“Now a certain man was ill. . .” Isn’t that a fascinating way to start the story???
A certain man? Just some guy.
A college professor of mine suggested that Lazarus was the “beloved disciple” of the Gospel of John. That sorta makes sense to me. At least I’ve always liked that suggestion (I doubt there’s ever any “making sense” of the Gospel of John.)
And so I suspect that John is setting us up here with that “certain man” stuff.
This is the Beloved Disciple who is ill - sick unto death - and there will be conversation, there will be tears, and there will be resurrection (or at least a great foreshadowing of resurrection.) There will be the gifting of life, which will give rise to Jesus’ death.
The Beloved Disciple. I think that - in the end - the Beloved Disciple is not to be determined as one or another guy. I think that the hearer - you and each person who hears the proclamation of these stories - is to see him or herself as the Beloved Disciple.
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Three years ago, I preached on this text, and after worship, some members of our congregation joined with others in the community, to search for a beloved member of our Church who, in his dementia, had driven his car down a wrong road, gotten stuck in snow, and wandered off. It had been a few days, and the weather had been such that there was very little hope that we would find him alive.
With the reality of death so close at hand, with such a sad loss in all its stark . . . death-ness . . . the story of Lazarus rang out.
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I don’t know where I got this, but I preached it in a sermon, so it must be true. Lazarus might well mean “God Has Helped”
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The Beloved Disciple.
YOU beloved by God.
You - who have known the entombment of your hopes, your dreams, your loves.
You, who have been helped by God.
You. Hear that call.
“Lazarus come out!”
You are the beloved disciple whom God calls out of death and into life. Whom God forgives and calls and sends.
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Our friends body was found later that day. It was terribly sad, and we had a very nice funeral.
And, I believe, that wasn't the last word for him.
1 comment:
here's a nice quote
Edmund Steimle, preacher of the Protestant Hour said this in his last sermon:
"We are delivered in Christ, not from the darkness, but from its dominion and power to bury our hopes. That, as I see it, is the task of preaching, not to deny the darkness, but to shed light on our paths as we walk through the darkness.”
and a compelling quote from a surprising source. I can't recall where I found it. . .
There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning. -Louis L'Amour
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