FIFTH SUNDAY of LENT

April 10, 2011

Text: John 11:1-45

Pastor Dale G. Bauer

Where are you, Jesus? Where are you, God? This is the question that has been asked throughout human history. Maybe you have asked it. I know it has crossed my mind often. We ask it the face of the inexplicable and horrible. Where was God when Hitler put to death six million Jews? Where is God when the good die young? Or when the tsunami swept over northern Japan?

It is one of the “biggies” and hard to address in a sermon. But it is put before us by the story of the raising of a guy by the name of Lazarus. He’s a friend of Jesus, along with his sisters Mary and Martha. The Gospel of John recalls a story when Jesus was over at their place for dinner.

The raising of Lazarus is necessary because he died. You may remember the scene from Jesus of Nazareth. What we see is Jesus near to the tomb of
Lazarus. Mary runs up to Jesus asking him where he was. Jesus, surrounded by disciples and skeptics, raises the dead friend. Oddly, Jesus knew his friend was deathly ill, but takes three days to get to his home. When Jesus meets one sister, Martha, she says:

Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.

When Jesus meets the other sister, Mary, she says exactly the same thing:

Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.

Both of them seem to be asking the same question, Jesus, where were you? As followers of Jesus, they knew, as we know, Jesus had the power to fix Lazarus.

But as he often does, Jesus does not disturb the laws that govern the universe. Lazarus had some kind of disease, some medical condition that was fatal. Never forget that Jesus as God was creator of heaven and earth and fixed in it principles that govern it. Think about gravity. Without it, you and I would float around the earth or into space rather than walk on it. That might be fun for a while, but not very long. I have a friend, Pastor Ben Larzelere, with whom I usually room at the bishop’s retreat at Ghost Ranch every fall. When my alarm goes off in the morning and I begin to stir, Ben says, “Has gravity been turned on?” I get out of bed and assure him it has been turned on. We take for granted something as simple and profound as gravity. We live by those laws of nature and we die by them. If you happen to be at the epicenter of an earthquake, you are at risk.

Lazarus was a dear friend, but for him Jesus did not suspend the laws upon which we all depend.

Where Are You, Jesus? At resurrection. Jesus said to Martha that he was the resurrection and the life. Raising Lazarus he showed that he has power over the great separator, death. As the risen and glorified Lord, he defeats death and proclaims he will always be with us. That presence reaches its fullness first in his resurrection and then in our own resurrections. Or as the Apostle Paul puts it, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. As we approach the commemoration of his resurrection, and as we celebrate it every Sunday, we reach out and take hold of his presence with us in an eternal dimension.

Where Are You, Jesus? In the Community. Jesus establishes the Church through the Holy Spirit. He is ever present in his church. It’s just we often don’t
recognize him here. We are distracted. Busy. Blinded by our own sin. We miss the presence of Christ Jesus in a kind word, a compassionate heart, a listening ear. A word of advice or admonition. In acts of love and kindness. In the little victories we accomplish through our ministries.

I believe when we cut ourselves off from the Church, the body of Christ, even for good reasons, we cut ourselves off from the presence of Christ.

As some of you know, at the end of my parents’ lives, my brother and I became caretakers. The time came when they could not manage in their home outside of Akron, Ohio. My brother and I packed and moved them, and did a huge garage sale of the things they could not take. My brother arranged for the sale of their house. I remember being there for ten days packing and selling. It was exhausting. Many of you know what I mean. I got back to Denver, to Epiphany Lutheran Church, where I was pastor, for worship and preaching. Time came for the Children’s Sermon. Luke Anderson, maybe four or five years old, had the bag. When I looked inside of it there was nothing. I looked at Luke and said it was empty. He agreed and said to me: “What you need more than anything else is love.” He gave me a big hug.

Where Are You, Jesus? In Creation. When God finished creating this material world, unimaginable in size and distance, he said it was good. It supports us lavishly. Its variety and beauty are breath-taking. The part of creation we occupy is a one-in-kazillion combination of sun, atmosphere with oxygen, and gravity. We keep shooting rockets to distant planets trying to find even a little water, something familiar to us. But we haven’t found anything close to what we have here.

Where are You, Jesus? In Miracles. I believe in miracles. I don’t understand them. Heck, I don’t see them most of the time. That’s because as a 21^st century modern, I spend my time in the land of self-sufficiency, not it in miracle territory. Gerald Mann reminds me that miracles happen whether I see them or not. Whether I can explain them are not. What puts us in miracle territory is believing that Jesus was raised from the dead. Mann says that if you believe Jesus was raised from the dead, everything else is a piece of cake. Miracles are not so much about turning the laws of nature upside down as they are about God taking addicts and freeing them from addiction. About taking people who live out of fear and turning them into people who can live by courage. About relationships that are conflicted and banged up and making them new again.

Where Are You, Jesus? Wherever and whenever, by faith, we abide in him. And, as promised, He abides in us.

Amen.