OPEN: Back in March of 2008, the mayor of a city in SW France had a problem. It seems his village was running out of space. Not in housing, nor in the retail district, nor even at City Hall. It seems they were running out of space… in the cemetery.
There was no room for any more graves. It was full.
And apparently (wait for it) people were just dying to get in.
Now the mayor tried to purchase land that was next to the cemetery, but an administrative court ruled that his village couldn’t do that.
And so the mayor - having no space in the cemetery, and unable to purchase more land to bury people - did what any politician would have done… he passed a law. And he had this law posted in the city building informing the 260 residents of the town that they are no longer allowed to die.
The ordinance read, in part, "[A]ll persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sapourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish…. Offenders will be severely punished"
(From an article by Patrick D. Odum)
APPLY: Of course, everybody knew that was a silly law.
You can’t stop people from dying.
All you can do is to determine what to do with them when they do die.
In ancient Israel, the bodies of the dead were washed and wrapped in winding cloths. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that corpses were usually perfumed with various spices. The perfume was partly to honor the dead, but mostly it was used to disguise the smell of decay that set in after a few days. They had none of the advance embalming techniques that we have to stop the body from decaying, so bodies were generally buried a day or so.
Now, poor families would take the deceased out into a field and drop it into a hole dug in the ground. But richer families could afford to use tombs - caves that had been hollowed out and blocked by a stone rolled in front of the entrance.
John 11:38 basically informs us that Lazarus and his family were relatively wealthy people. “Jesus… came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.”
Of course, we all know the rest of the story…
Lazarus dies, he’s buried, and 4 days later, Jesus raises him from the dead.
But there are some oddities to this story that make it intriguing.
The 1st oddity is this:
Jesus could have been there BEFORE Lazarus died.
From the way this story plays out, there’s no mistaking the fact that Jesus knew Lazarus would die. Jesus KNEW – before Lazarus even got sick – that Lazarus was going to die.
As I said last week, Jesus did great miracles/healings, I doubt that EVERY miracle/healing Jesus did was pre-planned. However the way Jesus responded when He heard that Lazarus was sick tells me that this miracle was arranged ahead of time in the very courts of Heaven.
Notice - before the disciples knew Lazarus had died Jesus told them:
“‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’… Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.” John 11:11, 13
And then, Jesus waits 2 more days (knowing Lazarus HAD died) before returning to Jerusalem. Vs. 6 tells us: “Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.”
So, Jesus could have prevented Lazarus from dying.
If He had just shown up a few days earlier… Lazarus WOULD NOT have died.
And that’s what both Mary and Martha say to Jesus when He arrives.
They both tell Him the same thing:
"Lord… if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21
And they were right!
They knew that Jesus had already healed dozens (perhaps 100s) of people up this point in His ministry. They also knew that Jesus had raised at least two people from the dead.
And so, the moment they realized Lazarus was deathly sick they IMMEDIATELY sent for Him, because they KNEW that if Jesus came… Lazarus wouldn’t die.
But Jesus didn’t come.
And Lazarus (pause) died.
The other oddity about this story is how Jesus responds to the funeral.
He weeps!
“When Jesus saw (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled… Jesus wept.” John 11:33,35
Now, if Jesus knew Lazarus was going to die (it was all pre-arranged), why weep? And if He knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, even before he arrives at the grave, why shed tears?
Why would He weep?
Well, He wept because He SAW Mary and the others weeping.
Their grief tore at His heart.
And He shed tears for their sorrow.
So, what does all this teach us?
Well, first – it teaches us there will be times when Jesus won’t show up when I want Him to. There will be times I’ll pray, and pray, and pray, and it will feel like Jesus just isn’t there.
Like Jesus … just didn’t show up.
(PAUSE)
Kind of like when He didn’t show up at Lazarus’ sick bed.
And allowed Lazarus to die.
And allowed his family and friends to mourn.
(PAUSE)
I don’t like that.
I’m not comfortable with that.
In fact as I was writing my sermon and I got to this point in my meditations… that’s EXACTLY what I said to myself.
I Don’t Like That!!!
It does not make me comfortable.
Truth be told: I want A GOD that will do what I want done, when I want it done and how I think it should be done. And if God doesn’t do it the way I think it ought to be done then something’s wrong…. God’s not showing up.
I’m hurting.
I’m suffering.
I’m losing.
And when that happens there’s a part of me that wants to say: “Jesus… if you’d only been here this wouldn’t have happened!”
It hurts.
It’s uncomfortable
I don’t like it.
ILLUS: It’s kind of like having a fever.
You ever had a fever?
