God is in the Details

A couple of weeks ago, The Water Project's Spencer Bogle joined us again as a guest preacher, delivering a typically powerful sermon based on the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.  He gave us a little insider's scoop by noting that he based his choice of a sermon text (and Scripture reading) for the day by looking at something called the lectionary series.  This is a week by week collection of "recommended" Scripture readings for Sunday mornings, widely used by many Christian churches.  The lectionary provides a Psalm, an Old Testament reading, a New Testament (epistle) reading, and a Gospel reading.  Over the course of one year (or three years -- there are two different lectionary series!), the lectionary provides a tour through the main themes and stories of the Bible.  The Gospel reading from the lectionary that Spencer used on March 8 was John 5:4-26.

I have been thinking a lot lately about Lent.  The lectionary has guided me to identifying Scriptures with a Lenten theme.  This week's Gospel story from the lectionary is a long one, but it's also a fascinating one:  John 11:17-44.  For your convenience, the whole story, taken from the New Living Translation (NLT), is reproduced at the end of this blog post. It's the familiar story of one of Jesus' most amazing miracles: the raising of his friend Lazaraus (brother of Mary and Martha) from the dead!  Yes, it is a great story for Lent.  Jesus is on His way to the last week of His life, "Holy Week" or "Passion Week", as it's known on the church calendar.   He is about to bear the weight of all of our sins, but He had some other work do do in the meantime.  

I've been reading stories like these for a long time, so I wasn't really expecting any surprises when I read it again this week.  The story largely speaks for itself.  Four days in the tomb?   Why is that detail mentioned?  Is it important?  Sometimes people seemed dead, but really weren't.  They didn't have good tests for "clinical death" in those days. But, after four days,  Lazarus would be "really and completely dead" by the time Jesus got there.  If Jesus resurrected Lazarus, the event would be unequivocal.  

Another detail:  Jesus uses the situation as a teachable moment for Martha, leading her to confess Jesus as He really is: "the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God."  

Mary, Martha, and those gathered with them then go with Jesus to Lazarus' tomb.  The New Living Translation gives us some more details, telling us a couple of things about Jesus' reaction to the death of his friend. He weeps, but he is also angry.  He's not angry because He didn't get there in time to prevent His friend's death.  He is angry at sin.  Angry at death. Angry about the damage evil had done, and was doing, to God's creation.  Anger is not a sin (although, of course, in us it can lead to sinful thoughts, words, or deeds), but sin leads to holy anger in "the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2, NIV), Jesus the Messiah – the Son of God.

Jesus tells Martha and the others to roll away the stone.  But Lazarus has been dead for a while.  In the unforgettable language of the King James Version:  "Lord, by this time he stinketh".  But Jesus insists.   Jesus beckons Lazarus to come out.  And out Lazarus comes, and he stinketh not. He is alive!

But here's the interesting part.  The detail I never noticed before.  Just a little detail, but maybe an important one.  The New Living Translation renders John 11:44 thus:  And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth.   Jesus tells the people with him to unwrap Lazarus and "let him go".  

Not long after the events of John 11:17-14, there'll be another resurrection.  Another dead person returned to life after three days in the grave.  Not four, but still a long enough time to have been unambiguously dead.  But there's a salient difference.  When the women (!) reach the tomb on Sunday morning, they find the stone rolled back and Jesus gone!  They run and tell the disciples. John (that same John, writer of the Gospel bearing his name) and Peter race to the tomb, and John tells us this (John 20:6-7, NLT):

Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there,  while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 

Lazarus was summoned from death by the Lord and Giver of Life. Lazarus couldn't remove his graveclothes.  Jesus asked other people to do it.  But Jesus – Jesus gave up His life to defeat sin and death and then He rose again by His own power as the true and eternal Son of God.  Jesus took care of His own graveclothes.  And then, as He had told others to do for Lazarus, Jesus let us go... freed once and for all from sin and death by the power of His redemptive work.