March 22, 2026
- Mar 24
- 6 min read
John 11:1-45
Once again, this is a very long reading and is included at the end of the sermon.
Sermon
There are times when you know it’s hopeless.
It’s beyond hopeless.
Hope is deader than dead.
Thomas facing one of those times
· · Jesus and gang are ‘across the Jordan’ because the Judean leaders tried to stone him – they barely escaped.
· · The disciples are in no hurry to go back to Judea – certain death awaits Jesus there – and probably for them too
o Relieved when Jesus makes no move to go – it’s too bad, but it would be suicidal for them to go
· So, when Jesus says it’s time to go see Lazarus, they try to talk him out of it – especially when they think Lazarus is sleeping
· Worse when they realize Lazarus is death – what’s the point. Send Mary & Martha a card and some nice flowers expressing your sympathy. They will understand –
o Maybe not since they sent a message to begin with. They def expected Jesus to be there
· Jesus is adamant
o The disciples wonder if whatever glory God will reveal by whatever Jesus can do for Lazarus will be worth Jesus dying for it.
· Thomas – well, then, that’s it. We might as well go and die with him
o It’s hopeless – Jesus will die, they will die. There’s no way out if they go to Jerusalem – and they are going with him, no matter what.
Martha is facing one of those times
· Lazarus dead – 4 days
· Deader then dead – really most sincerely dead
· Yet she says: You could have saved him. The implicit question: Why weren’t you here?
o – And the desperate hope - even now God will hear Jesus.
· Jesus – he will rise again
· Martha – sure on the last Day
o Cold comfort to a grieving heart who sees no hope at all. Good to know that she’ll see him again – someday – but how to live now
Mary is facing one of those times
· You could have saved him
· Same words as Martha, but of deepest heart felt pain
· Jesus wept
o Wept with her, shared her grief.
There are times when all is hopeless
When it’s beyond hope,
When you’re four days in the tomb
And you stinketh
When you’re four days in the tomb
Bound and tied
When you’re 4 days in the tomb
And hope has dried up like to bones in Ezekiel’s valley
What stinks in your life
Where are you bound and tied
What is deader than dead, dried and desiccated
Jesus meets you there.
That is exactly the moment when the Resurrection AND the life enters in.
· into your grief and pain
· cries with you,
· stands by the grave
· experiences death of your hope and dreams,
· death of love and life.
Brings Thomas through - the very worst that could happen what far worse than anything Thomas could imagine
4 days dead and Martha gets a promise of life - not just in the future, but here and now
Resurrection And life
John’s gospel = life abundantly
Wedding at Cana - grace
Woman at well- community belonging
Blind man - healing
Lazarus next chapter at dinner with Jesus
Resurrection AND life
In one of my preaching classes in seminary, I had to write a poem on today’s reading from Ezekiel and all I could think about was zombies. The vision of those bones coming back together just standing together until the Spirit breathed on them.
And I wrote a poem about how that’s what we are - we’re zombies, going through this not-life, going through the motions, not-really-living
Until
Jesus meets us at the place of death
The spirit breathe new life - you are born anew
Standing there with the stink of death on us, tattered grave clothes wafting in the breeze
Jesus come to the grave that holds us and calls “Come Out”
John 11:1-45
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.”[c] 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.”
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,[g] the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
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