Life and Death

So, finally we have arrived to the key moment of the retreat/conference. This realization and hope were the foundation for me as I listened to that litany of violence. It is this realization, come to 11 hours into the Bible Study, that is based very much on the revelation of those three D's. So here we go, another story (a long one, but I promise so worth it). As you read, keep this in mind: Father John proposed, as he had been taught on a retreat, that Lazarus is Greek meaning "humanity."

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, " Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, " Rabbi, the Judaens were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep." The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him." Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him."
So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many of the Judaens had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, " Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, “ am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."
When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Judaens who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Judaens who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?"
They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Judaenss were saying, "See how He loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?"
So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" So they removed the stone Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me."
When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." (John 11:1-44, NASB)

Wow. So, so much in this! Maybe let's start with a little bit of context.

In the beginning of this story Jesus is returning to Judea (John said that most translations read "Jews" which is an entire cultural group and that here the translation should be Judaens -- much more specific and speaks to a geographical location). At the end of the chapter 10, the Judaens "picked up stones again to stone Him." In this story, with the death of Lazarus, Jesus is returning to those who just verses ago (days ago) tried to kill him!

When the disciples hear of his intention to return, they freak out just a little bit. They don't understand. First they want to believe literally Jesus' words that Lazarus is just asleep: "oh he'll be fine Jesus, he'll wake up, we don't need to go back." Jesus spells it out so there's no wiggle room. Thomas, (can you here the irony in his voice), puts to voice what they are all thinking "Great, Jesus. We'll go back and then they will kill us and we'll be dead, too." And so Jesus goes back alone. (Did you catch that when you read it? After Thomas speaks the disciples are not mentioned again, it just says "So when Jesus came...")

So we have the disciples, terrified and full of doubt. We have the crowd with death on their minds (they death of Lazarus and of Jesus). Let's look at Mary and Martha.
Martha, in her grief does this little trick to manipulate Jesus, saying "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." But when Jesus asks her, do you really believe I am the Life and Resurrection, she dodges the question, saying yeah sure your the Christ and runs away and gets her sister saying Jesus called her. Jesus didn't say anything about Mary! Mary and Martha both of them in despair at their brothers death.

Finally, let's look at Jesus. There are two emotions we see him feel in this text. The first one, oddly enough, is gladness. He says that he is glad that his dear friends Lazarus has died so then, finally!, the disciples, the people will see and know Him. The second emotion is grief, it says he troubled, perturbed and he weeps. The people there assume he is weeping for his friend's death, but we know that he is glad for the death of Lazarus. So why does he weep? The first time he weeps, it is at Mary's and the Judaen's tears. He weeps that they have given way to despair and doubt. The second time is when he asks where Lazarus is and they say "Come and see" -- a harkening back to the beginning when Jesus invites the disciples of John the Baptist to "Come and see" where he is staying, inviting them into life. Turned on its head here, the Judaens invite Jesus to the tomb to "come and see" the death the have created and live in. Finally, he is deeply troubled at the talk of the Judaens that had he come earlier, Lazarus would still live.

So, we come to the tomb. In this place surrounded by death, both in and out of the tomb, surrounded by the three D's : despair, doubt, domination, Jesus calls forth life. He calls for the stone to be rolled away. At first they protest, saying but it will smell. It could be comical, what a small excuse to try to stay separated from life, yet heartbreaking because it is so understandable and so real. How often it is the small messes that keep us from life. So again Jesus says, roll away the stone. And they do. He call "Humanity" forth and sends his persecutors to unbind him. In the midst of death, despair, doubt, domination, He calls Purveyors of Death to be Agents of Life.

What a God to believe in, that turns the world thus on its head!