Lent Five (Revised Common Lectionary) | 03.22.26 | John 11.1-45 | Carl A. Voges |

The Passage

[Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press]

Due to the passage’s length, it is not printed out fully as is the custom. The homily has been broken into identifiable sections to better follow the emergence of the Lord’s Word in John’s account of Lazarus’ resurrection.

“Let all those whom the Lord has redeemed proclaim that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe…Whoever is wise will ponder these things, and consider well the mercies of the Lord.” [Psalm 107.2, 43]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord

The six weeks of Lent pull the Lord’s people more deeply into the realities of his Life, but it is work, often hard work! Why is that? It’s because the Lord’s Life comes from eternity and crosses the life we were given at birth. Such crossing is not always easily done; there is not an automatic meshing of the two lives. The world’s life focuses on the individual person; the Lord’s Life focuses on the Father, Son and Spirit. The world’s life is dominated and held together by the thousands of gods it creates and maintains. A reality is that most people are not aware of these lives crossing (clashing!) with one another, but thankfully (and mercifully), the Lord’s Life is stronger and from the Scriptures and Sacraments pierces the life into which the world birthed us.

The weeks of Lent remind us of the strength of the Lord’s Life; that’s why he pulls us more deeply into its realities. This has been surfacing in four lengthy and powerful readings from John’s Gospel during Lent. These readings have long history, they were studied by adults in the early Church who were preparing for their Baptisms in the Easter Vigil, the holy night before Easter Day. Then and now the readings serve to deepen, freshen and strengthen our lives in the Father, Son and Spirit!

Today’s passage continues the impressive impact of the Gospel readings from the past Sundays – three weeks ago it was Jesus conversing with Nicodemus about the new birth offered in Baptism, two weeks ago there was Jesus conversing with a Samaritan woman about one’s thirst for living water, last week there was Jesus giving sight to a man blind since his birth. Today there is the Life being brought by our Lord which pushes into and conquers the bottom line of this world’s life – death!

The world, as attractive and successful as it can be, has three realities hanging over its life. First, there is sin, the desire to be like the LORD God. Of all the sins which exist, this is the original and continually persistent one. Its ways are slick. Its initial pitches always looks good, its consequences are always sorry. Sin triggers all the chaos which runs through the world day after day!

Second, there is the devil, the Evil One. He generates all the sin which litters the world’s landscape. He catches our attention with his good-looking pitches (like sin), but his results are always sorry (just like sin). His work is continual and suggests he will always have the last word. His grip on the lives of the world’s people is still strong.

Third, there is death. This is the end result of people focusing exclusively on themselves. It’s bewildering how the world views death. It will ignore or postpone it. It will unleash it on infants or, increasingly, on the aged whose health is deteriorating. And, when death finally occurs, it recalls how the person was or what the individual accomplished.

Today the Lord’s baptized people are seeing how the Son’s Life pushes into the world’s death and overwhelms it. We will work through the passage’s four sections, using the biblical material from Raymond E. Brown’s commentary on John’s Gospel, pages 420-437. [The Anchor Bible, The Gospel According to John, I-XII, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York, 1966]

Section 1: Lazarus’ Death (verses 1-16)

All four Gospels relate the close connection between Jesus, Lazarus, Martha and Mary.

Since their home in Bethany was just a couple of miles from Jerusalem, biblical teachers think Jesus may have stayed with them quite often. The Greek word used for “love” in verse 3 is “philia” (the word means “deep friendship”). The Greek word used for “love” in verse 5 is “agape” (it describes the unique love of the Holy Trinity; it is poured out on people not deserving of it and is showered on people desperately needing it).

In verse 9 “light of this world” usually means sun, but in John’s use here it is referring to Jesus. In verse 11 the Greek word, “to sleep,” substitutes for death. Verse 12 notes that the disciples fail to catch the reference; they believe the restful sleep means the crisis of illness has passed. Verse 13 indicates the disciples’ understanding, but John is pressing it to show that Jesus is THE Source of eternal salvation.

