March 28-29 Sermon
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, through Your Word and Spirit, you have given us resurrection and life through faith in Your Son. Strengthen us by that same Word. Breath that same life-giving and life-sustaining Holy Spirit into our weary bones, that we may stand firm in our faith against all trials that assail us; through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.
The texts for today are texts I am all too familiar with. Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones… Jesus and the raising of Lazarus. Any minister who has had the blessing of serving the people of God for more than a few years has (I’m sure) had opportunity to preach on one of these passages more times than almost any other. And why is that? These texts together with the 23rd Psalm and Job’s bold proclamation (“I know that my Redeemer lives”) are among the list of suggested Scripture passages for funerals.
Death. They say that death and taxes are the only two sure things in this world. Well, ironically, this whole pandemic has elevated our focus on the one, while giving us a bit of a delay on the other.
As of the date of this recording (March 26, 2020), there are over half a million verified cases of the Corona Virus worldwide with over 23,000 reported deaths. It is all over the news…the internet…and continues to invade all of our lives in all sorts of ways (even those of us who haven’t and (God willing) never do contract it). Regardless of whether you think all of these economic and government actions and reaction are warranted, there is hardly an area of our lives (our world) that has been left untouched. This is certainly the case for those who have actually struggled with the virus…those who have lost their lives to it…those who have lost loved ones.
In times like these, there is all kinds of uncertainty. From smaller questions (like will I be able to find what I’m looking for at the store today), to the larger ones (like how am I going to feed my family…keep a roof over our heads). And then there is the biggest question of all: When I die and face my maker, how will I fare? Will God judge me worthy of heaven? Will He welcome me into eternal glory, or will I be cast out from His presence?
Well, first let’s look at the smaller issues, shall we. All of those things that we need to support our body and life…all of those questions (big and small) fall under the category of daily bread. In the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer (the line, “Give us this day our daily bread.”) Jesus encourages us to pray to our gracious heavenly Father for all our necessities in life.
This should be a comfort to us. Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God who took on our human flesh in order to save us from our sin, death and hell – this Jesus – gave us these words in perfect harmony with the will of our Heavenly Father. We can trust that it is the will of God to bless us with all that we need. We can trust in Him…call out to Him in prayer…look expectantly for the ways that God will provide for us day by day. We do not need to be anxious about these things, rather we can pray for them with thanksgiving in our hearts, trusting that He will provide.
However, we do not always look with eyes of faith. Often times (especially during uncertain, difficult, and troubling times like these) we have eyes of anxiety and doubt. We fear the unknown circumstances rather than, trusting in the God of creation, who has made Himself and His gracious will known to us everywhere in the Holy Scriptures, but especially in the person of Christ.
In Luther’s Small Catechism under the section on the 4th petition of the Lord’s prayer, in response to the question, “What does this mean?” Luther offers us the following explanation. He says:
God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving
That sounds like Scripture-driven, Holy Spirit enlightening to me. In these troubling times and throughout all of your life, I pray that God would bless you with faith to trust in Him for all of the big and little things of life.
But what about that biggest of questions; our standing before God? In our Old Testament reading from Ezekiel God brings Ezekiel out to a valley filled with dry bones; they were the fallen of his kinsmen in a time of great distress in the history of God’s people. They had turned away from God and had been cast out of the Promised land into exile (first the northern Kingdom into Assyria and then the Southern Kingdom into Babylon). Young and old alike perished. Only a small remnant of the people survived. Ezekiel was one of them, prophesying from Babylon, about hope and a future. But even He was deflated and doubtful.
When God asked Ezekiel if the dry bones could live again, what was Ezekiel’s response? “O Lord God, You know.” It is as if he said, “I don’t know what good could possibly come from this God. Only you know.” But what does God do next? God called Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones (to speak God’s Word to the bones). He called this prophet to speak His word in faith and to trust and expect God to act, even in the midst of this hopeless situation.
And what did God do next? God was faithful to His word. He clothed the bones with flesh and blood. And then He breathed His life-giving Spirit into those bones. Then God used this to bring the faith of Ezekiel to full strength. Ezekiel prophesied to the hope and future of the people of Israel. The return to the Promised Land. God had not abandoned them. No matter how dire things seemed God had not turned His back on His people. No, God used this hopeless looking situation to bring faith and life to His people. He used even the apparent demise of His beloved people to bring Glory to His name.
This was the word Jesus spoke to His disciples in our Gospel text for today. When Jesus and His disciples first heard about the illness of Lazarus Jesus told them that “this illness does not lead to death.” But rather “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
But two days later when Jesus got ready to go to the town of Bethany just outside of Jerusalem, His disciples were afraid. They knew it would be dangerous for them there. Going near to Jerusalem would put their very lives at risk. The religious authorities were already seeking ways to get Jesus out of the picture. Jesus had already been teaching His disciples from the Scriptures that He would be rejected, captured, sentenced and killed (but on the third day rise from death). If they took Him at His word (even a little bit) it’s no wonder they didn’t want to go anywhere near Jerusalem. They even reminded Jesus that they had just tried to stone him to death a little while go.