Do you remember how it felt?
Ø Your forehead is hot.
Ø In fact your whole body can be hot
Ø Your muscles ache
Ø Your head aches
Ø You shiver,
Ø You sweat
Ø Your entire body feels weak
Ø And all you want to do is lay around the house and do nothing.
And, if you’re anything like me - you get irritable.
You don’t want to be around me when I’m sick like that.
I just want to be left alone.
How many of you like having a fever?
Of course you don’t
It hurts, it’s uncomfortable… we do NOT like it.
Now, it used to be that doctors did everything they could to bring fevers down.
In fact, many over the counter medicines are designed to do just that. If you go to your local pharmacy, you’ll find several products with the phrase “FEVER REDUCER”, or “REDUCES FEVER” on the label.
But about 30 years ago researchers began to discover that moderate fevers were a necessary part of the body’s arsenal for fighting infections. Now these physicians were NOT talking about the really high fevers (which can be very dangerous, and which indicate you need to see a doctor --- NOW).
But with most moderate fevers (which is what most of the fevers we have are) researchers found that it was better just let the fever run its course.
Why?
Illnesses caused by bacteria thrive on iron. And when you have a fever, your iron levels drop. This in turn deprives the bacteria of much of their food source. (Readers.Digest 5/83 p.28)
In addition, new research indicates that a high temperature also boosts the immune system’s ability to function. When your fever spikes, the body goes into overdrive in producing t-cells that attack the source of the disease.
So, fevers - which I do not like; which hurt me; which make me uncomfortable – were actually designed by God to help me. They were designed to fix that which is wrong in my life.
God created fevers to serve a purpose in my life.
And there are times that God does that in my spiritual life as well.
There are times when He allows the “fever” to run its course.
There are times He allows us to be uncomfortable.
Sometimes – EXTREMELY uncomfortable.
And He does that because He has something He wants to change something in my life.
He wants to fix something in my life.
He wants to heal something in my life.
And sometimes there are even times when He allows me to suffer to bring about a GREATER purpose for my life.
And that was what Jesus did for Lazarus.
Jesus brought suffering into Lazarus’ life to give his life a greater purpose.
Up until this time in his life Lazarus was just a friend of Jesus.
Everybody knew this was the one of Jesus’ closest friends.
When the sisters sent their message to Him they said: “Lord, the one you love is sick." John 11:3
Lazarus and his sisters may have financially supported Christ’s earthly ministry, but for the most part, Lazarus was simply Jesus’ friend. BUT, from the day Jesus raised him from the dead… Lazarus went from being a friend to becoming a partner in His ministry!
It was when Jesus came to Lazarus grave that He declared His most powerful statement of His ministry: "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. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26
In about a week, Jesus was going to prove that He’s the resurrection and the life.
In a few short days He was going arrested, tried, beaten, crucified, buried… and on the third day He would rise from the dead.
But before that happens, Jesus let’s Lazarus become something of dry run test.
Before Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, He’s already resurrected two other people:
· The 12 year old daughter of Jairus
· And the son of the widow of Nain.
But they’d only been dead a few hours.
According to Jewish theology, a person wasn’t REALLY dead until after they’d been in the grave for 3 days. According to a 2nd century Jewish rabbi named Bar Kappara:
“Until three days [after death] the soul keeps on returning to the grave, thinking that it will go back [into the body]; but when it sees that the facial features have become disfigured, it departs and abandons it [the body].”
Now granted, that was a bizarre theology, based upon a very creative rendering of a verse out of the book of Job. But to the Jewish way of thinking it was very obvious: people weren’t really dead until they’d been in the grave long enough for the body to decay.
So Jesus was using Lazarus’ death as a proving ground.
A proving ground that declared that Jesus really was the resurrection and the life.
Jesus was very careful to make sure that Lazarus was REALLY, REALLY dead.
He didn’t allow his body to lie in the grave just 1 day.
Nor for just 2 days.
Nor just 3 days.
How many days was Lazarus in the tomb?
4 whole days.
As far as any critic could ever be concerned… Lazarus was REALLY, REALLY dead.
His body has been there long enough to be disfigured by the ravages of death.
That’s why, when Jesus ordered the grave to be opened, Martha protests:
"But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days." John 11:39
No one had ever been raised from the dead after four days.
No one in the Old Testament… and no one in the New Testament.
No one had EVER come back from the dead after four days in the grave.
But Lazarus did.
And we’re told that – because Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead: “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.” John 11:45
In fact, the effect of Lazarus’ resurrection was so powerful that “… a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.” John 12:9-11
So when Jesus didn’t SHOW UP at Lazarus’ sick bed… there was a reason.
