2312AFC032423 – Believer! Come Forth! – Lent Week 5 (↔ Music Link)
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Ezekiel 37:12a – Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people;
Isaiah 25:7-8 – And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
Romans 8:8-9 – 8 Those who obey their human nature cannot please God. 9 But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to — if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Good News Translation (GNT)[1]
Happy Aloha Friday, Beloved. We are already at the fifth Friday of Lent, and this coming Sunday the Gospel is about Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. The account of Lazarus’ death and resuscitation is powerful emotionally and spiritually. This family was one of Jesus’ favorites. You can tell by the intimacy he enjoyed there that Jesus loved this trio of believers. It was Mary who anointed Jesus feet with fragrant spikenard ointment and dried his feet with her hair shortly before his Passion and Crucifixion, and this act prefigured his donning a towel and washing the feet of the apostles on that holy night. Jesus was at their house often, and perhaps they had known each other since before he began his ministry. We can imagine how these three people lived in their home in Bethany. There is no mention of other family or parents. Bethany was close to the Mount of Olives. Jesus passed through there on his way to Jerusalem more than once. It was near Bethany that the Disciples witnessed his Ascension. These three, then, were people Jesus really, really cared about. He loved them in a very special way.
Around the time of this event in Jesus’ life, there was a strong movement among some of the people to capture him and kill him. His Apostles, Disciples, and other friends were very concerned about these constant threats on his life. Jesus knew about the threats, and he also knew how it would all turn out, he knew what would ultimately happen to him near Bethany, in the Garden of Olives. He knew what had happened to Lazarus, too; despite knowing all the pain associated with that knowledge – Lazarus was dead and Jesus would soon be crucified – Jesus stayed with his mission of teaching and healing. When someone tracked him down to tell him about Lazarus, Jesus told them, “He is only sleeping.” They took that to mean Lazarus was resting and getting better. He told them point-blank that Lazarus had died, but his death would not be the end of the story or his life. Finally he says he will go to his friends’ house so that he can demonstrate God’s power and will. That’s when one of my favorite Bible characters pops into view again. Here’s the passage from John 11:1-45 (← Check it out!):
John 11:16 16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Thomas fascinates me! He always seems to be a beat behind, or maybe he was just a strong pessimist, “Oh, well, if we’re going to Bethany, we’re all gonna die!” Then again, he might have been the bravest one in the bunch, ready to die with his Master and friend. Later on (John 14:5), Jesus is telling them – in the Last Discourse, “Don’t worry. Everything will be alright. You know where I’m going. I’ll come back and get you.” Thomas pops up again and says, “How can we know where you are going? We don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way?” And of course Thomas is most famous for saying, “I won’t believe he’s back until I see him for myself.” Thomas wasn’t in the Cenacle – the Upper Room – when Jesus first appeared to the 11 after his resurrection, and so he got stuck with the moniker “Doubting Thomas.” Odd that he should doubt Jesus was resurrected because he had been a witness to the resuscitation of Lazarus. He stood there with Jesus, Mary and Martha, and all the other mourners as Jesus, his heart stirred emotion and tears in his eyes, and he shocked them all with what he said in John 11:38-39:
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.
Everybody there went, “What?!?! It is not a good idea to move that stone. It’s going to smell really bad, and … you don’t really want to do that now. You should have come a week ago when he got sick and you could have healed him, but now, it’s too late. He’s rotting away in his grave.” Jesus must have given them quite a look before he turned toward the tomb where Lazarus had been placed. He told Martha straight out, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” Somebody, maybe several people, maybe even Thomas (although there’s no way to know for sure who moved the stone) had the courage to lift that stone out of the way. Then THE Moment in John 11:43-44:
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.
Lazarus, come forth!
Lazarus came out of the tomb all wrapped up in the trappings of death. He came out to new life. He came out to fresh air, sunshine, solid ground, and within a short time, he and Jesus were reclining at the table enjoying a feast prepared by Martha and enjoying the fragrance of the ointment Mary was lovingly massaging into his feet.
