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.
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