The reason: to bring about the faith of those He was going to die for.
But still, Jesus wept.
Why?
Because God takes no pleasure in our suffering.
Because God knows our pain and sorrows.
And even when He allows us to suffer for our own good He knows it hurts us… and He’s saddened because of what we endure.
That’s why Jesus wept.
And that’s part of the reason Romans 8 reassures us that when we pray “… the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Romans 8:26
That verse is saying that part of the Spirit’s job in our lives is to communicate the depths of our emotions to God the Father. There will be times in our lives when we may not know how to express our pain and suffering. And even if we could put those feelings into words – it wouldn’t begin to touch how deeply we’ve been hurt.
But that doesn’t matter!
Because, once you’ve become a Christian.
Once, you’ve believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; Once you’ve repented of your sins, and confessed that Jesus is now the Lord of your life; Once you’ve been buried in the waters of Christian baptism and been risen up to a new life…
Once you’ve become a Christian, God promises that His Spirit will live inside you.
And because God’s Spirit is inside of us – we have a direct line to God.
We don’t NEED to put our sorrows into words, because God’s Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words couldn’t even express. God KNOWS precisely how you and I feel at every moment in our lives.
He cares for you.
He understands you.
He loves you so much He wants you to know that He feels your deepest sorrows.
CLOSE: Years ago, I read an illustration that I thought was supposed to be a true story.
It told of a time in Lazarus’ life when he’d grown old. All thru his life Lazarus had told and retold the story of his resurrection.
Now, in that day, there was a cruel and evil Roman emperor named Caligula. He ruled with an iron fist… and he relied on executions to keep him in power.
“They do not have to love me,” Caligula said, “as long as they fear me.”
He kept the people in fear, because he kept them in fear of their deaths by his hand.
But there was a new faith in Rome. A faith that Caligula grew to hate. These Christians had a faith in a God that caused them to not be afraid of death. And one of the most powerful preachers of this faith was Lazarus. Soon, Lazarus’ stories reached Caligula’s throne and he decided to make an example of him.
He brought Lazarus before him in chains and demanded: “Renounce your faith in this Christ”
But Lazarus refused.
In anger, Caligula shouted “If you don’t renounce your faith, I’ll have you put to death.”
For a moment Lazarus said nothing… then he began to laugh.
Caligula became even more angry and he shouted. “Don’t you realize I have the power of life and death! I have the power to put you to death!”
But Lazarus only laughed longer and louder.
Then he looked the emperor and finally says
“You cannot hold me in fear, Caligula—death is dead!”
I’ve been there.
I’ve done that.
You can’t scare me.
That’s a great story!
(PAUSE)
Unfortunately, it’s not true.
It’s a fictional account of Lazarus life found in a play by Eugene O’Neil’s called, “Lazarus Laughed.”
When I found that out, I thought… what a bummer.
It would be so great if this were even close to being a true story.
And for a while I just sat in my chair and considered how sad it was that I couldn’t use that as a true story for this sermon.
But then I realized that – in a way – the truth about this story of Lazarus was even more powerful than I had realized at first… because the writer of the play (Eugene O’Neil) was an unbeliever.
He was a humanist who refused to accept the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
But even this atheist was struck by the power of the Biblical story of Lazarus.
He wrote of his play “Certainly it contains the highest writing I have done. Certainly it composes in the theatre more than anything else I have done”
And he also wrote: “Certainly, I know of no play like “Lazarus” at all, and I know of no one who can play ‘Lazarus’ at all—the lead, I mean. Who can we get to laugh as one would laugh who had completely lost, even from the depths of the unconscious, all traces of the Fear of Death?”
(http://www.eoneill.com/library/contour/triumvirate2/lazarus.htm)
Think about it.
Even in this atheist, there was an understanding of the power of Lazarus being raised from dead. Even though he rejected Christ… O’Neil understood the central message of this story. Death had been defeated. Christ offered the promise of life and the hope of resurrection.
It was an atheist who wrote Lazarus’ defiant cry:
“You cannot hold me in fear—death is dead!”
The sad thing is, even as powerful a statement as that didn’t sway O’Neil from his atheism. He was “almost persuaded” of the promises of Christ. But almost wasn’t enough. Eugene O’Neil went to his grave without ever laying hold of the promise that Jesus offered… the promise of life from the dead.
“Almost” persuaded is not enough.
As the old invitation hymns says:
“’Almost’ cannot avail;
‘Almost’ is but to fail!
Sad, sad, that bitter wail—
‘Almost,’ but lost!
Offer invitation
