The Death of Death

In 2002, Garfield Todd died. Todd was born in New Zealand in 1908. In 1932, he married Jean Grace Wilson, and two years later they left for Zimbabwe – then named Southern Rhodesia – as missionaries with the New Zealand Churches of Christ. They ministered at Dadaya Mission, about 180 km from Bulawayo, my hometown.

As a missionary, Todd took up residence in the country and became a farmer at Dadaya. In 1946, he was elected to the White government’s parliament, and in 1953, he became the Prime Minister of the country. As a missionary, he was well aware of the impossibility of long-term White rule in Zimbabwe, and he began a political process to bring the Black majority more fully into the White-dominated society. The White electorate rebelled against his efforts and voted him out of power in 1957.

By the time the Black majority took up an armed revolt against White rule, Todd had come to be known as one of their primary supporters among the White minority. Ian Smith led the last White government in Zimbabwe. In the 1960s, the government placed Todd under house arrest on his farm for his support of the Liberation War, and then they put him in prison in the 1970s.

When independent Zimbabwe came into being in 1980, the new government honoured Todd and appointed him as a member of the country’s Senate. Lois and I went to Zimbabwe in 1988, where I taught at the Theological College of Zimbabwe until 1992. Around 1990, Todd – by then retired – came and spoke in our chapel service. He was a compelling speaker, and I could see how he had been a charismatic and controversial leader. His Christian faith was clearly at the centre of his life, and I remember two basic statements from his message to us.

The first: He said to us, “When I came to Zimbabwe as a missionary in 1934, I knew I was in the Lord’s will. As I sat in prison in the 1970s, I wasn’t so sure!” The second: He talked to us about the raising of Lazarus, our text for today. He observed, “Jesus told them to roll away the stone. When they did, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. That is all Jesus ever asks us to do. He gives us a job within our powers, and we do it; and we leave the miracles to him.”

These are good words for us as we look at our texts. We do what God calls us to do, whether we see the outcome of our efforts or not, and we leave it to Jesus to raise the dead. With this thought in mind, we look together at two texts this morning, Psalm 130 and John 11.

Psalm 130

We began our Scripture reading this morning with Psalm 130. Short and powerful, a song of hope in a time of despair. The Psalmist acknowledges the trouble he faces: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!” The psalmist admits that none of us deserve God’s help: “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?” We participate in the troubles of this world, not just by experiencing them, but also by helping to cause them! I am reminded of the thief on the cross, admitting that he and his fellow thief deserved their fate, while Jesus did not. Alone of all people throughout history, Jesus can stand unafraid in the judgment.

The Psalmist then pivots to God’s mercy and forgiveness. In God’s love, the Psalmist finds hope:

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.

The Psalmist calls on God’s people to trust in God:

O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with the Lord is great power to redeem. It is God who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

This brief Psalm, then, sets the stage for the story of Lazarus, so we turn to John 11.

John 11

In chapter 10, Jesus is in Perea, just beyond the Jordan River. In chapter 11, word comes to him that his friend, Lazarus, is ill. The text identifies Lazarus as Mary and Martha’s brother. They live in Bethany, about two days walk from where Jesus is with his disciples. We have heard the story before – Lazarus falls ill, Mary and Martha send for Jesus, Jesus delays his response so as to wait until after Lazarus dies.

When Jesus does arrive in Bethany, first Martha and then Mary tell him that Lazarus has died – and they appear to reproach him: “If you had been here, you could have healed him! He didn’t have to die.” Martha especially responds with a remarkable confession of faith: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” We are used to thinking of Martha as the one in Luke 10 who was so busy trying to serve Jesus that she had no time to “sit at his feet”. In that text, Jesus praises Mary for her choice. Here Martha shows her faith clearly, naming Jesus as the Messiah.