But Jesus knew what they didn’t; the situation for Lazarus was beyond the need for a little rest and daily bread. Lazarus was dead. Like those dry bones in the valley, Like the people of Israel in exile. Lazarus seemed totally beyond help. But remember Jesus’ words, “It is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
When Jesus arrived Lazarus had been dead four days. And we know what happens: The cries of Mary and Martha; The tears of Christ, Himself; Martha’s profession of faith in Jesus, and of the promised victory we have through faith in Christ on the Last Day; The crowd that followed them to the tomb; The stone being rolled away; And the dead man raised to life, unbound from His grave clothes, restored to full health.
And was the Son of God glorified? Yes…and no. Christ was indeed glorified through this mighty act. It was not done for His own faith (as in Ezekiel’s case with the dry bones). No, Jesus raised Lazarus for the sake of those who were there on that day. He did this act so that those looking on in doubt and fear might believe that our heavenly Father did in fact send Jesus. And many did believe on account of this sign. The Son was glorified in this miracle to some degree.
But the greater glory that this would lead to was not faith in God’s goodness through the restored life of Lazarus. No, the greater Glorification of the Son – The ultimate showing of God’s gracious will toward us – was in that thing which the text gives as a result of this miraculous sign; the Pharisees gathered with the council and at the devious and prophetic words of Caiaphas the High Priest, “…from that day on they made plans to put [Jesus] to death.”
The Glory of God…His gracious will and mercy for us…The steadfast love and faithfulness of Jesus which is the very same glory of the Father: That is shown to us in the death of Christ. In His death on the Cross, Jesus became the means of our pardon.
When we are faced with the harsh reality of death and the thought of meeting our maker, it can be overwhelming and rightfully so; in our own weakness and sin, we are not worthy of heaven. There is nothing in our lives that is not completely and utterly effected and infected by the virus of sin. We are utterly corrupted by it and God in His holiness would not simply keep us at a social distance of 6 feet. No, seeing our sin, God would cast us far off from Himself: off into the outer darkness and torment of hell. But that is not His desire. Like a mother or father wanting to care for and nurse an infected and deathly sick child God, Himself in the person of Christ became our great physician (He became the cure for our sin-sickness). And He in turn died to bring us life.
In our Epistle reading we are told,
1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.
Children of God, loved by Your heavenly Father. You can trust in God. You can trust in Him for the little things in life and for the big things as well. You can trust in Him to work in the midst of good times just as surely as you can trust in Him to provide for you, and work in the midst of the bad. Trust in the Lord. Call upon Him in the day of trouble, and He will give you strength. Even in the depths of the pit of despair, He is there with you. He is willing and able to raise you up.
Do you doubt? Look to Christ. Look not to earthly signs of God’s pleasure or favor. Look not to Lazarus, who died even after he was raised to life, and had to endure death in this world again. No Look to Jesus who died and rose. Look to Jesus who even now lives and reigns. Look to Jesus who on the last day will raise up again Lazarus and all the dead and will call to Himself not those who deserve to enter His eternal Kingdom, but all those who have trusted and believed in His name. God Loves You. Jesus life, death, and resurrection is proof positive. He has done what you could not – what no one could – to secure salvation for us. Believe and trust in the Lord.
Our world is suffering right now. And as those in the world, the church is suffering too. There are those who fear that this pandemic will lead to economic ruin. There are those in our churches who fear that when all is said and done many churches will not be able to reopen their doors, do to the financial strain. Truth be told that may be the case. But let me echo Jesus’ words that He spoke concerning Lazarus. “this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
I believe that even though some church bells may be silence through this pandemic, it will ultimately lead to the glorification of Jesus. I have already seen this to some degree. A fellow pastor Will Weedon posted the following on Facebook.
Satan [says]: Let me strike them with plague and fear and death. They deserve it.
God [replies]: Go for it (meanwhile, I’ve arranged for my Word to take over their social medias, given them times of solace to reconnect with their family and reconnect their family to my Word, filling them with the bread of life that they might live forever and ever; teaching them to ACHE for the Eucharist; and showing them the vanity of all earthly things and the one thing needful which only I can provide). Good idea.
People loved by God, this virus and the death that it can bring is not the enemy. Sin and the death and hell that it brings is. Satan comes at us with the troubles of this world but God can use even those things and those times to bring the Word of His forgiveness, resurrection and life-of-the-world-to-come into fuller focus. May we trust in the Lord at all times…for He is faithful. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Let us pray: