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In my years of ministry, I’ve had people confide in me about many topics. There are three topics, in particular, that people have shared that are unique in the way people broach the topic. Almost without exception, when it’s one of those topics I can guarantee that the conversation begins in this way – I’m going to tell you something that I’ve never told anyone before…. Every time I hear that line, I know it is one of three topics. Two of those topics are very serious and one is, well, it’s kind of out there in comparison to the other two (and I had my first experience of that nature last year). And the reason why people have not told anyone about their experience is because they fear other people will, in their words, think I am crazy, or think there’s something wrong with me. One of the three is this – I’ve never told anyone this before…but I’ve had a near-death experience.
I have long been fascinated with near-death experiences (NDEs) and with the question of why people are hesitant to tell others that they have had a near-death experience. They certainly aren’t crazy, and neither is there anything wrong with them because of their experience. My first awareness of near-death experiences took place when I was in high school, when I discovered the book Life After Lifeon our dining room table. Life After Lifewas published in 1975 by psychiatrist Raymond Moody. Moody wrote his book after interviewing 150 people who had near death experiences. The book brought into the public consciousness the common experiences of those who have an NDE, such as an overwhelming feeling of peace and well-being, including freedom from pain; the impression of being located outside one's physical body; floating or drifting through darkness, sometimes described as a tunnel; becoming aware of a golden light; encountering and perhaps communicating with a "being of light;" having a rapid succession of visual images of one's past; and experiencing another world of much beauty. Even though the scientific/materialist crowd panned the book, it really struck a chord with the general public. The book sold over 13 million copies and was an international best-seller. My second experience was when my grandfather – my dad’s step-father – had a near-fatal heart attack. I don’t know what he experienced but I am fairly certain he had an NDE. I never talked to him about his experience, but he was anxious to talk to my older brother about it, and after leaving the hospital and getting his strength back, he was baptized. It was an experience that brought about a significant change in his life.
Well, who doesn’t want to peer beyond the curtain that separates life and death and get a glimpse of what is beyond? It is the ultimate mystery, and while our faith teaches us that life extends beyond death, we don’t have a lot of details about what that life is like. We know it’s great, but we’d like to know more, wouldn’t we? Some have seen beyond the curtain, and one who did was Lazarus, who is resurrected in today’s Scripture passage. As we continue the series of messages titled Rebooting Life, today’s message is The Ultimate Reboot, and the Scripture text comes from the story of Lazarus, in John chapter 11.
In recent weeks, we’ve looked at stories in which others were resurrected by Jesus. Two weeks ago, we studied the story of Jesus raising the son of a widow, in Luke chapter 7. The week before that, we studied a story in Mark chapter 5, which tells of Jesus resurrecting the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue official. But the raising of Lazarus is the most dramatic of those stories, and one of the most dramatic stories in all of Scripture. Follow along as I read a portion of that story, from John 11:33-44 –
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
While John is not as economical in his word usage as Mark, in this instance he does leave out a lot of details. In fact, for all the drama inherent in the raising of Lazarus, John writes in a most matter-of-fact manner, ending the climax of the story with a simple phrase of Jesus, as he told those who rolled away the stone to take off the grave clothes and let him go. From there, almost nothing else is mentioned about Lazarus and his life after he was resurrected. John does mention, in chapter 12, verse 2, that Lazarus was present at a dinner given in honor of Jesus. In that verse, John casually mentions that Lazarus was among thosewho were at the dinner. I imagine Lazarus attracted quite a bit of attention from the others who were at the dinner. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have been at that dinner and have had the opportunity to talk with Lazarus about what he had experienced? Lazarus did not have a near-death experience. That is, he wasn’t “near death.” He had not started the dying process, which was then interrupted. That is a resuscitation. Lazarus had been dead for four days. Medical science can resuscitate people who have begun the dying process, but you cannot bring someone back who has completed the process and is fully dead. Resuscitation is not possible after four days. Martha, the sister of Lazarus, made the point of those four days clear when she said, very bluntly, but Lord…by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days(verse 39). This was not a resuscitation; Jesus resurrected Lazarus after four days in a tomb. Imagine the drama of that moment. As Jesus prayed,I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe you sent me(verse 42). People had seen Jesus perform miracles, but here was the ultimate miracle. This was the ultimate miracle, the ultimate rebooting of life, and the ultimate in new beginnings.
