Never Too Late

This is the message given in the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, February 17, 2013.  The Bible verses used are John 11:1-44.

This is the last in our sermon series “It's a Miracle!” We've talked about some pretty miraculous things Jesus did. He turned water into wine, he walked on water, he gave sight to a blind man, he fed a crowd. He even drove demons out of a man. And, of course, these are only a few of the miracles Jesus performed while he was on earth.

Today, though, we're looking at what might be the most amazing miracle of all. Jesus raised a man from the dead. Jesus took a man who had been dead for four days and brought him back to life.

When we look at this, we can see there's one major difference from the other miracles we've looked at. The way the Bible presents the other miracles, they don't seem to be things Jesus planned out in advance. They look more like Jesus just kind of responding to a situation. This one is different. In this case, it looks like Jesus deliberately and intentionally waited around for Lazarus to die before he went to where Lazarus was. It looks like Jesus planned all along to wait for Lazarus to die and then bring him back to life. And Jesus tells the disciples why. He says, “For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.”

Let's think about that for a second. Lazarus is really sick. He's suffering. Then he dies. And Jesus says he's glad it happened that way, because that will help the disciples believe.

Does that remind you of anything we've talked about in this sermon series? The blind man, right? Jesus said then that the man had been born blind so that the works of God could be displayed. Here, Jesus says Lazarus died so the disciples could come to believe.

That seems awfully tough on the people involved, you know? The man born blind spent years and years not being able to see. He had to beg to support himself. Lazarus not only suffered, he actually died. And yet, Jesus says it had to happen this way, so the works of God could be displayed and people could come to believe.

When we read these stories, it can be fairly easy to accept that, because we know how the stories come out. We see that there's a happy ending. It's a lot harder to accept it when one of these stories actually happens to us, and we're right in the middle of it. We things are going badly for us, when we have a serious health problem, or a serious financial problem, or a disaster happens to us or someone in our family, it's pretty hard to think that this might be happening so the works of God can be displayed and people can come to believe.

It was probably pretty hard for Lazarus, too. Did you notice that we're not told anything about how Lazarus felt about any of this? We're not told any of his words. We're not told any of his thoughts. But he surely had some.

Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus. He's lying there in bed, suffering. Maybe he knows he's dying or maybe not, but he knows he's very sick. But he also knows that Jesus can heal him. His sisters know it, too. So, his sisters send word to Jesus, telling him that Lazarus is sick. They probably told Lazarus, “Don't worry. We've sent word to Jesus. Don't give up. He'll heal you. Just hang in there. Jesus is coming, and things will be all right.”

But Jesus does not come. A day passes, and Jesus does not come. A second day passes, and Jesus does not come. And Lazarus does not understand why. He knows Jesus could come and could heal him, but Jesus does not come. Finally, it's too late. Lazarus cannot hold on any longer. He dies.

Lazarus' sisters, Martha and Mary, don't understand it either. They know Jesus could've healed their brother. In fact, that's the first thing they say to Jesus when they see him. Each of them says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Now, though, they think it's too late. They don't come out and say it, but you have to think there's a question implied by their statement. It's the question we're told other people did come out and ask: “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

When we read this story, we can see that Jesus is right. The story had to come out like it did to help people believe. When we read this story, we can see that none of the people involved in this story thought Jesus would or could bring Lazarus back to life. They did not even consider that one of the options. They thought it was too late.

The disciples certainly thought so. They thought Jesus was crazy for going to Judea at all. The people there had already tried to kill Jesus once, and now Jesus wants to go back. Thomas speaks for all the disciples when he says that by going to Judea, they're going to their deaths.

Mary and Martha don't get it, either. Maybe Martha got it a little bit. After she says that if Jesus had been there, Lazarus would not have died, she goes on to say, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Still, when Jesus tells her Lazarus will live again, her response is that Lazarus will live in the resurrection on the last day. She does not seem to even consider the possibility that Jesus might bring Lazarus back to life now. It's the same when they go to the tomb. When Jesus says to take the stone away from the entrance, she warns him that there's going to be a really bad smell, because Lazarus has been there for four days. Again, the possibility of Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life at this point does not seem to have occurred to her. She thinks it's too late.

All these people went through all this suffering. They went through all this pain. They went through all this anguish. The disciples thought Jesus was leading them to their deaths. Mary and Martha went through the pain of watching their brother die and not being able to do anything about it. In fact, they thought the one thing they'd tried to do about, sending for Jesus, had failed, because Jesus had not come. And, of course, Lazarus actually died, not understanding why his good friend Jesus had not come and saved him. Now, they all thought it was too late.

As I said, it can be easy to accept these things in Bible stories, because we know there's going to be a happy ending. While it's actually happening in our lives, it's a lot harder to accept. We don't know that there's going to be a happy ending. That's when we have to decide whether we really believe what we say we believe. That's when we have to decide whether we really trust Jesus.

The disciples thought they believed. They thought they trusted. Mary and Martha thought they believed. They thought they trusted. And they did, to a point. But when Lazarus died, they all thought the story was over. They thought it was too late. They thought there was nothing Jesus or anybody else could do.

And if we put ourselves in their place, we understand exactly how they felt. Almost all of us have been there. We've seen bad things happen, either to ourselves or to someone else. We know Jesus could do something about it. We ask Jesus to do something about it. And Jesus does not seem to notice. Jesus does not seem to respond. Jesus waits, seeming to do nothing. And then, it seems like it's too late. The thing is over, and there's nothing Jesus or anyone else can do.

This miracle happened so that we could come to believe. We can believe even when it seems like Jesus does not notice what's happening. We can believe even when Jesus does not seem to respond. We can believe even when it seems like Jesus is doing nothing. We can believe even when it seems like it's too late for Jesus or anyone else to do anything. Because the thing is that it is never too late for Jesus to do something. This is what Jesus said:

Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.

Even death does not make it too late for Jesus to do something, because even death is not permanent. Jesus has more power than death itself. Jesus showed that by bringing Lazarus back to life. Jesus showed that through his own death and resurrection. And Jesus shows it through the resurrection of everyone who believes in him, because anyone who believes in him will never die.

With Jesus, it's never too late. If we can believe that, and trust it, we can be confident even when the situation seems hopeless. Because we know that we can survive even death itself through God's great love and through our belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior.