Thoughts going in, Sunday April 27th

John 20:19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." 24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus ), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

            This Sunday is our preschool program, hence my actual sermon will likely echo basic resurrection themes from Easter day. However, beginning this week our "Caz" service resumes on Thursday nights--hence we'll be looking at the appointed Gospel reading for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, the above passage from John 20.

            As is usually the case in John's gospel, there are many rich themes percolating in this reading. This is where Thomas gets his unfortunate nickname, "Doubting Thomas." The problem with this nickname, however, is that Thomas wasn't doubting--at least in this particular episode. The TNIV's translation of vs 27 is unfortunate stop doubting and believe. "To doubt," in Greek is distazo. We see this word used clearly in another resurrection passage--Matthew 28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. The word used here in our passage from John is a-pistos. Pistos in Greek means to believe; hence, apistos is unbelief. Thomas wasn't doubting... he had lost his faith. Spiritually speaking, it's actually a worse place to be. In this case the New Living Translation is actually superior: Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!"

            And so what follows is the pastoral work of Jesus bringing Thomas back to faith. As more than one commentator points out, Thomas does indeed return to faith, but without following through on his demand to experience physical contact (he never does touch the Lord in the story). Building on this, what we can say is that ALL people come to faith via an 'encounter' with Christ. The ascended Lord no longer shows up in our room--at least there's no promise that he will, yet an encounter with him occurs nonetheless. We encounter him through the ministry of the Church; we encounter him in the lives of others; we encounter him in his word & sacraments--but have no doubt, a living faith in a resurrected Messiah happens through encountering him.

            Then there's the theme mentioned at the end of the passage, where the evangelist tells us his purpose in writing. This is an important section for study of the Gospels. Most Christians are left wanting more when they read about Jesus in the Bible. The craving for stories from his infancy, early childhood, and teen years was something the early Christians felt as well. Some even went so far as to write fictional accounts about what the boy Jesus may have been like. But in vss 30 & 31 the evangelist plainly states that it was not his purpose to give us an exhaustive account of the life of Jesus. John, for instance, tells us nothing of Mary & Joseph in Bethlehem, etc. His purpose, rather, was to write an account that would lead to BELIEF (have pistos).

            And then there's the commissioning of an imperfect human Church to take part in God's mission for the world. From vs 21: Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. It's really a neat section when we think about it. Jesus was basically deserted by everyone in that room. Peter, his 2nd in command, had even denied him 3 times. When he comes into their midst, he finds them paralyzed in fear, with at least one person (1/11 of their total number) who had lapsed into complete unbelief. If Jesus were today's typical ruthless businessman, who knows what would've happened. He may have appeared....taken one look at the pathetic rabble and turned around and left. Or he may have been like Gregory Peck in the movie Twelve O'Clock High--he may have appeared, taken one look at the shambles, and gone ballistic; having everyone drop and give him 50. He may have screamed and lectured them for their pathetic performance....yet not even Thomas gets a lecture, per se. In this passage the risen Lord does something very pastoral; he works with what he has. He encourages scared, imperfect, even unbelieving followers. And he entrusts them with the mission. SUCH FAITH! Normally we talk about the Christian's faith in Jesus, but this passage speaks strongly of Jesus' faith in Christians!

            Not a lot has changed in 2000 years. We today are just as often paralyzed by fear or distraction; a segment of our congregations are still struggling with unbelief. Yet the message of this week's gospel is just as valid. Christ still commissions us; Christ still comes to us in his word and sacraments; valid encounters keep happening; and most important of all, he keeps using imperfect followers such as us for his beautiful mission to the world. The trick is not to look around at our paralyzed, fearful, unbelieving pathetic ranks. The trick is to look at our RISEN LORD and his faith IN US!

Cheers,

T.M.

            

Thoughts going in, Sunday April 6th

Week 5 of Lent

John 11:1-45

Well, it’s another week of an entire chapter of John for our Gospel reading. As I’ve already mentioned, these extra long readings toward the end of Lent are preparatory for Passion Sunday when the congregation will hear the [very long] passion narrative read. This is a good thing.

As far as ‘what’s going on’ in John 11, of course this is the well-known passage about the death and resuscitation of Lazarus. Not surprisingly, there are a LOT of things going on here. It’s a lot of verses to begin with—and then there is the author’s typical way of densely packing a LOT of information (and theological baggage) into his text. So, these are my rambling thoughts going in...

Vss 1-16: I have always found it interesting that John, the son of Zebedee and supposed author of the gospel that bears his name (though in truth is anonymous, so we can never be sure), has **traditionally been identified as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” Yet, in more than one place in John’s gospel, LAZARUS is identified as the one Jesus loves (vs 3). A lot of ink has been spilled on the possible connection between Lazarus and his sisters Mary & Martha, and Jesus. There is an obvious close relationship between them and the Lord. Given this, it wouldn’t be to great of a stretch to suppose that they may be physically related. On the other hand, the family of Lazarus appears to have means—whereas Jesus does not. (vss 7-15) As Jesus often does in John’s gospel, he decides to go in to the “lion’s den”...back to Judea where his life is sought—proving that he is [literally] lord of his destiny. His life will not be taken FROM him, he will lay it down according to the Father’s will & good timing. Vs 16 stands out as a corrective to the “Doubting Thomas” of tradition. Everyone remembers that Thomas doubted the resurrection, but no one seems to recall that at least in John 11 Thomas was willing to go and be martyred with Jesus in Judea if that’s what it came to.