Section 2: Jesus Is Resurrection (verses 17-27)

Verse 17 shows that Jesus’ arrival is four days later (the length of time makes it clear that Lazarus is truly dead; rabbis believed there was no hope of coming back to life after three days). Verses 21-27 are often used as the Holy Gospel in the Church’s burial liturgies. The Greek word for “life” in verses 25-26 is “eternal life” (the believer, if one dies physically, still lives eternally; thus, the believer, while alive eternally, dies only to the life of the world).

Section 3: Jesus Weeps At Lazarus’ Death (verses 28-37)

Verse 33 describes Jesus’ “shuddering” (he is angry at the illness and the handicaps which reveal Satan’s presence of evil). The same verse also has Jesus moved with the deepest emotions (the word implies a “deep disturbance” within him). In verse 34 the mourners invite Jesus to come and see the abode of darkness and death. In other places of John’s Gospel, Jesus invites people to come and see the Source of Light and Life.

Section 4: Jesus Raises Lazarus (verses 38-45)

The Greek word for “shout” in verse 43 is used four times later by John as the crowd calls for Jesus’ crucifixion (recall that their shouts bring death to Jesus!). Here Jesus’ shout is bringing Lazarus to Life! Recall, too, that Jesus’ burial garments on the morning of Easter Day remained in the tomb (since he never dies again, he has no more use for them!). In verse 44 Lazarus emerges with the burial garments still on (he will die again and will need them!). Many of the Jews with Mary see what Jesus has done and believe in him.

My friends, simply put, this passage is a very clear sign that Jesus is THE only and true Life of the world. It is striking that this is reflected in Lazarus’ name (it means “God helps”!). Just as Jesus gives Life to his deeply-loved Lazarus, so he gives Life to his deeply-loved followers. Lazarus’ illness and death is for the Lord’s glory because the Lord’s glory is evident only when the Son is crucified and resurrected. The reason why Lazarus’ sickness does not stay in death is because Jesus gives him Life; the resumption of his physical life is a sign of Jesus’ eternal Life.

This pattern in Lazarus’ life is also true for our lives. As the emotional, spiritual, mental and physical afflictions of these weeks press in and squeeze our lives, we are being turned so the Lord’s Life can swarm our own. The swarming occurs every time we brush up against the Scriptures and Sacraments of the Church. We recognize that, though our lives are impacted and surrounded by death, they are not crushed by it! This sign, then, glorifies Jesus, not in the sense of people admiring this sign and praising him for it, but in the sense of being plunged into his death from where his glory fully radiates.

We leave this passage with verse 34 from the third section. In this verse the mourners invite Jesus to come and see the abode of darkness and death as he makes his way to the place where Lazarus is buried. This abode is very much with us today; it accurately describes the culture surrounding us today. The world’s life swarms us with its sin, its devil and its death!

Such abode can plunge all of us, whether we are baptized or not, into deep fear and panic.

It can throw us into even more focus on ourselves or it can alert us to see the Lord’s invitation. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are inviting the world’s people to come and see – the Son is THE Source of Light and Life!

This invitation runs out from the Church’s prayer books, including a thirty year old Lutheran one, For All The Saints (there are four volumes). Its use gives us three biblical passages for each day of the week. These readings emerge within the framework of Morning and/or Evening Prayer. They can be read individually or with family and friends. Also, in the same books, all one hundred fifty psalms are printed for use on each day of the month. The Psalms, along with the other biblical writings, are excellent because they connect with the human condition and they show how the Lord’s Life sustains, guides and holds the lives of his people.

We have been baptized into that Life and we are powered to reflect it to one another. This makes it possible for the world’s people to see what Jesus has done and believe in him! Isn’t the invitation of the Father, Son and Spirit to their eternal Life much more significant than world’s invitation to death? Of course it is!

May the LORD God, then, keep pulling his people into the Holy Writings and the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Eucharist. From these holy places they will always see the Son of God entering the abode of darkness and death, overwhelming it with his crucified, resurrected and ascended Life!

Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord

Pr. Carl A. Voges, STS, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com