My Reflection on these readings: Isaiah
25:6-9, Psalm 24, Revelation 21:1-6,
John 11:32-44
These are the readings for All Saints day and
the readings for my ordination to the deaconate.
“TAKE AWAY THE STONE”. This was the command of Jesus. It was a bigger ask than you may immediately
imagine.
Mary and Martha’s brother had died. When he was sick they had sent for Jesus, but
by the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead four days.
Let’s put
it in context. Imagine someone you love
has died. You’ve had the service, said
your good-bye’s and had the graveside ceremony, throwing dirt on top of the
coffin. You’ve walked away and cried
with your friends at the wake. In Jesus’
time the ceremony took place on the same day of the death. So, although that part was done, four days after
the pain was still very fresh…. But the corpse was not.
When Jesus requires them to take away the stone
he is referring to the stone that sealed the entrance to where the corpse had
be laid. If the very pain of the death
was not bad enough, now there is this request which seems to strike at the
heart of their pain bringing fresh fear of the smell of rotting flesh and the
disrespect of dishonouring the memory of Lazarus – not to mention the sin of
uncleanliness that was part of the Jewish law which stated that to touch a dead
body would make you unclean, and ceremonially unclean for 7 days.
Psalm 24:3-4 tells us, “Who shall ascend the
hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who
do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.”
This is the Psalm that gives us hope that we
will be acceptable to God. But then we
realize that we have lifted up our souls to all kinds of false. There are people we’ve placed as god in our
lives and there are ambitions and pleasures.
Not that any good and joyful thing would be denied us by God, but that
we’ve neglected God in our pursuit of these things. All in all, most of us become aware that our
lives fall very short of being as pure as we’d like.
In many ways we feel like we are Lazarus in the
tomb. We may have gone in there washed
clean, but if the stone was rolled away and the true state of our heart
revealed, most of us would feel a little more than apprehensive about the
rotten state in which it would be found.
When Jesus sees how upset Mary is and those with
her he is also troubled and he weeps.
This brings about two different responses in the onlookers, one
favourable and one not so.
When Jesus tells them to take away the stone, he
also reminds the sisters that he had told them that if they believe they would
see the glory of God. Now I’m thinking
that this may be interpreted that “If you believe God can raise the dead, he
will- But if you don’t, he wont”…. Of course, this kind of thinking is wrong,
and we know this by following along with the rest of the story where Jesus
prays and says that he makes his request to the father so that those witnessing
will believe. The ladies had a
relationship with Jesus. They believed
in him and his love for them. Beyond
this was unknown and perhaps a little sketchy.
This is much like all of us. We believe in God, but the out-workings of
that belief and the limits are sometimes areas that need work – and sometimes
we aren’t meant to know – but instead we trust that God knows things that we
don’t.
There is some great news in this reading because
this is one of the miracles that Jesus performed for which no one explicitly asked. The ladies called for Jesus because they knew
he could heal the sick, but what would happen next took all by surprise… and I
suspect none of their lives would be the same again – especially Lazarus.
When you think about it, there are a number of
miracles that Jesus performed which he initiated out of love and empathy. It was empathy that caused him to weep with
the mourners. He knew that this day would become a glorious one of celebration,
yet he still took the time to weep with those who were weeping. He stood as one with them and not as one with
superior knowledge and a covert agenda…. He did genuinely care.
And what of our rotten hearts?
Our hearts will work best if we take away the
stone.
All too often we try to give people the
appearance of our life and we want to be those people who have all the
answers…. After all this is the Christian Church and we are trying to tell
people that God has all the answers for everything……
As we witnessed in this story, even when Jesus
had all the answers, he still wept in solidarity with the people.
There is a time for everything, and Jesus did go
on after firstly weeping, to declare the Good News and then to prove it. In order for the Good News to be realized there
was that huge step of obedience. Taking
the stone away and preparing to be met with whatever horror is on the other
side, is not something any of us do willingly, but only something we can do
because of our relationship with Jesus.
Having the stone rolled away and being called
out is a feeling of real vulnerability.
Will people recoil from the truth about who I am?
For me, stepping into the role of Deacon feels a
bit like Lazarus being called out by Jesus.
I feel vulnerable and I’m not sure about what is next or whether that
which people will see, will send them recoiling in rejection. I don’t see anything good enough for Jesus to
be interested in. Yet he calls.
For all of us, with our tightly wrapped inner
fears about our true selves being an unsightly mess, Jesus calls us to come out.
Then he tells those around us to “unbind us and let us go”.
Isaiah 25:7 tells us, “And he will destroy on
this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is
spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever.”
In the story of Lazarus we see how Jesus proved
that God has power over death and death is not the end. But it was through the cross that he gave us
the grace of God’s acceptance and welcome into eternal life. That life starts now.
Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and he
imparts this life of His to us. It is
different to the life we’ve had. With
the freedom and the realization of our eternal life beginning now, it brings us
the challenge to take the stone away…. But also there is a command to unbind others
and let them go.