Both sisters show faith and grief in equal measure. When Jesus gets ready to go to the grave, he starts to weep. Not just “cry”, but weep. Verse 33 gives his state of mind: “he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” In the middle of his grief, Jesus also knows what he will do. He asks them to remove the stone that covered up the grave. After some resistance, they do so. Jesus assures Martha and Mary that God will receive glory from what happens, and prays aloud for the benefit of those watching, thanking his father (God) for hearing him.

Then Jesus calls, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man walks out, and Jesus tells those watching to free him from the clothes wrapped around him when they buried him. The climax of their dreadful loss was an awe-inspiring restoration of life. Lazarus lives!

Comment

There is so much in this passage to reflect on that I am confident you listening to this sermon hear many things in it that I will not say. That is good. I content myself with three basic observations, which I think are worth hearing in our own time of distress, as the corona virus pandemic dominates our thinking. The virus helps us to hear the passage with particular resonance, but we know that God’s presence in times of death and distress reaches far beyond any one situation. A friend of mine describes the present crisis as the greatest of our generation, comparable to the reality of two world wars in the first half of the last century. She may be correct, but as Lee reminded us several Sundays ago, the reality of the coronavirus outbreak does not change our reality. Instead, it shows us what is always true – that our lives are fragile and in God’s hands, and that we live each day as if it were truly “this world’s last night.”

1. With these background thoughts in mind, I notice first the way that Jesus responds to the news of his friend’s illness. He stays where he is, although the people who sent him the message want him to come immediately. Verses 5 to 7 read, “Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’” 

The disciples respond with surprise, suggesting that Judea is not a safe place for Jesus, and Jesus reminds them that Lazarus needs his help. One may wonder, if he knew that Lazarus needs help, why he did not go to Bethany right away. Jesus told them and tells us, “For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Jesus waited in order to strengthen the disciples’ faith as they observe what follows. This is a truth we can hold on to: God often responds on a different timetable than we have. We want help now, and God provides help now, or later – or sometimes, not at all. We struggle to understand, and this account reminds us that our whole lives remain in God’s hands.

I hesitate to draw the conclusion from this account, as some do, that God has a reason for everything that happens to us. Often, what happens to us is the natural result of natural causes. The coronavirus outbreak is a case in point. We wonder why this is happening and we ask who is at fault. My own view is that the virus is the natural result of natural causes, just as outbreaks of plague in the history of Europe resulted from the sanitation conditions of their cities.

I don’t think God sends disease in general or this pandemic in  particular as a judgment, but I do suggest that God allows us to experience the results of our choices. In this context, the story of Lazarus reminds us that, even in the worst situations humans can bring about, God is still present and God is still ready to save. In the case of Lazarus, Jesus raised him from the dead, and that restoration of life was a sign of God’s readiness to save.

2. Second, when Jesus went to Bethany, he experienced the deep grief that people felt. He joined in fully and wept with them before he did anything about the situation. The verse, “Jesus wept” (in the KJV), is one of the most profound in Scripture. God is not somehow insulated from our hurt and distress, but in the person of God the Son, God enters into the depths of our own fear and despair and sits there with us. As Hebrews 2 puts it, we have a high priest who has felt all that we feel.

           

Sometimes we want an immediate response, when Jesus just wants to grieve with us and to be with us in our distress. In this time of Covid-19, we want God to fix what humans have done and end our distress; instead Jesus comes and sits with us and feels our fear and weeps his tears with our tears. We can comfort each other because we know God is here.

3. Third, we also know that God heals. Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, and Jesus is our “healer of every ill”. A parenthetical word about Lazarus: This was not a resurrection in the sense of Jesus’ victory over death. Lazarus came back to life only to die again; Jesus conquered death forever. Nevertheless, this miracle – the raising of Lazarus – points to the greater miracle that we celebrate at Easter, when Jesus enters death. This miracle points us to the death of death.

