John 20 Easter 2003
The Seeds of Life
If you really enter into the experience of the weekend, you experience many different emotions: extreme love, betrayal, fear, denial, great grief in death, and great joy in resurrection.
For some of us the Friday experience of death is too close – we may have recently experienced the death of a loved one.
On Monday I witnessed the death of a relationship as I helped a friend move out after the breakup of his marriage. I found myself experiencing many of the same emotions that I do preparing for a funeral, as you come across artifacts that bring back memories that this relationship once had vibrant life.
Some of you may have experienced the death of a dream – you had visions of a life very different than the one you are experiencing. You had great plans, but somewhere along the way, life to a vastly different turn, and the dream has died. Maybe even dreaming for the future has died.
For others we experience spiritual death – there was a time when we felt like we were side by side with God. We knew he was so near, but as life has gone on and on and other things have got in the way of our relationship. Now we feel so far from him that there feels like a death has occurred.
In John 11, John tells a story of the death of one of Jesus’ close friends. You might not think of Jesus having close friends, but Lazarus, Mary and Martha are never talked about as disciples, they were always referred to as friends. Jesus is off in the wilderness and Mary and Martha send word that their brother, Jesus’ god friend is sick. For some reason Jesus stays put for two days before he comes to the three. But as he is leaving, Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus has died and he is going to raise him up.
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
Mary comes out and greets Jesus the same way – “If you’d only been here Lazarus would still be alive!”
Jesus asks where the tomb is and they take him there. When he gets there he sees the mourners and he breaks down and cries.
This is a strange sight – Jesus knew Lazarus was dead, and he knew that in a moment he was going to raise him from the dead, but he still cries, he is still moved deeply. I think its because when we mourn, Jesus loves us so much that he mourns too, but I also think that when we experience death there is something deep within us that says “No! This is not the way that it is supposed to be!” Good friends are not supposed to die, relationships are not supposed to fall apart dreams are not suppose to get worn down to nothing, we are not supposed to drift away from our God! “No! this is not how it is to be!”
In the midst of his tears, Jesus asks for the stone to be rolled from the tomb – the people think he is crazy with grief – Lazarus has been dead four days in a hot climate – there would be a terrible smell. But he is Jesus, and they do it anyway. Jesus leans down into the cave and calls: “Lazarus come out!” and to the amazement of the crowd of mourners, he comes out. Jesus tells them to unwrap the grave clothes, and set him free.
Transition?
Weeks later, it is not Lazarus in the tomb, It is Jesus himself. The religious leaders of the day had had enough of him – they arrested him on Thursday evening, convicted him in secret court that went on through the night, and then stirred up the crowds to demand his crucifixion from the Roman rulers.
Some of the same people who witnessed Lazarus’ sickness, death and resurrection were now watching as the one who raised him from the dead died himself. Can you imagine the despair for Mary and Martha –Martha who had placed so much hope in Jesus, so much confidence in him, that she would say, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
John tells us that Mary his mother, her sister, another Mary and Mary Magdelene were there at the cross. These are the people who witness Jesus’ torture, they hear him as he cries out his last gasp, they watch as the soldier runs his spear into his side and blood and water pour out proving the unthinkable – Jesus the miracle worker, Jesus the Christ, Jesus their friend was gone… just gone, he was dead. The women helped Joseph of Aramethea and Nicodemus take the body down from the cross, did as much preparation as they could before sundown and the Sabbath and laid him in the tomb to wait for Sunday morning, after the Sabbath, when they could honor his body and treat it with oils and spices the way they should.
Mary Magdelene was another Mary for whom Jesus was more that a simple teacher, or good friend. Mary had been tormented by seven demons until she met Jesus. He freed her from the oppression and she was left in her right mind and in complete devotion to her Saviour.
She waits through the Sabbath in shock that her Jesus could actually be dead, and the in the Dark of Sunday morning she lights a lamp and gathers the things that she needed to treat his body and headed out to the tomb. In her grief stricken stupor, she hadn’t given any thought to the huge stone that would need to be rolled away.
She gets to the tomb, and the stone has been rolled away, she turns and runs as fast as she can to Peter and John and tells them “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and I don’t know where they have put him!”
3Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. 4The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. 5He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying to the side. 8Then the other disciple also went in, and he saw and believed-- 9for until then they hadn’t realized that the Scriptures said he would rise from the dead. 10Then they went home.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12She saw two white-robed angels sitting at the head and foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13"Why are you crying?" the angels asked her.
"Because they have taken away my Lord," she replied, "and I don’t know where they have put him."
14She glanced over her shoulder and saw someone standing behind her. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15"Why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. "Who are you looking for?"
She thought he was the gardener. "Sir," she said, "if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him."
16"Mary!" Jesus said.
She turned toward him and exclaimed, "Teacher!"[2]
17"Don’t cling to me," Jesus said, "for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God."
18Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, "I have seen the Lord!" Then she gave them his message.