Jesus’ tender sympathy for these friends shows us the very human side of his person. His heart is deeply moved, and he groans inwardly because of their pain. He joins them in shedding tears, but he is also hearing the cries of the mourners and sees the impact the loss of Lazarus has on this tiny community of Bethany. Together they had shared in the joys of life, in the happiness of Jesus’ visits, and now they shared in the mourning, weeping, and immense sorrow of these two sisters who had lost their beloved brother, a brother who had entertained Jesus in his home. In fact, these sisters hoped and prayed that they would be reunited with their brother. They just did not expect it to happen that day!
Some of the bystanders had insinuated that if Jesus could make the blind see, he could surely have gotten here in time to save Lazarus’ life. Jesus’ actions deliberately counter that idea. He gave them something much more powerful than a healing to talk about. He gave them a restored life in broad daylight in front of many witnesses.
So, let’s get to the point. For whatever reason we doubt God’s love or Jesus’ saving power, he is always ready and able to exceed all our expectations, even if it seems to us he is four days late! (↔ Music Link) Whether we go to our death with him from bravery or loyalty or from a sincere fatalism that recognizes our frailty, if we die with him we shall rise with him. And when we rise with him he will take us where has prepared a place for us. But we need to respond when he calls. Why? BECAUSE WE BELONG TO HIM just as Lazarus did. As The Apostle Paul said in our Key Verse from the Epistles today, But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to — if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you. In many translations that phrase “if in fact” is rendered as “if only.” We must be wary of any spirit other than the Holy Spirit who keeps us in the heart and mind of Jesus. When we are humble and obedient as Jesus is humble and obedient, then the Spirit of God does indeed dwell within us because we belong to Jesus. (↔ Music Link) The way of the World is pride and disobedience – the sources of original sin – but the way of the APP is humility and obedience – the sources of Salvation. IF ONLY the Holy Spirit of God dwells within us (See 1 Corinthians 6:19) so that we are his temple, then the Absolutely Perfect Plan is also living within us to “guide us to all Truth.” (See John 16:13) When we live in the Light of Truth, then the veil of death (see Key Verse in Isaiah) will be taken away and we shall rise up with him on That Day.
Take away the stone even if you have to do it yourself! The stone in front of your tomb. Move it! Yes. Take away whatever it is you are hiding behind, whatever it is that keeps you in your tomb of death, and step out to meet our Lord in the Light of his Word. He calls all of us to come away from the death of flesh to be alive in Spirit, alive in our Creator, our King, our Savior, or as Thomas put it so well, “My Lord and my God!” We can come away from the death of sin and come alive, renewed, revived, and resuscitated from our former self. Shed the wrappings of death, and the stench of decay. Listen with our ears and hear with our hearts. Strip away the things that bind us to our death. Loose the things that stop us from walking into his Light, his Everlasting Love and Eternal Salvation. Be freed of the trappings of death. Take away the stone! He is calling you, calling me, calling US! to come forth!!
And here is something to think about: Jesus did not move the stone. Lazarus did not move the tone. Neither Martha nor Mary moved the stone. The friends of Lazarus (↔ Music Link) moved the stone. Sometimes we are liberated by the love of others around us from those things which have us paralyzed as if we were dead . They take away the stone, they open the way to new life. They can help us pull off the wrappings of death and support us in new life – a Life everlasting because of the Love given to them by God and shared by them to us. WE can be counted among the Friends of Lazarus. WE have to get up and go out of the tomb and back into life! WE have to respond with every fiber of our being when the people who love us call, as Jesus did, WE can be deeply moved enough to stand at the door of death and cry out in faith –
“Beloved, come forth!”
In humility and obedience we do as he says. Rise up. Go to him. Live. He has already swallowed up death in victory!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Originally posted under Aloha Friday Messages at http://www.aloha-friday.org – The Moon Beam Network See 1414AFC040414 – Believer! Come Forth! Edited for content and images.
[1] Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible. Used by permission. Approved by USCCB for use.
