Believe 1: In Life—Psalm 130; John 11: 1-45 (excerpts)
A friend of mine who is a very, very tired mother of a four-year-old told me of a moment she overcame temptation. Her son likes toy monsters, not the scary kind, but the fun Disney kind that are goofy but not quite scary. Every night they have a full-blown battle to get him to go to bed. They would look into the closet and make sure it was clear. They’d look in the drawers to make sure they were clear. And they’d check carefully under the bed.
One very frustrating night my friend thought about getting a two-way radio, hiding it under the bed, and every time her son tried to get up have a deep male voice say, “This is the monster. If you wake your mom up again, I’ll get you.” Obviously, she didn’t, though she was tempted. And every night they had the same ritual to find sleep. He would ask her, “Is it real?”
Sometimes I wonder, how often do we ask that same question of faith? After a bad day, a particularly low-feeling month, when we go for a while and feel like God is silent and troubles talk too much, we might ask, “Is it real?” Though it sounds like asking something a bit disobedient, I think it’s a fair question. In Mark 9, a worried father cries out, “I do believe, but help my unbelief!” After the resurrection, Thomas, a disciple, demands proof Jesus is alive. The crux is that in both of these instances, the questioning drove the two people TO Jesus to find the answer.
The Gospel story for today is one that should make us struggle. Prayer and healing are not too far-fetched for us to figure out. Faithful living sermons from Jesus are very easy for us to learn and implement. But what an incredible step to ask a people of science, reason, enlightenment, technology, all of this to believe that this presumably holy man of ancient times raised someone from the dead without the abilities of modern medicine. Is it real? I think there are two types of life we see in this lesson—new life and abundant life, and yes, both are real!
Jesus, in our Gospel lesson today, is overwhelmed by people who give back-handed criticism. If you’d been here, he wouldn’t have died. You could have done something Jesus, but you were late and failed. As he comes to the tomb, we read that well-known verse, “Jesus wept.” But it’s not tears of grief, it’s an angry cry. Verse 33 tells us that there’s a deep anger in Jesus, and he was troubled. He sees their weeping, wailing, and carrying on in total disbelief, anger, and condemnation of him, and he is so angry he weeps. We are told in verse 38 that he’s still angry when he comes to the tomb.
Then Jesus brings new life. He calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and the man—now four days dead—walks out with new life in his body and spirit. None of those people believed him. He told them, “I am the resurrection and the life!” Yet they didn’t listen to the hope and carried on in their wrong beliefs. What’s the proof? How do we know that God is the God of resurrection and new life?
The other day I took a walk. It was warm from the sunshine. I strolled around the apartment complex and felt the warm restoring my tired, sore body. I inhaled the warm air (and immediately gagged and coughed from all the pollen). But even there is a lesson. Every year we are reminded from cold, dead, hard earth, new life blooms. Look at the beauty that God has created. The flowers, the tree leaves, the growing grass…all of these things are signs of new life built into God’s design for earth. And if the flowers and trees get new life each year, how much more will God take care of us, who are made in God’s own image. Is it real? Yes! Just look at the world around, and choke on the abundant pollen of new plants and you’ll have all the proof you need.
But God also gives us the gift of abundant life while we are here on earth. Jesus and Martha have an exchange where he talks about resurrection AND life and adds that belief in him will keep away death. Ponder those words—resurrection and life. Then he says to Martha, “Do you believe this?” It’s a question of trust for us just as it was for Martha. Do you trust in Jesus to offer resurrection hope as well as abundant life here?
The words of the Psalmist begin with this plea, this cry from the depths of despair and suffering. Then the writer starts this new and hopeful thought. In God there is forgiveness in verse 4, redemption in verse 7, and hope in verse 5. But the greatest statement of the Psalm is this: “I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him.” It reminds me of the words of a hymn from 1680, “All my hope on God is founded, who does still my trust renew. Safe through change and chance God guides me, ever faithful, ever true.”
What does abundant life look like? It’s not being free from all trouble. It’s not being free from all illness. It’s not being free from a physical death here. Abundant life means that God is with us in every moment of every day throughwhatever troubles come to us. Lazarus was sick. Lazarus died. People mourned and wept. But none of that had the final say because it took Jesus only moments to summon the power to overcome death, suffering, and fear. Abundant life doesn’t mean avoiding adversity and struggle. It means having a God who is with you. It means looking not to the heavenly king, but to the Christ of the cross, who suffered and died. It means looking at the Jesus who walked here on earth and knew God the Father was there the entire time.
I have a friend who often struggles with being her own worst enemy. No matter her smarts, her success, her achievements, she always ended up having something ruin her work, and it was usually a problem of her own making. Many condemned her for her choices, blamed her directly, saying she should have done better, had better control, gotten herself together and figured it out. But none of that blame or condemnation helps a person who is struggling, does it? The biggest issue was that she chose her own control over trust in God. And just as new life is found in Christ’s resurrection, abundant life can only be found in living and trusting Christ’s life and example.
We’re about to sing soon, don’t worry. I’ve had some angst over the years about the hymn, “Softly and Tenderly.” It’s been used a lot in tandem with sermons that tell people how miserable and wretched they are as evildoers in the world. People get beaten up enough by all the bad that happens in this world, and I’m no longer a fan of rubbing their noses in it. “Told ya so” does not make for good theology. But it’s hard to escape the call to believe in a Savior’s love found in the words: “Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me; patient and loving, he’s waiting and watching, for you and for me. Come home.”
If we ask the question, “Is it real?” the words in this Psalm and Gospel give us a resounding yes. New life is real, and you need only look around this world that grows anew, blossoms into new life and gives us beauty each and every spring in the same way. It’s a testimony that in life’s design, our God planned for new life and resurrection of what is dead and dormant. But God has also planned abundant life. You are not alone on your walk here. There is a whole world of places, people, and things for us to encounter and enjoy. There is good news to be told. When the monsters under your bed scare you, and hope seems to dwindle to the point of asking if any of it is really real, remember Jesus’s words, “I am the resurrection AND the life.” And all you need to do is follow the advice in the hymn…come home.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/209115251765310