March 9--Come Out!

John 11:1-45
Who was Jesus? A good teacher? A Jewish Religious leader? A revolutionary? A wonder worker? A good man? God? Let me tell you a story.

Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, is sick. In fact, Lazarus is dying. So his family sends for Jesus. To them Jesus is a wonder worker, a healer, a spiritual doctor. But Jesus is always doing the unexpected. Now when he hears of Lazarus’ illness, he doesn’t go to him, he loiters around for 2 whole days. Then he says to his disciples, “Let’s go.” The only problem? While Jesus delayed, Lazarus died.

When Jesus gets to gravesite, Martha, Lazarus’ sister confronts him. “Why weren’t you here? You could have save my brother. Don’t you care about us?” For Martha, Jesus is the healer, the wonder worker, perhaps an Old Testament prophet. She calls him the Messiah, but by that she means not much more than the power of an Elijah. Jesus tells her, “Do you believe that Lazarus will rise again?” “Yes, Lord, I believe he will rise at the end of the age.” Then Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me, even if they are dead, will live forevermore.”
Martha wondered what that meant.

Then Jesus speaks with Lazarus’ other sister, Mary. She too asks him, “Why weren’t you here to save my brother?” Like Martha, Jesus is the healer. Jesus is the Messiah who forgave her sins. Remember Mary is the one who anointed his feet with perfume and wiped them with her hair.

Then Jesus cries at the gravesite. Some onlookers comment on how he cares. Jesus is compassionate. Jesus is fully human—he is sympathetic to our sorrows, he weeps with those who weep, he rejoices who rejoice. To others, Jesus is the slacker—couldn’t he have come sooner? Nice one, Jesus.

Then Jesus reveals who he is. He commands that they raise the stone. He approaches the grave. He challenges Martha. “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” Then he commands the corpse to Come Out! Lazarus walks from the tomb. His body alive, rejoined with his spirit, healed, long after he was gone.
Through this miracle of raising the dead, Jesus proves that he is more than a healer, he is more than simply compassionate, he is not a slacker, but active and willing to intervene. Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

Even if you are dead, it is not too late. Just as he called Lazarus from the grave, from decay, from death, Jesus stands ready to call you from your grave of sin, of decay, of death, into life.

Sometimes Jesus waits until we have fallen from sickness into death, so that he can prove who he is, more than a wonder worker, more than a great teacher, more than a sympathetic friend in every season. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

Do you believe this?

Are you dead in your sins? Are you beyond all earthly help? Lost because of what you have done? Is your life over?

This is not a message for the comfortable
This is not a message for those whose life is well established.
This is a message for those who are desperate, those who have made a wreck of their lives, those who know that they are dead, those who are hungry, those who are broken, those who have come to a dead end, those who have crumpled into a heap at the end of the road and sat their rotting for four days.
To you, Jesus commands, Come Out! Leave the halls of death and enter life again. Not the same life you left, for this new life that Jesus calls you to is eternal, by clinging to Jesus you will receive life that will never bow to sin and death again, life that extends forever. Even though the body will fail, will decay, will die. This eternal life given to you through faith in Jesus Christ goes on and on forever.

For those of you who are following Jesus. Is your life hum drum? Does your belief in Jesus not make that big a difference? Remember his words to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” Don’t sell him short. God is praised for his great deeds of power. Through Jesus that power is available to us who believe. I am not talking about salvation, but I am talking about your faith giving God room to over turn your world and the worlds of those around you.
Do you believe this? Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life?
Who do you know who is dead? What about yourself? Where are you dead? Where have you given up? Is it your marriage, your career, your children, your dating life, your finances? Perhaps a dream you cherished once. What needs to be resurrected for you this week? To what does Jesus need to command, "Come Out!"
Where will you go this week where you will confront death? Perhaps the Holy Spirit will prompt you to say those words, "Come Out!" Come back from death, from the darkness, back to life, back into the light of God's love and wholeness.
Come Out!
James