“But Lord, He Stinketh!”
John 11:1-6, 17-19, 32-44
While I don’t use the King James Version of the Bible very often, I do use it sometimes.
And I love the way it describes the raising of Lazarus.
Jesus, after weeping and being emotionally moved, commands those around Him to open Lazarus’ tomb.
But there is immediate protest.
Lazarus had been dead for a few days, and everyone knew that rolling that stone away wouldn’t be pretty.
Martha calls out: “But Lord, he stinketh!”
I love that.
Of course, John is the Gospel of Signs.
There are seven signs and the raising of Lazarus is that ultimate seventh sign, revealing Jesus’ identity as the Christ.
But, as much as this sign is about Jesus, it’s also about us.
Because, in a very real sense, we are all Lazarus, are we not?
We are all dead and lifeless.
We are all wrapped up corpses in a sense…
…bound in grave clothes which sin lays on us…
…we are stiff and have started to smell a little rank.
We stinketh.
Until-until-Jesus calls us out of the tomb!
Until He orders everything that binds us and holds us down, to be stripped off of us and tossed aside.
Until He breathes His Holy Spirit into us and makes us a new creation.
I grew up knowing about Jesus.
I went to church every Sunday.
I prayed every day.
But something was missing.
I’d go through the motions when I was with “Christians” or when I was at Church, but I wasn’t changed on the inside.
It was an act or a mask that I would wear, and then when it was over, I’d take it off.
Of course, because I didn’t really understand much about what it is to be truly changed on the inside, my act was a bit awkward and unnatural…
…but it seemed to work.
It wasn’t fun to play the role…
…but it was all I had.
In the meantime, as I mentioned, I knew a lot of wonderful Christians.
My uncle was a Methodist Pastor.
He was a great guy—filled with a love for God and people that was continuous…
…we spent a lot of time with he and his family.
And my mother was a Christian.
I witnessed her active faith up close and personal.
There were other adults who went to my church who I admired for their faith and love.
But notice, they were all adults.
For some reason, in high school I didn’t, as far as I was aware, know any kids who were active Christians and my age—I’m sure there were some, I just didn’t hang out with them.
In any event, I became a huge heavy metal music fan—remember that this was the 1980’s.
And so much about that music is negative, angry and so forth.
And my friends, my close friends were all smoking pot and so forth.
And so was I.
My grades weren’t good.
I felt lost, and I knew I was messing up.
I remember one night, sometime during Junior year, some friends of mine and I were hanging out in a local park partying.
And we started talking about what we were planning to do with our lives.
One of my friends said, “I’m just going to keep on doing what I’m doing right now for the rest of my life.”
And I thought to myself: “Not me. I have seen another way.
I’ve witnessed it in my uncle.
I’ve witnessed it in watching other preachers I’ve known and Christian adults.
I want what they have.
Someday, I’m going to be a United Methodist Minister, like my uncle.
I don’t know how I’m going to do it.
I’ll have to change, but I don’t know how to do that.
But that’s what I want be and do with my life.”
And that’s how it is before the wind of the Holy Spirit blows in our direction…
…before we hear Christ calling: “Ken, come out!”
It’s impossible to change ourselves on the inside.
It can only happen when we give our lives to Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior and make the decision we will follow Him…
…no turning back, no turning back.
As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old is gone the new is here!”
Again, we are all Lazarus.
We stinketh, until Jesus calls us out, frees us, and gives us life.
But here’s the thing: we can’t experience resurrection—new life in Christ until we experience death.
We can’t accept new life in Christ until we allow our old stuff, our sinful lives to end.
What do you need to let die this morning, so that you can come out of your tomb?
What binds you to death, and keeps you from living abundantly, fully as a new creation in Christ?
Sometimes we just aren’t willing to let go of the world, are we?
I think we can all relate to this.
Remember the rich young ruler who came up to Jesus asking him: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?
I’ve kept all the laws since I was a young lad—all the commandments, but I am not changed on the inside.
How can I be released from my bondage to sin?”
And Jesus said to him: “You still lack one thing.
Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then, come, follow me.”
But what happened?