As we turn now to this passage, let’s look for a moment at one of the most famous verses in this story – verse 35 – which happens to be the shortest verse in the Bible. Who has not, when asked to memorize Scripture, chosen this verse because of its brevity? Yes, it is brief, but in those two words we learn so much about Jesus. Talk about economy of language! Only two words, but those two words – Jesus wept– speak volumes about his love and his compassion. An immense amount of information about Jesus is in that very brief verse. It’s interesting to ask, why did Jesus weep? Jesus knew long before that moment that he would raise Lazarus from the dead, yet he still wept at his tomb. Those two words serve to teach us almost everything we need to learn about Jesus. From his tears, we learn of the love and compassion of Jesus. His tears flowed because his heart was moved by the grief of Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, and his heart was touched by the sadness of the friends of Lazarus. Jesus knew all the beauty that Lazarus had inherited in eternity, he knew of all the beauty ahead for Mary and Martha and others, and he knew all the beauty ahead for their friends. Jesus knew they would one day see each other again. But their grief weighed heavily upon Jesus. We know there is resurrection; we know it. But sometimes, the distance of time between the loss of a loved one and our reunion with them in eternity is a long in-between. A long in-between. Sometimes, it is long enough that we begin to forget what a person’s voice sounded like. Sometimes, it is long enough, if we were young enough, that we begin to forget what someone looked like. And that bothers us, but it is natural, and it happens to many people. Though Jesus knew all the beauty that awaited his friends and his followers, he also knew the pain of separation that was upon Mary and Martha, and upon others. The promise of future resurrection doesn’t take away the pain of the here and now, so Jesus was weeping out of compassion for those who mourned.
Jesus was weeping also because of the human condition, and the hardened hearts of so many. Jesus knew that as soon as he called for Lazarus to come out of the tomb, there would be his opponents, with ever-hardened hearts, plotting in earnest to put him to death. It is easy to wonder, how can some hearts become so hardened? Not just against belief and faith, but against goodness and compassion and love.
While Jesus wept for Lazarus, he was weeping for the whole of humanity and for the hardness of heart that was endemic to so many. The tears of Jesus challenge us to weep for humanity as well. Do we weep over the troubles of others; not just our own, but those of others? Do we weep when we see the depth of the struggles some people face? Do we weep when we see how difficult life is for so many? Some of us are blessed to have a station in life that shields us from what so many people face every day of their lives. Once again, violence has reminded us of the difficulties facing so many. The shootings in Atlanta call attention to the struggles facing Asian-Americans. We have long been aware of the difficulties placed upon Black people, but it is also Asian-Americans and the native peoples of our land. There are so many people, just because of who they are, because of who God created them to be, who face so many struggles because of prejudice, injustice, and so many other struggles put upon them. It ought to break our hearts and cause us to weep that some people, when they get up in the morning, just because of who they are, must worry about their safety, must worry about securing equality, and must worry about so many things that many of us never have to consider.
In weeping, Jesus wept not only for Lazarus, but for the entirety of the human condition and for all the sufferings of people. In weeping for others, we become more like Jesus, as we think not only about ourselves, but about others. My life might be full of blessings, but I must remember that there are so many people whose lives are full of struggle and I must work to improve their lives, I need to identify with them, I need to minister to them, and I need to do what I can to help them in meaningful ways. We must weep for their struggles, the pain of their rejection, their loneliness, their loss, over how they have been treated by society, by their family, and even by churches.
That Jesus wept tells us so much about who he was, and about who we are called to be.
Now I want to say some things about verse 37, which tells us of those along the edges of the scene, watching Jesus with suspicion. Last week I spoke about the critics of Jesus who were watching in order to criticize. Verse 37 is similar but takes the opposition to Jesus even further. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? This is an example of the truth that not every question asked is to secure information. This is a question asked not to gain information, but to make a point. This type of question is similar to one I was often asked by my parents when I was young – do you really think that’s a good idea? That is not a question that is expecting an answer, but one that is making a point that I am about to do something foolish or harmful. The question asked of Jesus was a way of expressing their skepticism and they offered it in a mocking way. It showed, at best, a level of insensitivity and at the worst, cruelty. The people asking this question were not interested in Lazarus as much as they were interested in criticizing Jesus, and they were happy to use the death of Lazarus to do so, which was an act of cruelty on their part. They were willing to use the grief of Mary and Martha to make their point, and that is a really harsh attitude. It’s insensitive. It’s uncaring. To use the suffering and the grief of another person to make a point against another person is cruel.
