LENT 5 A March 26, 2023
In the land of the Holy Spirit, there was a valley of
dry bones, there was a people in exile, in a land they called their own. These are the beginning lines to a song I
wrote some time ago. Australia was once
named the Great South land of the Holy Spirit.
Australia, literally means south land.
It was Captain Pedro Ferdinand de Quiros who, upon
discovering what he thought was Australia, declared, all the land from that
point to the south pole to be called the southern land of the Holy Spirit.
As Christians, this extra tag, “of the Holy Spirit”
has captured our desire to see this country secure in the hands of God. We live in the area of the Whitsundays -
literally the feast of Pentecost. It may
have just been the feast that fell when this part of the coast was mapped and
named, but the naming of a place has great spiritual significance in the
culture of the Israelites, the people of God.
So, we too, look for the land to fulfill its spiritual destiny.
Is this something that you’ve ever considered? In the naming of our land, our country and
our particular area has a spiritual destiny and that destiny is good!
In Australia, and indeed in the world, there is great
unrest. Authority is criticized, and
those who have been leaders have not always led with the long term good of the
country in mind, but instead they have sometimes made decisions with vested
interests to keep their own political standing secure. To be a leader of a country is a tougher gig
than I would like, and we are told in scriptures to pray for our leaders, with
good reason. We need to pray to support
ALL our politicians – regardless of whether they are our preferred party. We should pray for their strength and health,
their courage and integrity, and that God will gift them the wisdom to see the
long term effects of their actions.
In Australia currently, we are divided over many
things. I
am not here to have a political view and hope that you understand I am not
taking one side or the other, but want to point out an underlying spiritual
condition, which is, that people on ALL sides are feeling grief, and this is a
spiritual matter about which we can pray.
This grief is not contained to one issue… there are
many, many political issues – and COVID truly magnified the divides. These
issues leave many feeling that they just don’t fit. It also leaves many feeling too scared to
voice their true opinion for fear of the response. When this happens, we should be aware that
something is going very wrong. But how
do we respond and how do we feel about it all?
Are we feeling that we are just getting too old for all this? Do we feel worn out with despair? Decaying, exhausted, despondent…. Dry?
In the land of the Holy Spirit, there was a valley of
dry bones, there was a people in exile, in a land they called their own.
But listen to what God says to Ezekiel (37:3-6) in the
valley of dry bones; He said to me,
"Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you
know."
Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones,
and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will
cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and
will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in
you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD."
What is it that we need from God to bring us back to
life?
Is it possible that we are feeling that God doesn’t
truly love or even care for us… ? Do we
need a revelation of his love for us?
I suspect Martha and Mary felt this way. They and we probably justify Jesus’ silence. We may say, “it’s my own fault… my own
failing….” Or, “there must be good
reasons for the delay in God showing up, surely.” In the case of Lazarus, he lived near the
town where they tried to stone Jesus to death.
It is understandable that Jesus might not be able to come to see his
dear friends. I suspect this was in the
minds of Martha and Mary… and even Lazarus as he lay sick. These people believed in Jesus. These people believed he was the Messiah and
they loved him. They submitted their
will and desire to the greater good of the ministry of Jesus and accepted that
he had a better reason for not attending to their needs…. Yet it must have
still caused them grief that Jesus delayed in coming to them.
It is in this Gospel story that we find the shortest
and most powerful verse in the Bible; “Jesus wept”. Why did Jesus weep? Jesus knew that this story was going to have
a happy ending. He told his disciples
two days prior that this illness was NOT going to end in death.
How would you be feeling if you had the power to raise
the dead and you knew that resurrection was going to happen? …..
In our human arrogance we would more than likely be
very centred on our own role in the story and the final outcome and the joy
that would ensue. Jesus could have been
filled with excitement thinking, “Just wait until they see what I’m going to
do,” but this is not the case. Jesus
weeps.
When you are overcome with emotion it isn’t always
easy to explain why. Within all the reasons
for Jesus’ tears, is this thing called empathy – feeling what we feel. We know that Jesus was the ultimate example
of compassion and mercy, and we know that Jesus had compassion and even his own
human love for this family. However, do
you recall the words of the Christmas song, Once In Royal David’s City, the
lines: “And he feels for all our sadness and he shares in all our gladness”
? This is empathy; to feel the emotions
of another as if it was our own. Jesus
feels our sorrow and it breaks his heart.
He acutely feels our grief. In
our growing faith and understanding of God, we should realize that we need to
grow in being like Christ and that means we need to grow in empathy also.