The rich young ruler went away sad because he couldn’t bring himself to part with his riches and his power.
Is there anything that is standing in your way of following Christ?
If so, what is it?
Is it worth losing your soul to hell for?
Is it worth missing out on the abundant life Christ offers you right here; right now?
I know it’s hard.
And that is why it is Christ’s voice we must hear—calling us out.
(pause)
After I went off to college, I was all prepped.
God had been working on me for a long time.
His prevenient grace…
…the grace of God that goes before us…
…nudging us toward making a decision to follow Him had been with me for a long time.
And I started to talk to my roommate about God, Jesus and the devil.
And the things that came out of my mouth—you see, I learned by talking—the things that came out of my mouth—I had never really thought of them through before.
And I was becoming more and more convicted by the Truth of Christ.
Then, around that same time, I became friends with another student who was a Christian.
And when I saw how he loved the Lord and how his relationship with Christ had changed his life—I saw…for the first time in my life that it was possible for someone my age to be a Christian.
And I wanted what he had.
One night I was walking down the sidewalk, and I was looking at the cracks in the sidewalk.
And I was having a spiritual struggle.
It was if I had come to a cross-road.
It seemed clear as day.
I had a choice.
I could continue down the path I was on--following Satan.
Or, I could give my life to Jesus, making a complete 180 degree turn.
By the grace of God, I chose Jesus and my life has never been the same.
I know everyone’s experience is different.
And this is because everyone IS different and in different life situations.
That’s how it was for me.
How was it for you?
Or are you still waiting?
Are you still just going through the motions, knowing that nothing is changing on the inside?
If so, what binds you to death?
What do you need to let die, so that you can come out of the tomb?
Whatever is keeping you wrapped up in the dark cave of death, hear the voice of Jesus calling you, “Come out of there!”
We are told in our Gospel Lesson for this morning that when Jesus reached Lazarus’ tomb, “he was deeply moved…
… “Jesus wept.”
And those who witnessed this said, “See how he loved him.”
This is the Gospel is it not?
We are all Lazarus.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus loves all of us more than we could ever imagine.
Jesus gave His life for all of us.
Jesus stands outside all of our tombs weeping and calling: “Come out! Come out and live!”
“Leave those grave clothes--that sin behind.
Come, follow me.”
A man tells a story about a person he used to call “Stinky George.”
He was a homeless man, unemployed, and often sick.
He would occasionally show up at church.
He liked the air conditioning and the pot-luck lunches.
This was all before the man telling the story had been changed by Jesus, on the inside.
He was still just going through the motions.
He says that “One Sunday Stinky George” sat down right in front of him.
The man scooted down a bit.
Then his son whispered in his ear, “Dad something smells really bad. What is it?”
The man and his son scooted further away.
The man later recalls, “If I had been honest, really honest, I would have said, ‘Son, that is the smell of homelessness and poverty.
That is the smell of hunger and loneliness.
That is the smell of alcoholism and illness.
That is the smell of one who has no place to bathe.
That is the smell of death.
You know, Jesus doesn’t deny that death stinks.
It does.
But Jesus doesn’t scoot away from us!
Every day we smell death, do we not?
And every day Jesus offers us the opportunity to change and be changed, to unbind and be unbound, to let go and be let go.
The man telling the story of “Stinky George” later wrote: “I sometimes wonder what happened to Stinky George.
More often I wonder what would have happened if I had followed Jesus’ words rather than my nose.
What would have happened if I had invited George to lunch one day?
What if I had helped George find an AA meeting, and the social services that could have provided medical care, a place to live, and food to eat.
What if I had said, ‘George, tell me the stories you are always telling but that I have never listened to.
I want to know you and your life.”
What if when it came time to exchange the peace I put my arms around him, pulled him close and said, “The peace of Christ be with you.”
“I wonder what I would have unbound in George.
I wonder what George would have unbound in me.”
Jesus gives all of us a choice.
He died in order to give us this choice.
We can stay captive to sin, death, hell and the devil.
Or we can come out of our tombs, leave those grave clothes behind and come, follow Him!
What will it be?