The fact that Lazarus’ renewal of life was not his final victory reminds us that God heals us through our distress, not necessarily by removing us from our distress. The life of Garfield Todd, whose story I told at the beginning, is instructive. He never did live to see the kind of majority rule in Zimbabwe for which he gave his life. He “rolled away the stone”, and Mugabe – whom he had befriended – turned bad. Todd spoke against Mugabe’s actions as he had spoken against Ian Smith, and he died disenfranchised at 94 years of age. Even at his death, with all going wrong around him, he maintained his hope and faith in Jesus, who conquers death.

Although God may not have caused the pandemic now sweeping our globe, God uses it to remind us of who we are and of who God is. Dennis Hiebert, my colleague from Providence, circulated an “imagined letter from Covid-19 to humans”, written this month by KristinFlyntz. In it, Kristin imagines the earth speaking to us. I suggest that actually God is speaking to us. Here are some excerpts from her thoughts, rewritten as a message from God.

An Imagined Letter from God to Humans

Stop. Just stop. It is no longer a request. It is a mandate. I will help you. … I will stop the planes, the trains, the schools, the malls, the meetings, the frenetic, furied rush of illusions and “obligations” that keep you from hearing your single and shared beating heart …. Your obligation is to me and to each other, as it has always been, even if, even though, you have forgotten. I interrupt this broadcast … to bring you this long-breaking news: You are not well. None of you; you are all suffering. Last year, the firestorms that scorched the lungs of the earth did not give you pause. Nor the typhoons in Africa, China, Japan. Nor the fevered climates in Japan and India. You have not been listening.

It is hard to listen when you are so busy all the time …. But the foundation is giving way, buckling under the weight of your needs and desires. I will help you. … I am your friend, your ally. … I am asking you: To stop, to be still, to listen …. Many are afraid now. Do not demonize your fear, and also, do not let it rule you. Instead, let it speak to you—in your stillness, listen for its wisdom. …

Stop. Notice if you are resisting. Notice what you are resisting. Ask why.

Stop. Just stop. Be still. Listen. Ask me what I teach you about illness and healing, about what might be required so that all may be well. I will help you, if you listen.

- Kristin Flyntz, 12 March 2020. Adapted by Daryl Climenhaga 28 March 2020

Click here for Flyntz's original letter

Last Sunday, Lee reminded us that there is blessing in this time of distress. Today, I remind you that there is also life in this time. We hear reports of disease and distress, and we hear also of heroism and hope: There is life in this. We sit alone in our rooms and someone calls; as we talk, we realise that there is life in this time. We pray for loved ones far away, and we know that there is life in our relationships. We grieve for loved ones who have died, but even in death, there is the hope of resurrection; there is life even in death.

Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. During this Lenten season, we wait for God to restore us and all of God’s creation to health and wholeness. Jesus is the death of death, and in the darkness of these days, we wait for his light to shine in us forever.

Steinbach Mennonite Church

29 March 2020

Extinguishing the Light (at the close of the sermon)
Each Sunday throughout Lent and into Easter, we will extinguish one candle with the following words to remind us about the meaning of this season.

We have come together this morning, gathered as God’s people, proclaiming God’s Word and now the time of response and stillness is upon us. This season of Lent is about journeys of the heart and remembering that God is in each and every one of us, quietly transforming us and the world. So, I invite you to close your eyes. Be still. Listen. For this is a holy time. (PAUSE) The Lenten candles have been lit but over these weeks the light will slowly fade into darkness. For we are retelling the story of Jesus’ betrayal and suffering and death. As we extinguish one light we acknowledge the darkness, pain and injustice in the world, and we proclaim that even through the darkness that God is revealed: as death becomes new life, as endings are transformed into beginnings, and as dead-ends become a source for new possibilities.

Psalm 130

Waiting for Divine Redemption

A Song of Ascents.

¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. ² Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; ⁶ my soul waits for the Lord
    more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. ⁸ It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

John 11: 1-45:

The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶ after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰ But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹ After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³ Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

Jesus Weeps

²⁸ When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴ He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus began to weep. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus to Life

³⁸ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.