As we ask God to help us express his heart for
humanity, we surprisingly find that we can feel the grief of our enemy and have
compassion. Can you imagine that? And when it comes to taking sides of an
argument, we become aware of the underlying concerns and grief of others.
In reality, we are all like the iceberg. In pictures of an iceberg we see that there
is a peak above the water, but the majority of the iceberg is actually below
the surface, hidden from view. Most of
our disagreements and even political ideologies are simply the visible
peak. Why we feel these things, and have
these understandings, is rooted deeper.
Some of these things are rooted in deep grief.
A great example of this, is a meme that appeared on my
facebook page. The explanation read,
“Tonight I frustrated someone while driving.
They followed me to the gas station and had a few choice words for
me. I was really unsure what I did
wrong. I began to ask if he was ok and
what was wrong and if there was anything I can do to make him less angry. There was nothing I did driving that could
make him this angry… something else had to be going on. He stormed off and I wished him a good
day. 45 minutes later I came out to my
truck where I found this note that read, “I am very sorry. My mother just passed away and my emotions
are not right. Please forgive me.”
I suspect much of the anger we are noticing is
actually grief. We need to pray that God
gives us an understanding of his love for us and for others. We need healing…. and then we need compassion
and empathy to be able to reach out in love to all. We can’t continue in this climate of
anger. This anger, this grief is causing
a sickness… We are exhausted in striving
to be alive, when, under the surface, we are actually worn out. Some might even say, we feel that all that is
left of us is dry bones.
Lazarus was in the grave for four days. This is significant because it was believed
that a deceased person’s spirit remains around the body for up to three days
after death before departing. Lazarus
was in the grave four days. This means
that it was one day beyond hope of any resurrection.
Have you ever come across someone who, in the grief
that has been theirs in this life, seem to be one day (or many days) beyond hoping
in God’s salvation? Perhaps it is you
who is feeling one day beyond hope, even now?
To proclaim hope…. To feel hope…. To have empathy and
compassion for others… we need God. This
is not something that we can just do.
We believe in life after death… but what about this
life? On the mount of Olives there is a
cemetery. It is placed there because of
the trajectory of the prophesied Messiah and the prophesy of Ezekiel and the
dry bones. It is believed that because
of this placement, these souls will be the first to rise from the dead. You see, God’s word has many fulfillments and
God’s people buried there, believed in the resurrection of the dead… on the
last day.
Martha and Mary believed this and they informed Jesus
of their belief that their brother would rise at that time. Jesus is the resurrection and the
life. ALL who come to him though they
die, they will live. What are
your feelings about this statement?
Though we die, if we come to Jesus, we will live. Though
we feel that we are past the years of enthusiasm… past being filled with joy
and energy for living, Jesus comes and rolls away the stone over our heart and
calls, “Lazarus, come out.” Lazarus
means “God is my help”. We can’t inject
life into ourselves… we need God to help us… to do for us, what he did for
Lazarus, and bring us to life. This is
the will of God. This is something that
God desires for all of us.
If we have the Spirit of God, we have God’s life in
us. Romans 8:11 tells us this; “If
the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised
Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his
Spirit that dwells in you.”
We may be liturgically two weeks away from the
crucifixion and resurrection, but in reality we are nearly 2000 years after the
event. There have been many revivals
over the years, and many different moves of God, but I get the sense that many
Christians in the world are feeling a little like they’ve been four days in the
grave. Many are feeling like it is
getting too hard to make sense of our modern world in the light of the
Gospel. We ARE a caring people and we
don’t want to offend anyone, but how can we proclaim Christ and the Good News
in our modern world, in a way that is true and relevant?
Do we realize that this is also how the disciples felt
in those days following Christ’s resurrection?
Peter was acutely aware of his failing, and Thomas, who we notice in
this story, was willing to go and die with Christ, had doubted the resurrection. They were fearful of the authorities, but
they did what they could and they got together and prayed. God helped!
God sent His Holy Spirit. God
showed up and filled them with life, with enthusiasm and courage.
The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek word
“entheos” which means the God within.
Surely a sign that we are filled with God’s Spirit ought to be that we
are an enthusiastic people. An
enthusiastic person is one who is invested… it is the opposite of apathy. An enthusiastic person is a caring
person.
It seems to me that we need a fresh breath of the
Spirit being outpoured in our lives.
God’s people need to stop siting in their rockers, wishing for Jesus to
come back quickly, and instead hear the word of God. And I declare these words as prophesy over
us;
Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause
breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will
cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you,
and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD."
This is our prayer… That God breathe on us… that the
Spirit come from the four corners of the earth and bring us the life that God
intends for us. Bring us to life. Come, Lord Jesus. Come Holy Spirit.