That afternoon, there are two disciples walking to a town called Emmaus, and a man comes an walks beside them. They of course are deeply discouraged and are talking about all that had happened. The man says “What are you so concerned about?” Cleopas says “you must be the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard,” and he goes on to tell him all the things that had happened. The man begins to explain to them how all the things they said were set out in the Old Testament and they should have expected it. As the day wore on, the men, being good hospitable people invited the man to stay the night with them, after a little back and forth, he agrees. They sit down to eat and ask the man to say the blessing, he takes the bread, breaks it and blesses it and immediately they see that it has been Jesus with them all the time! And then, he is gone. They get up and run back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples.
Back in Jerusalem, Jesus appears to the Disciples as they are gathered together, and to Thomas the one who wouldn’t believe unless he saw it himself. Over the next few weeks Jesus appears to over 500 people at different times
So why is it that we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection and not Lazarus’? Why not the widow’s son, or Jarus’ daughter? Why Jesus?
Jesus’ death deals with the cause of death
Death is not the way things are supposed to be – God created a world where originally death was not part of the equation! And that is part of the ache that we have when we experience a death – this is not the way it is supposed to be!
When God created humankind, He created us as eternal being – ready to live with him forever. He gave the first people one simple rule – all the trees are fine, but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and Evil. God says if you eat from that tree, that day you will die. But Satan comes along and tempts them with the forbidden fruit and they are enticed by knowledge and the perceived availability of God-power and they break the one rule and turn away from God. And with that one wrong, they plant the seeds of death in themselves, and in us, their descendants. It is not just the seed of physical death, but it is also the seeds of all the other deaths that I’ve mentioned.
As soon as they eat they recognize that they are naked, and they try to cover their shame from the one who made them, and the seeds of spiritual death are planted and they come into full bloom in people living like there is no God, people worshiping other things as if they were God and people creating religions to make us feel alive to our creator when we are dead.
When God finds them, they blame each other for the mess they are in and the seeds of relational death are planted. These seeds come into full bloom in separation and divorce, unresolved conflict, murder, abuse, and global wars.
God tells them that because of their wrong, their relationship with the earth is forever changed and thorns and thistles grow up, work becomes a chore rather than a joy, and our relationship with the rest of creation becomes a battle rather than a partnership. And the seeds of death are sown that come to bloom in disease, ecological disaster and exploitation.
Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death,”
The pay that we get for doing wrong is death – I think that deep down inside we know this – that when we do wrong intentionally, something within us dies. When we do things that harm relationships, something within that relationship, and in the other person dies. Each time we do wrong we are planting the seeds of death.
They call death the grim reaper, but when he comes to harvest it is the seeds of death that we have planted that he reaps.
The reason that we die is that we sin. This is why Jesus’ death is so different and so key.
Jesus goes to the cross not to receive the payment for his own sins – he was sinless! He goes there to receive the payment that we deserve. When he dies, he takes away the sin of the world, and he takes away the cause of death.
When he goes to the cross, it is God’s big “No! this is not the way things are supposed to be!” Death is not the way things are supposed to be- and God does something about it – he takes the power of sin away!
Jesus’ Resurrection proves it
This is why we sing that “death could not hold him down.” Death could not hold Jesus because he had paid the price and removed the power of death. Death no longer held power over even him.
In his death, Jesus punched a hole in the wall of death, just as the first hole punched in the Berlin wall was a sign that the wall was going to come down, Jesus’ first hole in the wall of death is a sure sign that it to will come down!
This is how Paul says it in 1 Corinthians 15:
“20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he "has put everything under his feet…
then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."[7]
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"[8] 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Jesus death and resurrection, Jesus has shown that he has the power over death and life. Just as he told Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” When we believe in Jesus, he removes the cause of death from us, and we are able to live eternally with God. And he gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to work against death in all the other areas of our life. So that we can bring reconciliartion and foirgiveness to relationships, so that we can be at peace with creation, and work can be a joy, so that we can be at peace withourself.
So here’s the deal:
The seeds of death have been planted within us all, but the divine gardener wants to take those seeds and replace them with the seeds of life through Jesus Christ. Will you let him? If you will – if you want to shout at death and say “No, that is not the way it is supposed to be!” You need to receive Jesus into your life – to say sorry for planting the seeds of death - for doing wrong things, to accept his forgiveness and the payment he made on the cross for you, and ask him to come and fill you with his life – the Holy Spirit. If you would like to do that today, we’d love to pray with you.
Here’s the deal:
If you have received Christ, you continue to have a choice to make – God has given you a new bag of seeds to plant – the seeds of life! But we still haven’t gotten rid of the old bad – the seeds of death. Which are you going to plant in you life – the actions that lead to life, or the actions that lead to death?
Paul says in Romans 6: “21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[2] Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:6
“The mind controlled by the sinful nature is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace”
We need to do the things that led to life.
If you want to pray with someone about that, you can come too.
Choose life – choose Jesus.
