	Thought of the week
	Faith story
	Special events

About Us	\| What We Do	\| What's On	\| Services	\| Sermons	\| Links	\| Photos	\| Contact Us	\| Home

March 17, 2008 sermon

Getting in the Way of Death
(John 11: 1-44)

Reverend Minister Sally Harris

Someone is dying. The one who Jesus loved. Yet Jesus stayed in the place where he was - for another two days! In spite of the urging of his friends Jesus did not go running to the rescue. He waited. Jesus knew something bigger was at stake. Something larger than even the life of Lazarus. He knew that God was at work. Jesus knew he could not interfere in what God was doing. So he waited. He waited and in his waiting he felt the grief of Mary and Martha. He felt his own grief and… Jesus was blamed for not coming to the rescue. If you had been there, my brother would not have died. Such a familiar human response to grief. Who is to blame? What could have been done that wasn't done? Sometimes a doctor is the focus of anger, sometimes a minister, sometimes family, sometimes self, sometimes… a sense of betrayal by God. Why me? Where was God? Why did this happen? Why did God do this? Why did God allow this?

Yes there was grieving to do. Someone now is dead. And when Jesus saw Mary and her friends weeping, he was disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. Jesus went to the tomb and burst into tears. There was grieving to do, not only for Lazarus, but for Jesus. He too was on a journey towards death he was on the way to Gethsemane. Is there also grieving to do here? For ourselves? For our losses? For our city? For our province? For the world?

Certainly God will come to the rescue… right? Not exactly. Even in this scenario of grief Jesus doesn't rescue - he empowers. Consistently he asks for help. He didn't expect God to magically remove the stone. Jesus said to those gathered, "Take away the stone." And ever conscious of what is proper, Martha objected. "By this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." A four day stench. What would it be like to be Lazarus, lying in that cave? In what ways have we died or are dying? Who is weeping for us? What does our cave feel like? Look like? Is it earthy and damp, is it brittle with stale air? Are we afraid in there, sad, or bitter? What is our four-year stench or forty-year stench?

Yes something was rotting in that tomb. Perhaps something is rotting in our lives. Certainly there is something rotting in a province that values business opportunities over lives, over education, over health care. Often there is something that stinks in the systems and institutions that define us. Yes, sometimes even our faith stinks of ideology - of something dead. And Martha is right. It could be embarrassing to go public, to bring it out into the open. To get in the way of all this death. Is there a stone that keeps us inside, a barrier that keeps me, that keeps you from getting in the way? Yes there is grieving to do! Something is rotting in our world. And it is hidden. And to bring it out will be smelly business. Is that God weeping over God's world?

And… there is birthing to do. Someone is being raised from the dead. Grieving and birthing. They took away the stone. It is the role of friends, of family, of faith communities to help remove the stone. Those barriers that prevent our liberation and healing. That prevents us from getting in the way of the world. Who can help you remove the stone, for you? Are you willing to ask for help, like Jesus did? Whose stone might you help remove? Is there a stone God is asking us to remove? Asking me? Asking you?

And then Jesus cried out in a loud voice. Jesus didn't whisper or quietly beckon. Jesus shouted, LAZARUS, COME OUT! It must have shocked people. Couldn't he keep this thing quiet, private? Yet birth is painful and public. Birthing means bleeding, sweating, and crying out. We don't come gently into this new day, but raging, wrenching at the light. No way to keep birth hidden or neat. Yes, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out! This is a blessed name-calling. A biblical name-calling. Years before Isaiah wrote of God saying: Fear not, for I have redeemed you! I have called you by name, you are mine (Isaiah 43:1) "Lazarus," "Joe," "Sarah," "Alice, come out!" Come out no matter who you think you are, or what you think you've done, or not done, or what you've been told about yourself. Come out God knows us and calls us by name.

A child living in New Haven, Connecticut, once prayed the Lord's Prayer with her mother in this fashion: "Our Father, who art in New Haven, how did you know my name?" A child's wisdom. Christ comes to us where we are living and dying. Christ calls our name. Christ calls us in our stench. Will the real John Jones please stand up! Will the real Mary Brown please stand up! Come out. Come out of hiding. Come out of your cave. Come out of your closet!

There are many closets and many ways of coming out. Here we know of those who have come out of the 'gay' closet. But there is also the divorcing person who comes out of the closet of a dying marriage. There is an adult who comes out of the closet where most physically, sexually and emotionally abused children hide to survive. A peacemaker comes out of the closet of a rotting militaristic mindset. A whistleblower comes out of the closet of a corrupt institution or system. Coming out has to do with following one's true vocation, regardless of what THEY think. Coming out makes a disturbance and lets out a stink. Coming out is going public. It is being on the outside what one is, on the inside. It is living authentically and in integrity. Maybe it is time for us, for each of us to stand up and be counted and accountable. Stand up and get in the way. The poet, Wallace Stevens wrote: Throw away the lights, the definitions and say of what you see in the dark

That it is this or that... but do not use rotted names
Nothing must stand between you and the shapes you take
When the crust of shape has been destroyed.

No longer will we use rotted names, but real names, our real names. Integrity is better than success; honesty of more value than respectability. LAZARUS COME OUT! The good news is that most of us can come out. The good news is that most of us have gotten in the way. And we can get in the way even more. We can follow our true vocation. And don't say I'm too old or I'm too young or I'm too timid… for goodness sake - Lazarus had the ultimate excuse - I'm dead and still there is that loud, annoying call LAZARUS COME OUT! You're not too dead, you're not too old, you're not too young or too timid…. Because this is about God's work. And when God calls - you leave the tomb you're in.

Jesus said to them. Unbind him and let him go. There is the ministry of unbinding one another, of letting people go. There is a Moses ministry here, not only of individuals, but of families, institutions, churches, systems, nations: LET MY PEOPLE GO. Dismantle the chains of oppression. The church is called to take the bandages from bondage, to unwrap the stinking constraints, so that we may be healed and become healers in the fresh air of freedom. We are called to get in the way of all this death. And yes sometimes the church must unwrap its own tangled tradition in order to uncover its truth. What systems will you help to unbind? Where will you continue getting in the way of death! And the good news is…the dead man came out. Yes if a dead man can come out, you and I can come out. We too can say Yes to getting in the way. Even if we come out wrapped in grave clothes, under wraps. And we have been wrapped, weighted down with vestments and investments, fears and inadequacies laid upon us by others and accepted by ourselves. Will our friends help us take off these wraps, or in fact, can we throw them off our selves? Let's go to a Lazarus' party, a 'come-out-as-you-are' party, a 'just-as-I-am' party. It's like a debut, when a new adult is about to meet the world. Are we ready to make our debut, alive again, stumbling into our new freedom?

There is birthing to do. Someone is alive.
Someone got in the way of death.
Someone is getting in the way of death.
Have you gotten in the way?
Will you get in the way? Will we?
There is birthing to do. Someone is alive.
And there is grieving to do. Someone is weeping.

[resource: R.A. Raines, A Faithing Oak]

Print/Download this in Word.doc

All are Welcome!