Babushka Dolls and Layers of Gospel Tradition

5 Lent  A       April 2, 2017
Ez. 37:1-14     Ps. 130 
Rom. 6:16-23    John 11:1-44     
Lectionary Link

Just so you don't think that this sermon is pointless, here are four points.  Babushka dolls, death and resuscitation, and resurrection.

Why Bubushka?  Not because Russia is in the news but because they provide concentric layers to illustrate the layers of history.  History is a story and the last story develops from all of the stories told before the latest story and includes traces of the past while being the next outer layer.  The Bubushka doll or matryoshka doll like the layers of an onion provides a model for looking at the development of traditions and today we are looking at some specific Gospel traditions.

First,let's look at the Gospel tradition of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  These three do not appear in the Gospels Matthew and Mark.  They do in the Gospels of Luke and John.  Some scholar think that may mean that the writers of John's Gospel read Luke since John was the latest Gospel to come to writing.  The story of the restoration of Lazarus back to life appears to be a story to prove the assertion found in the parable about Lazarus in the Gospel of Luke.  In the Gospel of Luke we do not know about Lazarus having two sisters because the Lazarus in Luke is a figure in one of the parables of Jesus: Lazarus and the rich man.  Lazarus was the leprous beggar who begged at the gate of the rich man who ignored him and didn't know that he was there.  Both Lazarus and the rich man die; in the afterlife Lazarus dwells in paradise with Abraham and the rich man dwells in agony across an impassible canyon.  His agony is intensified because he can see Lazarus and Abraham but cannot be with them.  He implores father Abraham to send someone back from the dead to warn his brothers and family to amend their lives so that they don't have to arrive in Hades too.  Abraham denies his request and said that if they did not follow Moses and the prophet, then neither would they believe even someone who came back from the dead.

Fast forward to the Gospel of John.  Jesus arrives late to Bethany and Mary and Martha are in distress because their brother Lazarus has died and has been put in the tomb.  Jesus has arrived late to show that he has power over death and he calls Lazarus from the tomb back to life.  But what is the outcome of this marvelous event?  This Lazarus returns from the dead and yet many of Jewish religious leaders still do not believe and they prophesy the necessity of the death of Jesus to save Israel.  For the members of the community of John's Gospel, Lazarus had returned from dead and still many did not believe and many who knew about the Risen Christ still did not believe.  So the Lazarus story was a commentary on the disbelief of many regarding the resurrection.

Let's look back at the Babushka doll.  The earliest figure represents the events of Christ themselves, and we don't actually have full and actual video or audio recordings of these event.  There was a range of stories that were passed in oral traditions about Jesus.    We may think that the Gospels represent the next layers, but in fact in Christian writings, the writings of St. Paul were the first writings about Jesus that we have.  The Gospel present the chronological logic of being the first writings about Jesus, but the writings of St. Paul pre-date the Gospel writings.  The mysticism of Paul and the early disciples then determined how the narrative of the life of Jesus was to be presented in the Gospels.

Paul did not see Jesus.  He did not witness his teachings.  He wasn't a disciple who followed him from Galilee.  He was not at the crucifixion and he was not privileged with the early post-resurrection appearances.  He was a persecutor of those who said that Christ had risen.  Paul was converted in a mystical experience in an encounter with the Risen Christ.  Paul developed the theology of the death and resurrection of Christ which then became presented in the Gospel narratives.

Paul spiritualized everything.  He believed that every thing needed to be interpreted from having an inner conversion.  For Paul, death had two meanings; there was the death of the body and there was spiritual death.  Sin was the condition of being in a deathly state.   By taking a personal mystical identity with the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul believed that one could pass from a state of death into a state of receiving new life, the life of knowing God's Holy Spirit.  When this spiritual program of Paul was presented in the Gospel, the death of Lazarus represented the natural deathly state of living in alienation from God.  Jesus came to weep over our alienation from God and call us forth to live lives unbound from the bands of the fear of death.  We, like Lazarus, live until we die our natural physical death.  We live as it were, spiritual resuscitated lives, until our bodies die.  But when we die, then our resurrection bodies will take off like the butterfly from the lifeless cocoon.  So, here we can see the distinction in the mysticism of the early church between resuscitation and  resurrection.  Like Lazarus, we can sense the freedom of living again, even though we know that our bodies will die.  But in identity with Jesus as the resurrection and the life, we can live with the hope of a life that will be preserved in the greatness of God's memory.