How can it be so difficult to treat people with compassion and dignity? Humanity so often fails to do so, and is it really that difficult? How is it so difficult to follow some of the most simple and basic commands of God, commands that ask only that we treat one another with love and compassion? Take the 10 Commandments, for instance. Those are words God should never have had to say. Don’t kill people, don’t take other people’s stuff, and don’t say things about others what isn’t true. When you think about it, those commands are a really low bar, morally speaking. Is it that hard? For humanity, it evidently is. We see again, sadly, such a terrible, senseless act of violence, this time in Atlanta. This is not an isolated incident – it is commonplace! We see this over and over again. It is the hardhearted, uncaring, nature of humanity that spawns such violence and hatred.
It is true, obviously, that Jesus did not raise everyone. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus. He raised the widow’s son. And he raised Lazarus. What Jesus was demonstrating was the larger point. His raising of Lazarus was to show, as he says in verses 25 and 26, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. He said this before raising Lazarus, when those words could not be comprehended, but when the people saw Lazarus walk out of that tomb, they witnessed the reality that Jesus possessed power over even death. It was a way for Jesus to show not only that Lazarus lived again, but in a greater way, everyone will one day rise from their tomb and will live in eternity. Resurrection is the promise that is offered to all of us, and this is the larger point Jesus wanted understood.
And then John records these words of Jesus –take off his grave clothes and let him go. Those words mark the end of this amazing miracle. It’s an almost anticlimactic conclusion to this part of the story, at least on the surface. I like the image of this – take off his grave clothes and let him go. I don’t know how bound up Lazarus was, but imagine what the moment must have been like. Imagine what it was like for Mary and Martha to see that head covering come off and to see the living, breathing face of their brother again. To see the other bindings come loose and to see Lazarus walk away from the tomb and to come to embrace his sisters and to embrace his friends, and certainly to embrace Jesus as well. What a powerful moment that was!
It’s a powerful moment for us as well, as it reminds us to take off what binds us. I love the song that Wanda sang earlier, You Raise Me Up. I listen to that song often. I have several versions on iTunes and love listening to it. As many times as I have listened to the song, there is one line that jumped out to me this morning in a way that it never has before. It is the line sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity. Isn’t that a beautiful line? People glimpsed eternity that day, when they saw Lazarus walk out of that tomb. That was a glimpse of eternity. It was just a glimpse, but what a glimpse it was. To see what is to come; what a gift! As Lazarus was able to embrace his sisters and friends, it was a foreshadowing of the day when we too will rise and will embrace the family and friends who have gone on before us.
But while we are in that long in-between, we still have much that binds us. Sometimes, we must say to ourselves, loosen those bonds, and let them go. Every one of us today, whether you are here in person or watching by the livestream, have things that bind us. But it’s hard to let go, isn’t it? Maybe our miracle would be the ability to let go of what has bound us for so long. I’m 63 years old, and I am still bound by some of the same things that bound me when I was a young boy, or a 16-year-old teenager, or a 30-year-old adult, or a 40-year-old entering into the middle of life. They are still there, and it is past time for me to say, let them go Dave! You’ve been bound for too long! Allow yourself to experience the resurrection that can come now. Let God and the power of His Spirit unbind you! Let those dead graveclothes fall away and embrace the newness of resurrection that comes not only at our last breath, but the resurrection that can come right now, in this life! Don’t be bound up by the death and decay of an old life that seeks to hold you in its grip! Take hold of that new life that God offers to you right now! That’s why we need – and why we get – those glimpses of eternity, because we need them. When I get that glimpse, I can let all the old pass away. When I get that glimpse, I can overcome those struggles that weigh me down. Maybe it’s been a tough week, a tough month, a tough year, or even a tough several years, but then I get that glimpse, and the old falls away.
Let’s step into that new life – today!
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