PreacherRhetorica
  • Home and to sermons
    • Year B frontispiece >
      • Proper 5B
      • Seventh of Easter
      • Sixth of Easter
      • Fifth of Easter
      • Fourth of Easter homily
      • Third of Easter
      • Second of Easter
      • Easter Day
      • Maundy Thursday
      • Palm Sunday
      • Lent 5
      • Next Before Lent
      • Presentation (Epiphany 4)
      • Third of Epiphany
      • Second of Epiphany
      • Epiphany (2)
      • Epiphany
      • Holy Innocents
      • Christmas
      • The Reign of Christ (Proper 29B)
      • Christ the King (Proper 29B)
      • Proper 28B (2nd Bf Advent)
      • 3rd Bf Advent (CofE)
      • Proper 27B
      • All Saints Sunday
      • Proper 26B
      • Proper 25B
      • Simon and Jude
      • Proper 24B
      • Proper 23B
      • Proper 22B
      • Proper 22B homily
      • Proper 21B
      • Proper 20B
      • Proper 19B
      • Proper 18B sermon
      • Proper 18B performance poem
      • Proper 17B
      • Proper 16B
      • Proper 15B
      • Proper 14B
      • Proper 13B
      • Proper 12B
      • Mary Magdalene homily
      • Proper 11B
      • Proper 10B
      • Proper 9B homily
      • Proper 8B
      • Birth of John the Baptist
      • Proper 7B homily
      • Proper 6B
      • Trinity Sunday
      • Pentecost
      • Lent 4 Mothering Sunday
      • Lent 3
      • Lent 2
      • Lent 1
      • 2nd Before Lent
      • 3rd Before Lent
      • 2nd of Christmas B homily
      • Christmas Day
      • Advent 4B
      • Advent 3B
      • Advent 2B
      • Advent 1B homily
      • Year A frontispiece >
        • Proper 28A (2 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 27A (3 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 26A (4 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 25A Last after Trinity
        • Proper 24A
        • Proper 23A
        • Proper 22A
        • Proper 21A
        • St Matthew
        • Proper 20A
        • Proper 19A
        • Proper 18A
        • Proper 17A
        • Proper 16A
        • Proper 15A
        • Proper 14A
        • Proper 13A
        • Proper 12A
        • Proper 11A
        • Proper 10A
        • Proper 9A
        • Proper 8A
        • Proper 7A
        • Trinity Sunday (Homily)
        • Pentecost
        • Seventh of Easter (Sunday after Ascension)
        • Sixth of Easter
        • Fifth of Easter
        • Fourth of Easter
        • Third of Easter
        • Second of Easter
        • Easter (Poem)
        • Maundy Thursday
        • Palm Sunday
        • Lent 5
        • Lent 4
        • Lent 3
        • Lent 2
        • Lent 1
        • Next Bf Lent (Epiphany last)
        • 2 Bf Lent (Proper 3)
        • Epiphany 7 (RCL)
        • Epiphany 6 (3 Bf Lent)
        • Epiphany 5 (4 Bf Lent)
        • Presentation of Christ
        • Epiphany 3
        • Epiphany 2
        • Baptism of Christ (Epiphany 1)
        • The Epiphany
        • Second Sunday of Christmas
        • First Sunday of Christmas
        • Christmas Day
        • Advent 4A
        • Advent 3A
        • Advent 2A
        • Advent 1A
        • Christ the King Yr A (2)
        • Christ the King Yr A
        • Remembrance Sunday
        • All Saints' Sunday
        • Harvest Homily
        • Harvest
        • Admission of Pastoral Workers
        • Saint Thomas homily
        • Corpus Christi
        • Trinity Sunday
        • Pentecost
        • Pentecost: another example
        • Year C frontispiece >
          • Christ the King (Next bf Advent)
          • Proper 28C (2nd bf Advent)
          • Proper 27C (3rd bf Advent)
          • Proper 26C (4th bf Advent)
          • Proper 25C (Last after Trinity)
          • Proper 24C
          • Proper 23C
          • Proper 22C
          • St Michael & All Angels (homily)
          • Proper 21C
          • Proper 20C
          • Proper 19C (story sermon)
          • Proper 18C
          • Proper 17C
          • Proper 16C
          • Proper 15C
          • Proper 14C
          • Proper 13C
          • Proper 12C
          • Proper 11C
          • Proper 10C
          • Proper 9C
          • Proper 8C
          • Proper 7C
          • Proper 6C performance poem
          • Proper 5C
          • Proper 4C
          • Trinity
          • Pentecost homily
          • Seventh of Easter
          • Ascension Day
          • Sixth of Easter
          • Fifth of Easter
          • Fourth of Easter
          • Third of Easter
          • Second of Easter
          • Easter homily
          • Easter (story sermon)
          • Maundy Thursday
          • Palm Sunday
          • Lent 5C
          • Mothering Sunday
          • Lent 4C homily
          • Lent 3C (story sermon)
          • Lent 2C
          • Lent 1C
          • Ash Wednesday homily
          • Next Bf Lent/Last of Epiphany
          • Epiphany 4 (RCL)
          • Second Before Lent
          • Presentation of Christ
          • Fourth of Epiphany
          • Third of Epiphany
          • Baptism of Christ
          • The Epiphany
          • First of Christmas homily
          • Christmas Day homily
          • Christmas Day
          • Advent 4C
          • Advent 3C
          • Advent 2C
          • Advent 1C
        • Non-lectionary sermons >
          • Plough Sunday
          • Advent and Christmas ideas
          • Christmas Day homily
          • A Christmas Tale
          • Remembrance 2013
          • Remembrance Sunday
          • Harvest homily 2
          • Harvest
          • Harvest homily
          • Harvest Water
          • New Pastoral Ministry
        • Ascension
  • Homiletics
    • A Definition of Preaching
    • Speaking locally
    • Notes from a masterclass
    • Design analysis 1
    • Design analysis 2
    • Encouraging feedback
    • Preaching in an amnesic society
    • The Aldi bag syndrome
    • Blog
  • Disciplecraft
  • Recommended
    • Preaching Fools
  • Second of Epiphany

