J. J.
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14.)
“The Cemetery Road”
Today we read of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha, the two sisters of kitchen fame. You are familiar with this account. Lazarus is gravely ill, and they send for Jesus. Jesus waits for two days, and after Lazarus has died, He comes. In the end, He goes to Lazarus’s tomb, prays, and tells Lazarus to come out. Lazarus is resurrected and comes out of the tomb. The people unwrapped the burial clothes off of him, and set him free.
The chief point is that Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Jesus is victorious over death and the grave. Were this all there were to this episode, that would be more than enough. Yet, that is not all. Lazarus’ resurrection happened at the tomb. But there is much that happened on the way to the tomb. And that is what we are going to talk about today, what happened on that road, on the way to the tomb.
Jesus and his disciples set out on their way to Bethany, which is two miles south of Jerusalem. They had left Jerusalem in the last chapter, and crossed the Jordan River into what is now the kingdom of Jordan. It is likely that they had headed north, to the upper part of Israel known as Galilee, and received the word of Lazarus' illness there. The Jewish leaders by this time had had more than their fill of Jesus, and were plotting to kill him. So when Jesus says to the disciples, “Let us go to there, to Lazarus,” Thomas, not one to miss an opportunity to doubt, retorts, “Yes, let’s go there to Lazarus, so that we, too, may die (ie be killed) there with him.” Thomas and the disciples lack trust and confidence. Jesus said he was glad that this had happened so that they might believe. Yet, in the midst of their doubtful faith, they go with Jesus and follow Him.
Jesus comes near to Bethany. Mary and Martha’s house was full of guests. They were having visitation. Visitations lasted for a week, such is still a Jewish custom to this day. Martha goes out, down the street, perhaps even to the edge of town, so that she might greet Jesus when He arrived, away from the crowd of mourners. Martha says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Martha is not scolding Him. She is expressing regret. The regrets we express, “If only this ….,” “If that had not happened, then …”. Unlike Thomas, Martha states her faith in the midst of the tragedy, “I know that God will give whatever you ask Him.” Jesus tells her Lazarus will rise again.
Martha is thinking of the Last Day. Even before Christ, the Jews knew that on the Last Day there would be a resurrection of the dead. “Yes, I know he will rise on the Last Day,” she sighs. It is a statement of truth, a statement of some comfort. But it is a truth for later, and not so much a truth for now, or at least that is how it looks and feels to her. Jesus replies, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will never die. Do you believe?” And Martha makes a declaration of great faith. She does not merely reaffirm the truth of the Last Day, but proclaims, “Yes, I believe that You are the Anointed One, the Son of God.” Then Martha leaves to get Mary.
She came into the house, and, away from the guests, tells Mary that Jesus is here. Martha now stays with the guests, and Mary goes out to see Jesus. Some of the guests think that she is going to the cemetery, and so they follow, to visit the cemetery with her, in respect, in sympathy and support. Mary sees Jesus and falls down at His feet. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” The same words that Martha had spoken. And she bursts into tears. The crowd, too, begins to cry. “Surely this man who gave sight to the blind man, could have stopped Lazarus from dying.” Jesus is moved and troubled. “Where is he?” he asks her. “Come and see” Mary replies. And Jesus, weeps, too.
John does not say why Jesus is weeping. The crowd might have thought that Jesus was having regrets, that Jesus could have stopped Lazarus from dying but can’t do anything now. Some of them thought that Jesus was missing Lazarus, “See how He loved him.” Perhaps, Jesus knowing He was about to raise Lazarus, was sad. He knew the Lazarus was in paradise, resting in the bosom of Abraham, and that Jesus was about to call him back. Or He may have been sad because while they believe He could have stopped Lazarus from dying, they did not yet believe that He could raise him from the dead.
Remember what Jesus said to Martha: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Jesus is both: Resurrection and Life. From Resurrection comes Life. Jesus is the resurrection that will come on the Last Day. He is the Life that will follow that resurrection. But He is also the resurrection from the death of sin. Born dead in trespasses and sin, He has raised us to new life in Him by baptism. "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6:4)
Jesus is not only the resurrection that is to come, He is the resurrection that has come. He is not only the Life in the world to come, He is Life now. St Paul writes: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) The hope -- the sure and solid truth -- that we have in our resurrection in Christ on the Last Day, is not just hope for then: hope from the cemetery, hope from the grave. It is hope now. Hope on the cemetery road. And that is where we are.
We are all on the road to the cemetery. Some of us are farther down that road than others. For some it is a long and winding road. For others the road of life is but a short path. Each of us, as the saying goes, will someday meet our Maker. But Jesus does not wait at the cemetery for us to meet Him.
No, Jesus meets us here, and now, on the cemetery road. Like Mary, Martha, and the crowds, sometimes we cry out, “Lord, if You had been here, this would not have happened.” Or perhaps, we put the question to God, “God, why did you let this happen?” Like the crowd, we are tempted to think (or at least feel) that God had the power to stop it, but doesn’t have the power to restore it. Is it painful when God does not stop the tragedies of life? Yes. But is He a God who is limited to stopping things? Or is He the God who restores things? Christ is the resurrection. We must remember that resurrection can occur only after there has been death.
And He is here on the cemetery road. First, He proclaims to us His power, the truth of who He is: He is our resurrection and our life. Next, He reassures us with His promise: He who believes in Me will never die. Finally, He not only proclaims His power and reassures us with His promise, He also comforts us with His presence. He weeps with us, and walks with us to the end of that road.
The resurrection of Lazarus is important. In it Christ displayed His power over death. That power over death became victory over death in His own death and resurrection (remember, there must be a death before there can be a resurrection). But it is not only a victory for then, a hope for later. It is a victory for today, a hope for now. For Christ will not only bring us – you and me and all His saints – out of the cemetery. He is on the road to the cemetery with us today, as we face the challenges, the losses, and yes, even the deaths, of today. The hope for then is the hope for now because the Christ of the resurrection of the Last Day is one and the same Christ who is on the road with us now.
For Christ has died. Christ is risen. And Christ shall come again. Amen.
S. D. G.
