Come Out!

 John 11:32-44

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?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus to Life

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.”

In the Name of the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer. Amen

Jesus began to weep. 

That short verse, from our gospel today is oft quoted.

It’s quoted as the shortest verse in the bible.

It’s quoted as proof of Jesus humanity - that he was so moved by the death of his friend.

But, as I spent time with this gospel this week, I wondered.

Was Jesus weeping because his friend had died?

Or was he weeping because the people around him, even those closest to him, still didn’t get what he was about, still didn’t get his teaching, still didn’t understand who he was?

In the gospel of John, the crowds who follow Jesus are always looking for a sign.

They show up to see what miracle he is going to perform next - always looking for just one more sign. Some do come to believe but others always need just one more sign.

Jesus often confronts the crowds who followed him about their need to keep on witnessing the miraculous.

And, as Jesus confronts the crowd again, around the tomb of Lazarus, I couldn’t help wondering if his tears were tears of frustration.

Do you still not get it?

Jesus, it seems, faces resistance at every turn.

Even as he asks for the stone to be moved from the tomb, Martha confronts him with complaints about the smell of death. 

“Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

And Jesus says to her:

Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

You can almost hear the frustration in his voice.

And the prayer that he prays - it’s the kind of prayer that, when we are teaching folk to lead prayer, we encourage them to avoid - the kind of prayer that tells God the things that God already knows:

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.”

It is like Jesus having a wee aside with the Father, - Do you see what I have to put up with- help me out here - I know you always hear me - but I need this crowd to know that too.

And then Jesus gets on with the task before him.

Gathered with the crowd around the stinking tomb, Jesus calls to Lazarus: 

“Lazarus, come out!”

And the crowd finally have the miracle they seek - the dead brought to life.

Lazarus comes out of the tomb.

But, there’s one more detail in the story that I think is significant.

Lazarus emerges from the tomb at Jesus’ command - but there’s one more step to his healing.

Lazarus emerges with his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth - and Jesus calls on his community to complete the work of healing:

Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Lazarus’ healing was not complete until he had been released from his bindings by his community.

Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The events in this gospel narrative prove to be a turning point for Jesus - after he raises Lazarus form the dead, the authorities, who are already uncomfortable with the following he has and with the teaching he shares, decide that they really have to put a stop to him - and they up their efforts to find a way to silence him.

As we celebrate All Saints, on the eve of a major Climate Conference, I wonder if today’s gospel speaks even more potently to us in this age.

I wonder if the sense of urgency and the sense of a changing tide are more relevant than ever to us today.

Is Jesus still weeping at our inability to get the message - at our inability to act with love and compassion for all our neighbours and for all of creation?

Is Jesus still calling to us - Come out - come out of your tombs of inertia, of avoidance, of denial.

Come out of the tombs you hide in, embrace life and make a difference.

And is Jesus calling on us to act together in community to unbind - to free ourselves from all that holds us back from making a difference.

As we gather around this altar today, at Jesus invitation, surrounded by all the saints, the living - each one of you - and the dead, all crowding around the Lords table, feasting together at Christ’s supper, may we know the risen Christ calling to us to Come out of our tombs, to be freed from all that holds us back and to take up the urgency of the gospel - to set Gods people free to love and serve one another and the creation God has given into our care.

Saints of today:

May we not cause Jesus to weep at our lack of understanding of the love and grace of God

May we be willing to come out of the tombs that we’ve become comfortable in

And may we together find the freedom it will take, freedom from many things we hold dearly to address the challenges facing creation, not least climate change, so that we can serve God and each other better.

In the name of all that is Holy

Amen