Vss 17-37: As the author is telling the story, it’s as though he’s bursting at the seams to let the cat out of the bag...that being,...that Jesus is death’s worst enemy...that if/when Jesus and death get in a duel, death has no chance. Vs 21: Martha says: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” indicating that Jesus has the power to STOP death. Vs 23: Jesus says “Your brother will rise again,” indicating that even now, death is incapable of holding onto Lazarus forever. Vs 24: Martha confesses her belief in the resurrection of “the just” at the last day, but then in vs25 Jesus identifies HIMSELF as the personification of the LAST DAY BREAKING IN TO THEIR PRESENT. “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die.” And thus one of the best and most comforting funeral texts was born. Joining oneself to Christ, by faith, is nothing short of joining oneself to THE RESURRECTION...to victory over death. Die if you will, but on the other side of death is LIFE, Jesus is saying. Vs32 when the other sister, Mary, meets Jesus, she repeats Martha’s statement of faith that Jesus has the power to stop death. In ALL of these ways, the author is tipping his hand as to what’s coming next; building dramatic excitement for the moment when Jesus comes face to face with the death of Lazarus. Vs 35, of course every kid who ever had to memorize bible verses prizes Jn 11:35 as the shortest verse in the bible. But it’s much more than that. It demonstrates the humanity of Jesus—and the fact that EVEN PERFECT FAITH GRIEVES. It’s a horrible myth that “good Christians don’t grieve or mourn the loss of their loved ones in the faith.” St. Paul says they grieve—but not as those who have no HOPE (1Thess 4:13). The sort of grief St. Paul describes looks like Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus; weeping over the loss of his loved one, but BOLDLY confessing his faith in the resurrection.

Vss 38-44: In these verses we see the AWESOME and AWE-INSPIRING creative word of God at work. God speaks, and all of nature OBEYS. When Jesus speaks the words “Lazarus, come out!” in vs 43, the reader KNOWS exactly what’s going to happen. We’ve already been told (in chapter 1) that “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS GOD”...and “the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. This WORD OF GOD, Jesus of Nazareth, speaks the same creative voice that said: “LET THERE BE _______” and there was (Genesis 1). Death has NO CHOICE but to obey this voice. Lazarus comes out. We should note...careful commentators have noted that while Jesus accomplishes the miracle single-handedly, the **process involves all present. Someone *else rolled the stone away from the tomb, and someone *else unbound Lazarus from his grave wrappings. This is a wonderful metaphor when the raising of Lazarus is considered **baptismally. The baptized candidate is raised from death to new life in Christ by God alone, but the process is a communal process; the whole group of faith is involved and has a job to do in bringing the baptized person to new life. One final note on Lazarus; this miracle is not [properly speaking] a resurrection. Upon Jesus’ resurrection, his physical body was *changed in a way that the biblical writers are challenged to describe. His body remains *physical—he can eat, and drink, and sit and talk—yet it has qualities that are beyond the physical—he can pass through a closed door; appear and disappear, etc. He continues to show the marks/stigmata of his death, yet he has overcome death & hence will/can never die again. This *resurrected body* is what ALL BELIEVERS aspire to & confess they’re waiting for when in the Creeds we say “we believe in the resurrection of the dead.” This will happen SOME DAY—as Martha said, on the “last day.” That said, the miracle of Lazarus was *not a resurrection; it was a resuscitation. Lazarus WAS dead; Lazarus had his OLD LIFE restored to him. Life was given back, but not resurrected life. Lazarus would die again some day.

Vss 45-57: These verses, of course, anticipate the Passion Sunday narrative coming up next week. Vs 53 says that from that day on, they plotted to take Jesus’ life. In other words, the religious powers that be considered this miracle—done in Jerusalem’s back yard as it had been, was the LAST STRAW. Interestingly enough, in John 12 the author reports that the religious authorities also seek to kill Lazarus—as obviously doing away with the proof of the miracle in question would work in their favor. As a student of the Jewish Wars, I cannot help but find vss 47-48 interesting. (vs 48) “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” Clearly, they [mistakenly] took Jesus as a political threat—or at the very least, a threat to their closely guarded status quo. Ironically, within 40 years of the crucifixion, the Jews rose up against Rome and precisely what had **been feared, happened: Rome destroyed the Temple and leveled the city.

What does this mean? There are three parallel thoughts running through this entire passage. The first is that the author is using THIS miracle, positioned as it is, as a dramatic excitement-builder leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. In chapter 11 Jesus confronts death and WINS. But what will happen when in chapter 19 DEATH & Jesus go at it head-to-head as they crucify him??? The raising of Lazarus gives us a hint. His raising prepares us for the ‘empty tomb’ scene of chapter 20. In this sense, chapter 11 is a proto-Easter text.

The second parallel thought is that Jesus is the conqueror of DEATH...NOT JUST FOR HIMSELF, but for the believer as well. In this sense, the raising of Lazarus is a SIGN of things to come for all of the faithful. The raising of Lazarus points the believer to his/her own resurrection from the dead on the last day. In that sense, this is a passage of COMFORT for the faithful—and as I’ve said, is a very suitable funeral text.

Finally, the third parallel thought from this text is that of the baptismal metaphor. Lent being a season of baptismal awareness/preparation, it makes sense that the raising of Lazarus would be on the lectionary schedule. St. Paul tells us in Romans that prior to coming to faith “we were DEAD in our trespasses and sins.” And he has these things to say in Romans 6: don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” In other words, in baptism we DIE to the old life of sin & self, and are RAISED to the new life of Christ in us. In that sense, this is a very suitable baptism text.

Cheers,

TM