Given on March 13, 2005 at the Lynnville (IL) UMC, the primary Scriptures are from the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John, verses 1-45, but also include verses from Ezekiel 37: 1-14, and Romans 8: 6-11…

       The Life Application Commentary notes that, “Up to this point in John’s Gospel, Jesus has presented himself as the giver of life to various people:

• to Nicodemus, he offered eternal life
• to the Samaritan woman, the water of life
• to the official’s son and the lame man, the restoring of life
• to the hungry multitude, the bread of life
• to the blind man, the light of life
• to the sheep who followed him, the abundant life

In chapter 11, Jesus is “life” in its ultimate expression — he is “the resurrection and the life” — life after death. To the dead man, Lazarus, he offered resurrection life.”

Now, Time Magazine has always had a reputation for printing striking photographs on the front of each issue… indeed, they have photographers and photo-journalists who cover the globe in search of just-the-right illustration for each week’s main headline. But I was told of one issue, when I was at a youth-meeting in St. Louis during the late ‘60’s, that did not! The editors, file clerks, photographers and research people had all searched high and low to find a picture that would illustrate that issue’s main story, but none could be found! And so, the cover of the April 8, 1966 issue of Times magazine appeared with just these three words emblazoned across it… “IS GOD DEAD?” No one could come up with any kind of picture or illustration for that concept… and I must say, I’m not surprised!

And as I read these verses about Lazarus early in the week, I found myself thinking along the same lines. You all know how I strive to come up with some sort of personal story to lead off with each week that I then use to make a point about that week’s verses. But as I considered this telling of the story of Lazarus, I came to realize that no tale of mine would do it justice… it must needs stand on its own!

Even the various commentaries that I read tried to make a number of different points about all of this… some talk of how God once again used the pain and anguish of others… The Life Application Commentary says that, “Jesus loved this family and often stayed with them. He knew their pain but did not respond immediately. His delay had a specific purpose.”

Some commentaries talk about how God answers some prayers immediately while others seem to take forever… but all are answered… in His time! They tell of how trials can strengthen our Christian character and draw us closer to God as we recognize our own frailties and weaknesses. They talk of Thomas’ courage as he says, “to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  

These verses also show us just how truly human Jesus was in expressing His love and compassion for His friends… shown most poignantly in what every school child should recognize as ‘the shortest verse in the Bible’… “Jesus wept!” And all of these are very valid and important points to draw upon! But on this 5^th Sunday of Lent, there is one over-powering message that I would like for all of us to get this morning!

In Ezekiel 37, verses 1-14,, the Lord shows Ezekiel a valley of dry bones and says… “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'”

So Ezekiel prophesied as commanded, and as he did so, “there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. (He) looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then God said to him, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'” So Ezekiel prophesied as he had been commanded, “and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet — a vast army.

Then God said to say to them: “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; … Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live… Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'”

“The Gospels tell us,” says The Life Application Commentary, “that Jesus raised others besides Lazarus from the dead, including Jairus’s daughter and a widow’s son. These people represent a cross section of ages and social backgrounds to whom Jesus gave back human life. Lazarus’s story stands out because John used it as a sign of Jesus’ ultimate life-giving power and a picture of his own coming resurrection.”

And that, to me, is the strongest message contained in today’s verses… that God truly does have the ultimate power of life and death over all of us… and that He used that power through his Son, Jesus… and that he demonstrated that fact yet again when Jesus Himself rose from the dead! The only difference is this… all of them, including Lazarus, who were raised eventually died again… except Jesus! Jesus… the very same Jesus who walked the roads of ancient Jerusalem healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching us how to love one another… the very same Jesus who was sacrificed on a cross and died for our sins… is alive and well and waiting for us in His Father’s house today!

And when the time is right… when God’s time is right… each and every one of us will be made whole and brought before Him and judged. Are you ready today?

Romans 8, verses 6 – 11 says, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”

Jesus said to Mary, in verse 25… and to all of us today… “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”