So here are the layers of the tradition.  The event of Jesus.  The memorial traces based upon the experience of St. Paul and his mysticism of the death and resurrection of Christ as an invitation for each of us to embark upon personal transformation.  Then the mysticism of Paul written into the narratives of Jesus in the form of the Gospel writings.  In the Lazarus tradition, we are taught that we can have our spirits resuscitated by God's Holy Spirit, not to deny the eventual deaths of our body, but to partake of the eternal aspect of our nature that will live on because of belief in God as the ultimate preserving agent of greatness.

We can live in fear, ignorance and greedy, grabbing feverishly all in life right now in fear that we cannot have all that we desire because we don't have enough time to collect and take all that we desire.  This is represented by the rich man who neglected the poor beggar Lazarus.  It was represented by those who denied the future of the afterlife.  The Gospel of Christ is coming to a faithful wisdom guided by hope in a continuous future.  Hope is the baptism and cleansing of our desire.  In hope we know that if we don't finish all that we wished and dreamed about, we believe that the fullness of God still awaits us after we die.

Jesus came to deal with the alienation of the spiritual death represented by the sense of alienation from God in this life and the afterlife.  St. Paul took the experience of the Risen Christ as a mystical identity with the death and resurrection of Jesus.  He taught this identity as a method of spiritual transformation.  The Gospel writers then reweaved the spiritual theology of Paul and the early disciples back into the stories of Jesus in the Gospel to preserve the teaching in accessible forms to as many people as possible.  Today many people stay at the story level of the Gospels; they don't perceive the mystical theology hidden therein.

And you and I today are another babushka doll layer of the tradition of Jesus Christ.  We have received and borrowed and studied and prayed and been converted by all of the remnants of this wonderful traditions that have come to us.  We have attempted in our own personal ways to enter into this mystical experience of the Risen Christ being within us as our hope for a future beyond the bookend of our deaths.

Let us do all that we can to be a transitional layer of the traditions of the Risen Christ to those who are with us now and who will live after us.  If we seek to identify with the Risen Christ and teach this mystical spiritual tradition well, we may be faithful conduits of God's grace to the next generation, the next layer of the Jesus tradition.

Remember we always live in the later days, because now is always the latest day.  Let us take care to present the mystical tradition of the Risen Christ to everyone in the very best possible way.  Amen.

Sunday School, April 2, 2017 5 Lent A

Sunday School, April 2, 2017  5 Lent A

Theme:

Stories and Babushka dolls

Babushka dolls are like an onion.  They have layers.  They are a way of showing how things grow.  The way that you and I appear today includes all of the layers of stories about us before we became who we are.

The Gospel stories can be seen like babushka dolls; they are layers of story and sometimes bigger story includes a smaller story that came before the bigger story.

In the Gospel of Luke Jesus told a story about a beggar who was very sick who lived at the gate of a wealthy man and the wealthy man ignored beggar and did nothing to help him.  The beggar’s name of Lazarus and we don’t know the name of the wealthy man.  Both Lazarus and the wealthy man died.  The wealthy man after death went to a place of discomfort; but Lazarus went to a place of pleasure to live with the great Abraham.  In death, Lazarus and the wealthy man lived on the opposite sides and there was a big canyon between them that could not be cross.  The wealthy man was sad about being in a bad place.  He yelled across the canyon and asked that Abraham would send Lazarus back to life again to warn his family who had not yet died to live better lives so that when they died they would not have to suffer.  Abraham said that even if Lazarus came back to life and spoke to the wealthy man’s family, his family would not believe.  Why?  If they don’t listen to what Moses and the prophets taught them, then they would not even believe a man who returned from the dead.

The writer of John wrote about a man name Lazarus who died.  The sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha were very sad and when Jesus saw their sadness, he cried.  Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus and he called Lazarus back to life again.  But did everyone believe in Jesus after this happened?  No.  People still did not believe that Jesus was the Resurrection and the life.

So do you see how the later story about Lazarus who died was like another layer of the story that Jesus told about Lazarus and the wealthy man.

Remember you and I are in the outer layer of another babushka doll about Jesus and the Resurrection.  How are you and I making the resurrection of Christ appear in our lives today?  Are we doing it with love, kindness, hope and justice?  What will people in the next layer of life and history say about how we believed in the resurrection of Christ?

Sermon:

Do a Lazarus “mummy” sermon with strips of cloth.  Get a child to be “mummy” Lazarus and other children to help bind the mummy and then unbind him as you retell the Lazarus story.

When the pyramids of Egypt were opened, they were found to be burial chambers for the kings of Egypt.

  And when they took the dead bodies out of the wooden caskets what did they call them. Mummies.

