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“If you had been there….” Sherry Lohman - Nov. 1, 2009 John 11:32-28, 29-44 “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”// Some months ago, as I was glancing through the obituaries, I noticed a column written by a mother, in memory of her son, who had been killed in an auto accident. The memorial she wrote tugged at my heart. I don’t recall it, word for word, but I remember it as a litany of grief, mixed with blame and guilt, poured out in black and white across the page./ “If only our conversation had lasted a little longer,” she wrote, “you still be with us.” She and her son had been visiting over the phone, just before he began a roadside trip. She was the last one to speak with him./ Perhaps you have had some close calls, where, within a matter of seconds, your life could have been taken, or altered in some tragic way. Or maybe you know someone, who by some unfortunate mishap, wasn’t so fortunate./ It’s conceivable how the words, “If only, if only, if only…” might echo, obsessively, in one’s thoughts, as if, by some small miracle, the outcome might change. We hear something similar in our scriptural story of Lazarus, today. It’s his sister, Mary, who, upon first seeing Jesus, kneels and weeps, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Actually, the story begins several days earlier, as Lazarus becomes quite sick. Jesus and Lazarus are good friends, and so Lazarus’ sisters, Martha and Mary, do what you and I do when one of our loved ones are sick---we send word to Jesus. These sisters know the healing power of Jesus. There is no reason for them to doubt that he won’t show up—in fact, not only do they expect him to show up, but they hold even greater expectations; that Jesus will help/heal Lazarus. Jesus is in Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away. A slow walk would get him to Bethay under an hour. The trouble is, Jesus delays. By the time he arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. Put yourself in Martha or Mary’s shoes. How would you respond?// We heard Mary’s response. But Mary is not the first to greet Jesus. Martha, has already gone out, watching for Jesus; perhaps revealing a hint of her anxiety. She is the first to say, out loud, those words that probably haunted both sisters: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”/ Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt---as if these sisters held him responsible for the death of his their brother, and Jesus’ good friend. Do you suppose their remarks caused Jesus to question his purpose?/ Was he to walk the earth, bringing dead people out of their tombs? Others said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Was that it; the full substance of his purpose? Was that the message folks heard? And what about Martha and Mary? Might they loose their faith, depending on Jesus and what he has taught them about God and new life? Imagine that; Jesus the cause of losing one’s faith. That might be a first. Mary weeps, but Martha presses Jesus. She has done her homework./ Remember, this is the woman who, in another story, airs her complaints to Jesus. She didn’t think it was fair that while she was in the kitchen preparing a Martha Stewart meal, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening and learning from him. So she took off her apron, and joined Martha, learning about this new life. In fact, she wants to witness, first hand, God’s work, through Jesus. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She continues, not waiting for his response. “But even now I know ….that God will give you whatever you ask of God.” Martha’s mind, she believes the death of her brother is a problem Jesus can still fix. She might not know how, but that’s not hers to understand./ Jesus affirms that her brother will rise again, to which Martha replies, “yes, yes, I know all about that…the resurrection, on the last day.” We all know about that, right? We know that Jesus died and on the third day was resurrected. In our Christian faith, we believe that we, too, like Jesus, after we die here on earth in our last day, will be resurrected, and then live eternally with God. That is our hope. Martha’s answer must have appeared incomplete for Jesus. She speaks of resurrection and last days. Jesus makes another claim. “I am the resurrection and the life.” It’s not just about dying and the last days…It’s so much more. I am life, before you, today. Here, and now, presently. Life. “Martha, do you believe this?” / Do you believe this? Martha’s response, while it is positive, sounds a little scripted, as if she is reciting what she has learned, but doesn’t really understand. “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” She doesn’t really acknowledge what Jesus says about the life Jesus brings, presently./ Martha rests her perplexity on the mystery of Jesus’ person as the Messiah. And then, as if there’s nothing more to say, she retrieves Mary./ Mary runs to Jesus, kneels at his feet, weeping and repeats those same words you heard earlier, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (Vs. 38-44) Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because 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 looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” You may be one of those persons who takes the word of the Bible literally. And so, for you, this was a miracle Jesus pulled off. He raised Lazarus from the dead. One of my seminary professors makes a distinction about this event. Lazarus was raised, not resurrected. Resurrection, as we think of it, has to do with living with God, an after life beyond this earth. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead; called him out of the tomb, but Lazarus would eventually die a final death, on this earth. You see the difference? Some folks need miracles in their lives, and that’s ok. Whatever you believe about this particular story (whether a miracle occurred, or if life and death play out like a metaphor in this story….it probably doesn’t matter, one way or the other. Whatever happened, happened. What is most important, in any sacred text, is what it means to you. Maybe you’re like Martha, and you need to see the power of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. You may insist that it’s a miracle you want, standing behind a confident faith, but scratch the surface and your own doubts might be revealed. It happened to Martha. If she had been completely confident in her faith in Jesus’ power, she wouldn’t have questioned him when he told them to remove the stone from the tomb. Remember, she said, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” This is not a vote of confidence. She doubts. Jesus reminds her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” The stone is moved away. Martha, still needing that miracle, hears Jesus call her brother’s name. She sees a shape. Listen, again, to the description. “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth.” The stone has been removed and yet Martha still cannot see her brother’s face. His hands and feet are bound with strips of cloth. His face is wrapped. He has been raised from the dead, but he is still dead./ Is this raising enough miracle for Martha? Is it what you want/need from Jesus? I have a feeling Martha may need to join Mary, again, taking her place beside her and together, calling forth their brother’s spirit. They will grieve, and later, Jesus will join them. They might find occasion to laugh, even as they grieve, when they recall some of the silly things Lazarus used to do. And slowly, day by day, month by month, they begin the work of removing the cloths, binding their own sorrow, and once again, give permission to live fully, resurrected. Amen. |