John 11:32 When
Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and
said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 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."
This
Sunday, as is typical in most Lutheran churches, the festival of All Saints Day
will be transferred from Thursday November 1st (its proper day) so as to be
able to ensure its celebration by the congregation.
The history
of All Saints day is somewhat obscure. Wikipedia does as good a job as any in
terms of citing the things that we do know:
The
Western Christian holiday of All Saints' Day falls on 1
November, followed by All Souls' Day on 2 November, and is a
Holy Day of Obligation in the Latin Rite of the
Catholic Church.
The
origin of the festival of All Saints celebrated in the West dates to 13
May 609 or 610, when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon
at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs; the feast of
the dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at
Rome ever since. There is evidence that from the fifth through the
seventh centuries there existed in certain places and at sporadic
intervals a feast date on 13 May to celebrate the holy martyrs.
The origin of All Saints' Day cannot be traced with certainty, and it
has been observed on various days in different places. However, there are
some who maintain the belief that it has origins in
the pagan observation of 13 May, the Feast of the Lemures,
in which the malevolent and restless spirits of the
dead were propitiated. Liturgiologists base the idea that
this Lemuria festival was the origin of that of All Saints on their
identical dates and on the similar theme of "all the dead".
The
feast of All Saints, on its current date, is traced to the foundation
by Pope Gregory III (731–741) of an oratory in St. Peter's for
the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and
confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the
world", with the day moved to 1 November and the 13 May
feast suppressed.
This
fell on the Celtic holiday of Samhain, which had a
theme similar to the Roman festival of Lemuria, but which
was also a harvest festival.
So much for
the history. The original point seemed somewhat two-fold: (1) to uphold the martyrs as the ultimate
example in terms of sacrifice. In this way they were revered as the true
"heroes" of the faith. (2) Given the recurring pagan emphasis on the
occasional/seasonal restlessness of the spirits of the dead, the focus of All
Saints seemed intent on reframing the question. Certainly the spirits of the
dead were still "alive," but they were not here wreaking havoc; they
were in another domain--the heavenly domain, at least in terms of the righteous
ones.
The propers for this week are: Isaiah 25:6-9;
Revelation 21:1-6, and John 11:32-44. Each of these readings have something
interesting to contribute to the themes of the day. The Isaiah and Revelation
passages seem to have a 'present/future' focus. There is a REAL REALITY now
which--although we do not perceive with our senses--can be perceived by faith.
Those who have gone on before us in the faith presently occupy this reality. It
is a safe, and good reality because it takes place in the presence of God, who
acts as Patron, Host, Father, Protector. In addition to this present faith-perceived
reality, there is also a future reality held up by these passages. God WILL DO
certain things that have not been done yet--the greatest of which will be the
end of DEATH. Revelation 21:6 anticipates this ultimate completion of all of
God's work with the present tense: it is
DONE.
In contrast to the first two
readings, the Gospel reading of the day presents a very earth-bound "this
world" template for examining All Saints day. Saints Mary, Martha and
Lazarus show us what "normal sainthood" looks like not in the
heavenly realm, but right here where we find ourselves... and in that sense
John 11 is a perfect passage for our consideration.
It is very
true that we should look to the saints as our "heroes" in the faith,
but too often our heroes become idealized to the point of super-human status.
There's a current CPH publication that depicts Martin Luther as a
Superman-esque, physically fit, muscle-bound figure, that to my mind, seems to
be a highly unlikely representation of how he really looked! The point being, if
we are guilty of doing this with the physical
characteristics of those we venerate, sometimes we're also guilty of doing
it in terms of their spiritual
characteristics.
In that
sense, John 11 is a great corrective. There's so much to observe. This family,
Mary, Martha and Lazarus, are what we today would call good solid Christians.
They believe in Christ and practice their faith. Yet, notice that tragedy
strikes. As saints they illustrate to us that our saintly relationship with
Jesus is not a good luck charm against tragedy. We still experience
loss--sometimes unexpected; sometimes loss that seems unfair; before its time,
so to speak.
The passage
also treats us to the dialog between the sisters and Jesus. They are respectful
as good disciples should be, but they are not totally passive. They actively
engage in questioning dialog with Jesus: Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died, Mary says in vs 32
(Martha says the same thing earlier). So often we get down on ourselves for
feeling angry or disappointed in God when things don't turn out the way we
want. But God has not created us as robots. We have the full range of human
emotions--and Jesus in this text demonstrates his willingness not only to
engage in dialog with his saints when those emotions are in full swing, but he
also enters into the pain with them, v35 Jesus wept.
Of course
the culmination of the passage is what makes it such an appropriate reading for
All Saints Day; the fact that Jesus stands at the entrance of the tomb and
shouts: Lazarus, come out! And
Lazarus comes out. Here the point is that literally
Jesus will have the LAST WORD. This, by the way, is also what makes John 11 a
great funeral text. We would all love to stand at the casket of our loved one and
say _____ grandma, mom, dad, ... whoever.... GET UP; Come away from that
casket! Yet, as much as we'd like to be
able to have that effect, we obviously cannot. The account of what we see going
on in John 11 acts as a mini-drama of sorts for what will ultimately happen one
day for ALL WHO BELIEVE. This passage cannot help but make us think of St.
Paul's words in 1Thess 4: 15
According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are
left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have
fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord
himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise...
All Saints is a festival of HOPE
for us all!
Cheers,
TM
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