Lazarus Who?
Lent 5
Ezekiel 37.1-14; John 11.1-45

Picture
He was very clever, everyone knew that. A job was waiting for him the other side of the exams. The head of the department had written a glowing reference. He was all set up. Just a few exams, nine days worth, that’s all. He knew his subject inside out; he never failed to impress his lecturers. Should be a doddle those exams. Why was it then that fear gripped him so that he couldn’t think straight – even holding a pen was hard, let alone writing something coherent. Can these dry bones live?

He thought his marriage was on the rocks. Not so much unfaithfulness as boredom. They seemed to have got just too used to one another. There was no spark of animation in anything they shared. Tedium ruled. Can these dry bones live?

In those years before all she wanted was to be ordained. Yes, she had a vocation from God – it was real enough, tested, prayed over, thought about long and hard, searched by the church. And the joy of it! She left college eager, determined, she would give her life – literally. Now the repetition, the relentless pastoral round, the apathy of so many, the lack-lustre nature of so much of church life has stamped vocation out of her. She was just serving her time until retirement. Can these dry bones live?

They all started the project with such enthusiasm. They were really going to change lives. Project funding came almost at once, the professionals offered lots of support. The clients came steadily. They were even written up in an international journal. Then there was a row – a leading volunteer walked out. A client’s family complained that something had gone missing when another volunteer was returning the client home. There was no real evidence, but the incident left a nasty taste. The third and the fourth year of the project were much harder on everyone – volunteer helpers and clients. Is it worth all the effort? Can these dry bones live?

All those stories are real. Can these dry bones live? Of course, there are also innumerable others. In a thousand and one circumstances we might all say, ‘Can these dry bones live?’ Where’s the inspiration to found? Where are the things that invigorate and keep the life flowing through? Can these dry bones live?

We’re talking ‘inspiration’ here. To me the very idea has about it a godly and spiritual quality. To be inspired, it seems to me, inevitably brings us closer to God – or it feels like that anyway. It’s like having new life breathed into us. When you’re inspired life has about it a new quality. Animation; exhilaration; excitement; invigoration; rousing – the words tumble out. And Lazarus tumbles out of the tomb. He’s still bound by the grave clothes, but moments later he will be unbound. Inspiration is often like that: when it happens it’s all of a sudden and we fail to notice all the work that went into making it possible. What was it the inventor Edison said? ‘Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.’ He got it right. And John the master storyteller makes the point clearly – there’s a whole lot of rather difficult ‘going-on’ that has to be gone through before Lazarus is raised. The inspiration of his body comes after dissension, debate, distress, disappointment – and so much more. There’s more going on here that a divine snapping of the fingers.