  So when people died they wrapped their bodies in cloth.

  I need a volunteer mummy today.  Would someone like to volunteer?

And so we are going to wrap up our volunteer to look like a mummy.

  We read the story about the death of Lazarus.

  Jesus came to see Mary and Martha after their brother had been wrapped and buried.

  And Jesus cried when he saw the sadness of everyone.

  So Jesus went to the tomb and he said, Lazarus, come out!

And Lazarus came out.

  And Jesus said, “Unbind the man.”

  So let us unbind our mummy and let him free.

  Jesus wanted to teach people that God is stronger than death.  But death is very strong.  It can make us have worry and fear.  And these worries and fear can be like that clothes that wrap up the mummy.

  Jesus says, unbind the man.

  Jesus tell us that we don’t have to be tied down because of death, because, there is a new life for us after death.

  After death, our life is preserve by God.

  So we don’t have to live in fear of death during this life, because we believe that God will preserve us forever.

  Let us remember that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

April 2, 2017: The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: Dry Bones, Christ Beside Me, There is a Redeemer, I Am the Bread of Life,  

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures forever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Opening Song: Dry Bones

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, Ezekiel connected dem dry bones. Ezekiel connected dem dry bones. Now hear the word of the Lord. 

The toe bone connected to the foot bone. The foot bone connected to the ankle bone. The ankle bone connected to the leg bone.  The leg bone connected to knee bone. The knee bone connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone connected to the hip bone. The hip bone connected to the back bone. The back bone connected to the shoulder bone. The shoulder bone connected to the neck bone. The neck bone connected to the head bone. Now hear the word of the Lord.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around. Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around. Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around.  Now hear the word of the Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Praise be to God! (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Prophet Ezekiel

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord."

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 130

If you, LORD, were to note what is done amiss, * O Lord, who could stand?

For there is forgiveness with you; * therefore you shall be feared.

I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; * in his word is my hope.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."  When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory: Christ Beside Me   (Renew! # 164)

1          Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me—King of my heart;  Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me—never to part.

2          Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand, Christ all around me—shield in the strife:  Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising—light of my life

3          Christ be in all hearts, thinking about me, Christ be on all tongues, telling of me; Christ be the vision, in eyes that see me, in ears that hear me, Christ ever be.

4          Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me—King of my heart; Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me—never to part.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song: There is a Redeemer (Renew! # 232)

There is a redeemer, Jesus, God own Son, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One.

Refrain: Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son; and leaving your Spirit ‘til the work on earth is done.

Jesus, my Redeemer, name above all name, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, hope for sinners slain.  Refrain

When I stand in glory I will see His face, and there I’ll serve my King forever, in that holy place.  Refrain

Post-Communion Prayer. 

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song:  I Am the Bread of Life, Lord (Blue Hymnal, # 335)

1-I am the bread of life; they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst.  No one can come to me unless the Father draw them. 

Refrain: And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.

4-I am the resurrection, I am the life.  They who believe in me, even if they die, they shall live for ever.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.

People: Thanks be to God! 

Death Is Encompassed by Another Kind of Life

5 Lent a        April 6, 2014

Ez. 37:1-14     Ps. 130 

Rom. 6:16-23    John 11:1-44     

Lectionary Link

  One of the teaching tools of Jesus that are found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke is the parable.  In the Gospel of John, we no longer find the use of parables; we find long discourses of Jesus.  A parable is a story that is used to teach something in an indirect way.  One could say that the Gospels are parables too since they use stories about Jesus and dialogues and discourses of Jesus to teach lessons which are less about the actual time of Jesus and more about the issues of the early churches in the time after Jesus has gone.

  The writing context for John’s Gospel is significantly different than the contexts that are evident from Matthew, Mark and Luke.  In John’s Gospel, casting out of demon is no longer a method of folk medicine.  In John’s Gospels the miracles have become presented as signs in stories for discourses which teach the basic theology of the church of John’s Gospel.

  Today, we’ve read the story of the last sign, the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  And so here we are at the 5^th Sunday in Lent and we get to preview Easter in the Lazarus story of John’s Gospel.  John’s Gospel presents some elevated roles for women.  According to the Gospel of John Mary Magdalene has the most profound and first encounter with the risen Jesus.  According to the Gospel of John, Martha of Bethany, who gets some bad press as a non-contemplative busy body in another Gospel, Martha of Bethany is the one who hears first the most profound declarative statement of Jesus about the resurrection.  Jesus said to Martha, “I am resurrection and I am life.”  In the same story the disciples are presented as dull literalists thinking that when Jesus used the word “sleep” he meant sleep instead of “death.”  It is interesting to note that women are presented as those who understand the inner meanings of the heart, while the male disciples are often presented as the literalist clowns.

