LAZARUS, STAY IN !<\/p>\n
Scripture Reading John 11:1-44<\/p>\n
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, \u201cLord, the one you love is sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, \u201cThis sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God\u2019s glory so that God\u2019s Son may be glorified through it.\u201d 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, \u201cLet us go back to Judea.\u201d<\/p>\n
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.<\/p>\n
21 \u201cLord,\u201d Martha said to Jesus, \u201cif you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.\u201d<\/p>\n
23 Jesus said to her, \u201cYour brother will rise again.\u201d<\/p>\n
24 Martha answered, \u201cI know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.\u201d<\/p>\n
25 Jesus said to her, \u201cI am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?\u201d<\/p>\n
27 \u201cYes, Lord,\u201d she replied, \u201cI believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. \u201cThe Teacher is here,\u201d she said, \u201cand is asking for you.\u201d 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.<\/p>\n
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, \u201cLord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.\u201d<\/p>\n
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 \u201cWhere have you laid him?\u201d he asked.
\n\u201cCome and see, Lord,\u201d they replied.<\/p>\n
35 Jesus wept.<\/p>\n
36 Then the Jews said, \u201cSee how he loved him!\u201d<\/p>\n
37 But some of them said, \u201cCould not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?\u201d<\/p>\n
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 \u201cTake away the stone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, Lord,\u201d said Martha, the sister of the dead man, \u201cby this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.\u201d<\/p>\n
40 Then Jesus said, \u201cDid I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?\u201d
\n41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, \u201cFather, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.\u201d<\/p>\n
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, \u201cLazarus, come out!\u201d 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.<\/p>\n
Jesus said to them, \u201cTake off the grave clothes and let him go.\u201d<\/p>\n
**********************************************************
\nI\u2019ve never been much of a lectionary preacher, although many preachers are. The lectionary is a number of Biblical passages to be read every Sunday throughout the year. The lectionary chooses an Old Testament passage, a Psalm, and two passages from the New Testament, gospel and epistle.<\/p>\n
I belong to a FB group called \u201cHappy to be Presbyterian.\u201d The group is populated by Presbyterian ministers who share ideas and ask each other questions. The lectionary readings for this coming Sunday, March 29 are Ezekiel 37:1-4; Romans 8:6-11, and John 11:1-45, printed above.<\/p>\n
The question sent out to the group was this: \u201cLectionary Preachers: thoughts on how to preach Lazarus\u2019 resurrection (in John 11) when we all will need to stay quarantined in our \u201ctombs\u201d for a few weeks\/months more?\u201d<\/p>\n
One answer: \u201cPreach Jesus grieving with the sisters. Preach God is with us in our grief, grieves with us, values lives, is moved by human pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another answer: \u201c Or preach the hope of new life offered in the Ezekial passage.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the best answer of all, I thought was this: \u201cLararus, stay in.\u201d
\nHaving to stay in our homes and limit going out for anything is not exactly a tomb. But I believe we are being called to truly stay in. It\u2019s the only way we are going to defeat this virus. There is a great article in \u201cVox.com\u201d about the Spanish flu 100 years ago, which killed 500 million people. It was finally overcome by social distancing. This is a good and important read for everyone.<\/p>\n
(Copy this to your web browser)<\/p>\n