Yes, Jesus inspired Lazarus quite literally from the dead, but all the questioning and reservations expressed in the days before are also part of the story. The struggle to understand just who Jesus is is all part of the inspiration. The seeking to understand is fundamental. But notice that inspiration is possible even when the understandings are still being debated. The Gospel story is full of people misunderstanding what is going on – the disciples, Mary and Martha, the onlookers. They all stand for us, in one way or another, when we can’t see how things are fitting together or why things are as they are. There are many times when I find life confusing; there are many times when I can’t figure out the best way forward; and there are many times when I might wish that things aren’t as they are. Inspiration by Christ does not, however, depend on my understanding. My personal foibles, my own take on things, and my own ignorance mustn’t be the measure of what God can inspire. Godly inspiration is always so much more than that.

That said, God is not indifferent to my personality and my personal limitations. Mary and Martha are sisters but they have very different outlooks. Mary we are told is reflective, meditative, thoughtful. Martha it seems is altogether more hyper-active – always worried over things, always wanting to do something (Luke 10.38f). John is clear that they are both dear friends of Jesus – but how they went about that friendship was expressed rather differently by each sister. And Jesus meets, and indeed honours, their different takes on life, and on grief.

So we hear that Martha was disturbed about the unfairness of it all. Her approach to Jesus has previously been one of determined criticism and in Luke’s Gospel we hear her say, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?’ (Luke 10:40). And we can gauge from that the tone of her words in today’s reading: ‘Lord, IF you had been there, my brother would NOT have died.’ Then she says, ‘Even now’ (v 23). Even now if only he will act there can be new possibilities. She’s looking for action – of course she is, because she’s an action kind of person.

Disarmingly, instead of ‘doing’ something at that point, Jesus talks about ‘being’ (v 25). ‘Don't you know who I am, Martha? I AM the resurrection and the life.’ And, of course, the reply is not only to Martha, but to everyone wondering about who this Jesus is. ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ (John 11:25-26). Martha, the action kind of person, thinks only for a moment and then reaches her conclusion, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world’ (11:27).

Meditative Mary, the sister who likes to think through these kinds of issues, the one who liked to spend time just being with Jesus, isn’t in on the conversation. She’s not heard this talk of resurrection and life. Martha runs home and tells her sister that Jesus has arrived. Mary goes to meet him and asks the same question as her sister but the tone is quite different, ‘Lord, if YOU had been here, my brother WOULD not have died’ (v 32). To underline the point, John tells us that she knelt at Jesus’ feet – just as she had when Jesus had talked in her house many times before, no doubt.

Then there’s a strange reversal. With Martha – the action person – he spoke of being; but with Mary – the reflective person – it’s clear he is ready to do something. Show me where he is, says Jesus. By now the tears are streaming down Jesus’ face – Mary can associate with feelings and their expression. That’s the kind of person she is.

There’s inspiration here – but it comes at different times for different people. And further it is something that comes from Jesus himself – neither sister comes to the revelation of who Jesus is by working it out for themselves. Martha – to her own astonishment, I suspect – is inspired by the words, by the personal teaching. And Mary (and the rest of the bystanders, for that matter) are inspired when they see Lazarus being raised from the dead. This is God-breathed inspiration.

Right at the beginning of the story we are told what this is about: ‘it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of Man may be glorified through it’ (v 4b). An inspiration that is glorious. It’s not far to make the connection that God is glorified in our own lives when we are inspired to newness of life.

The name Lazarus literally means ‘God is my help.’ John, this remarkable and skilled teller of the story of Jesus, has done it again. His careful weaving of the tale directs us to the reality that Lazarus stands for every single one of us looking to God for help. Re-read the story but read your own name every time Lazarus is mentioned – we are the ones ill with worry, we are the ones dead to real living, we are the ones who need Jesus to invigorate us, we are the ones who stumble in dark places until we find the light of Christ, we are the ones bound who can only be liberated by the Christ. ‘God is my help.’ Faith will do wonders for us. Only believe who Jesus is. Can these dry bones live?

Be inspired, be unbound, share with others what God has done for you.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.