  John’s Gospel story of Lazarus presents a response to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in the Gospel of Luke.  When the leper Lazarus is in paradise with Abraham and the rich man is in Hades separated by an unbridgeable chasm, the rich man asks Abraham to send someone from the dead to warn his family.  Abraham said, “If they don’t believe the Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe even if someone comes back from the dead.”

  Do you see the obvious meanings of the Lazarus story in John?  It is evidence that not everyone was convinced or saw the resurrection as a valid reason for belief.  After the Lazarus story, we are told that some Jews believed in Jesus, but we are also told that other Jews saw this raising of Lazarus as something that was too much of an attention-getter and that it would bring the Romans down upon the Jews in a harsh way.  The resuscitation of Lazarus from the dead was reason for the Jewish authorities to plot the demise of Jesus.

  The Lazarus story in John’s Gospel has multiple functions including harmonizing it with the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.

  Miracles have been a major problem for our scientific age.  We live in an age where we have been taught to believe in a uniformity of natural causes in a closed system.  This closed system has allowed us to discover and develop scientific laws to describe consistent and repeatable occurrences in nature.  So, the alchemical changing water to wine, the suddenly healing a lame person and blind person, the walking on top of the water, the change of weather at personal command, the making of enough food for 5000 people out of five loaves and two fish, and the opening of a grave to bring a dead man back to life; these accounts to say the least, blow our scientific minds.

  They also blow our moral minds too.  Why do the needy conditions occur in the first place? If a miracle happens, why couldn’t a previous miraculous prevention of the need in first place have occurred?   Why did so few people have access to the few miracles?  Why did not the miracles become the obvious gift to give to the church to use them to completely heal all of the hurt, the disharmony and all of the death in life?  If food could magnificently be multiplied then why keep it to happening in just one event?  What makes the starving people with Jesus in the wilderness that day any more important that starving people who exists in our world today and who have existed throughout history?  How many of us do not have graves that we want to be robbed of some important people whom we have lost? What is the purpose of tantalizing us with the resuscitation of one dead man?  What is the purpose of tantalizing us with such miracles if they are only to accompany the ministry of Jesus and a very few chosen disciples?  It almost seems like a cruel use of the very notion of “miracles” if we truly think about the logical consequences.

  The writer of John’s Gospel already understood this dilemma and so the word Sign was used and the Sign is the marvelous event which signified the presence of Jesus Christ as triumphant for us in surviving all of the great dilemmas of life.

  When is Christ with us and how can we experience Christ being with us?  We can know Christ as the uncanny in the trivial bothersome events of life, such as running out of wine at a wedding.  We can know Christ in the various conditions of sickness.  Jesus is the Way.  Jesus is the one who heals our lameness so that we can walk in the way.  Jesus is the Light and Truth.  Jesus is the one who heals our blindness so that we can see with wise and honest perspective.  Jesus is living bread; Christ as Eucharistic bread is the unifying and constituting liturgy of the church. Jesus is the Life.  With Jesus Christ, we have found the healing of death.  The story of Lazarus is a sign of Christ’s presence with us even when his comfort seems delayed.  The way in which death is healed is that it is truthfully presented as a one-time event. Death is redefined and made different by understanding that it is only one event which is minimized by everything that happens before and after the event.

  The scientific closed system of the natural world is opened up by a new birth into the parallel world of the Spirit.  The natural cause and effect is totally turned on its head, not in a literal way but in the truly uncanny world of art, faith and the experience of the sublime.

  If we can find a way to coexist, with minor frustration, disease, natural disasters, blindness and infirmity, hunger and thirst, and to co-exist with death, then we have found an abundant life, we have found an encompassing way to live.

  This is the encompassing life of faith to which the writer of John’s Gospel invites us.  This Gospel invites us to not pout in literalism and wonder why we don’t get miracles that defy science.  This Gospel of John invites us to the experience of the Risen Christ, who accompanies and encompasses all of life in such a way that the only way to show this wonder is to tell us “great sign” stories.  Because people who live by faith can come to live by this “jaw dropping” “O my God” wonder of the Holy Spirit encompassing all of our life.

  The Gospel of John reminds us that the Gospel is about a new birth, a new seeing, a new way of living which encompasses and ultimately heals everything, including death.  We can be in the place of Martha today to hear again these ultimate words of health and salvation:  “I am the Resurrection and the life.”  May God help us to access and live within this life today.  Amen.