as Jesus called Lazarus forth from the grave, we who sleep in the dust of death shall one day hear the Lord’s voice: “Come out.”

13.  To believe in Jesus is to have his resurrection and life right now. Our Lord let Lazarus die so he could teach this to the world. May the Holy Spirit, who comes through the Word preached and proclaimed, teach you this, that you, too, believe and have life eternal. Amen.

“Exile and Return from Our Babylons,” Ezra 1.1-4 Lenten Midweek #5

1.       Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word as we continue our Lenten sermon series, “Coming Home From Exile:  The Exoduses of the Scriptures,” is taken from Ezra 1:1-4 and is entitled, “Exile and Return from Our Babylons,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.       God isn’t a cantankerous hothead who’s ready to blow up at the drop of a hat. He’s long-tempered, slow to anger, quick to forgive. In the days of Noah, he gave the world’s population 120 years to repent before drowning them in the worldwide flood. He put up with Nineveh’s murderous ways for many a day before sending Jonah—and even then he gave them 40 more days to repent before He would bring His judgment upon them. And He put up with Jonah’s bellyaching at the same time! He was patient with Jacob’s deceptions, Solomon’s womanizing, and—most amazing of all, the example of divine self-control—he’s patient even with the likes of you and me.

3.       But be warned. There’s a limit. There does come a point when the Heavenly Father puts every kid’s least favorite proverb into practice, namely, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” Just ask His rebellious son Israel; He’ll tell you all about how that rod of fatherly discipline feels across one’s backside. For over 200 years God bombarded his people with prophet after prophet, all preaching variations of the same sermon: Turn back to the true God, or He will turn His face away from you. From Amos to Isaiah, Hosea to Jeremiah, they all read Israel’s upcoming obituary, but the hearers by and large either laughed or shrugged the message away. Or they killed the messenger. After all, they’d heard this stuff before. “Yeah, the last prophet preached the same thing and, lo and behold, Rev. Chicken Little, the sky hasn’t fallen yet.”

4.       Oh, but fall it did, with the whole weight of Babylon pressing it down. This superpower, under King Nebuchadnezzar, bulldozed Jerusalem, ground her temple to dust, and reduced even her most powerful, rich, and wealthy citizens to a ragtag band of prisoners of war. Like Lot’s wife, no doubt many of them looked back to see their leveled city, salty tears drenching their once happy faces. To Babylon they were marched, their backs reddened by the rod of discipline, their ears full of the divine words that had gone unheard. Homeless and hopeless into exile they went.

5.       Well, actually, homeless, yes, but hopeless, no. For as the Lord had informed Abraham how many years Israel would be stuck in Egypt, so he had told Jeremiah how long his nation would call Babylon “home-sour-home.” It would be 70 years, plenty of time to take stock of how much they had invested in idolatry. For the wages of rebellion is exile, but the gift of God is homecoming, in God’s time and in God’s way, but all according to grace.

6.       And so, according to grace, Babylon’s bubble burst as Persia moved up to the number one world power. According to grace, Cyrus, king of Persia, issued an edict that all exiled Israelites were free to head home. And according to grace, men such as Ezra stepped into Moses’ shoes to lead the children of Abraham out of the sewer reeking of idolatry and falsehood back into the land flowing with milk and honey.

7.       That’s the kind of God the Israelites had. And that’s the kind of God you have too. He’s the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, next year, and forever. He provides Noah with an ark for the salvation of his household. He brings Abraham out of exile. He takes Jacob by the hand and brings him back to his fatherland. He escorts Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. He pulls his people out of the quicksand of Babylon and sets them on the solid ground of Canaan. And he has done the same for you, no matter what or where your own Babylon may have been.

8.       Is your Babylon the land of addiction, where your whole life revolves around the next drink, the next fix, the next porn site, the next whatever that provides that high you don’t think you can live without? From the Babylonian land of addiction, Jesus has delivered you. He’s the God who welcomes all, from the needle-scarred prostitute to the white-collared CEO. He’s no respecter of persons. He tears down your prisons, keeps the enemy at bay, and carries you out of Babylon. He will do it, and he has done it. For he wants you to be His, and His alone. And He has done and will do what it takes to make that happen.

9.       Or is your Babylon the land of pleasure, where every dime you earn, every free hour you have, is spent in doing whatever makes your skin tingle, feeds your sexual appetite, or just puts a self-satisfied smile on your face? From the Babylonian land of pleasure, Jesus has delivered you. He has come to show you that true and lasting pleasure is found solely in Him and His love. The joy with which He fills you outlasts every passing pleasure that this world holds before your eyes. There’s no greater joy than being able to lay your head down on the pillow every night with a clean conscience—a conscience clean not because you’ve passed the day without sinning, but because you know and believe that your sins are forgiven in Christ. However big they are, the love of Jesus is always bigger.

10.   Or is your Babylon simply the going-through-the-motions life, a sad existence covered by a smile and well-practiced laugh? You have your career, your family, your friends—all of which give the appearance that life is fine and dandy. But under this outward disguise is sheer emptiness, a black hole of despair that sucks into it every single aspect of your life. From this Babylon too, Christ is your deliverer. He’s not content merely to take away your sins and death; He also fills your life with Himself, with His own life. And where He is, there is contentment, no matter what your circumstances, rich or poor, healthy or sick. It is the contentment of knowing that you really do matter to God, that your life, your job, your marriage, your children, your all, really and truly matter to Him. It’s the contentment of knowing that in your actions as spouse, parent, or worker, Christ is active, using what you do, to do good to and for your neighbor.

11.   Whatever your Babylon, whatever that place of captivity and exile, it can’t keep captive you for whom Jesus died. His crucifixion tree is the sledgehammer that pounds away at every wall that bars you in. As Samson once tore the gates of a city from the earth and carried them high on a hill, so has the greater Samson, Jesus, wrecked the gates of every Babylon of addiction, every Babylon of pleasure, every Babylon of a lifeless life to bring you home to himself. He didn’t rest until it was done. As He brought forth His own resurrected body from the tomb, so has He raised you to life in His name and brought you forth alive again into the kingdom of God.

12.   No, God isn’t a cantankerous hothead who’s ready to blow up at the drop of a hat. He’s long-tempered with you, slow to be angry with you, quick to forgive you. And that’s the way He is because, well, that’s just the way He is with you and for you in Christ Jesus. And He won’t change. Not ever. He’s the God who is on your side. And because of that, you need fear no Babylon. The Lord Jesus has conquered them all for you.  According to His Grace, God Delivered Us Home from Babylon.  Amen.