John 11 Selected Verses
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,[a] “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[b] 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.”
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.”
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.[a] 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,[b] the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
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.
“Sacred Waiting” Rev. Danielle K Bartz
Jesus waited two days. He heard that his friend Lazarus was dying and he waited two days. After those two days, he did go to Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. He was asked why he waited and he was overcome with grief at the death of his friend. And he wept. I ended the scripture there today, but the encounter goes on – Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus, asks that the stone be rolled away, prays to God, and commands Lazarus to come out of the tomb. Which Lazarus does, his hands and feet still bound by strips of cloth. But first Jesus waited and he wept.
This is the last Sunday of Lent. This is the Sunday that bridges the time of preparation, to Holy Week. This is the final Sunday of waiting to prepare ourselves for the drama of crucifixion and then resurrection. And it is no surprise then, that the scriptures for today are helping us to make that transition. While I didn’t read it, the Old Testament scripture is of the Prophet Ezekiel crying out to a valley of dry bones and watching as they come to life. The scriptures are preparing us to experience resurrection and helping us to see that it comes in many forms. But first, on this last Sunday of Lent we remember that Jesus waited. And he wept.
I am not sure that a scripture has ever felt so comforting for me. So right for the moment. As Christians we are a people of incarnational faith. We are a people who believe that God experienced what it means to be human through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And never in my life have I drawn so much comfort from that foundational part of my faith. Never in my life have I felt so far into the depths of my soul the comfort of knowing that God understands. That God has experienced the intricacies of human life. That God knows what it is to wait, to worry, to weep. For me, that knowledge draws me even deeper into prayer. While I have always believed that God was and is always fully present with humanity, today the comfort of knowing that when I pray to God, God understands what it means to wait and weep makes my prayers fuller. More real. And I hope and pray that you are experiencing that comfort as well. Because we are in a time of waiting and we are in a time of weeping. And God knows what that means.
First I want to talk about the waiting, because we are in a time of waiting. Jesus waited when he heard his friend Lazarus was dying. He didn’t go rushing in. He didn’t leap before he looked. He waited. For two days. Nothing is recorded in the Gospel about what he did during that time of waiting, so we have to use our imaginations about what that waiting looked like for him. Each of us will have our own imaginings, based on our own life experiences and assumptions. And I imagine it was a deeply sacred time. It was a time devoted to prayer. I said a couple of weeks ago, just when the world was entering into this new time, that of all the scriptures Jesus quoted, he quoted the Psalms most of all. And I wonder, in fact I imagine, he may have prayed Psalm 130. Hear again verses 5 and 6:
“I wait for God, my soul waits, and in God’s word I hope; my soul waits for God more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.” I imagine, in that time of sacred waiting, Jesus prayed these words.
Beloved Community, we are in a time of waiting. The full force of the coronavirus pandemic has not hit us in southeast Minnesota yet. We have watched the news from our country and around the world. We have watched the numbers here in Minnesota slowly but steadily increase. We have started to hear from friends and family who are impacted or sick themselves. We have stopped our regular lives and are sheltering in our homes. And we are waiting. We are waiting for the tide to hit and we are wondering what that will look like and feel like for us. And we are waiting to see what the world will look like on the other side. What will church look like? Our families? Our communities? We are waiting.
Let us allow this time to be filled with the sacred. I am not suggesting, nor do I believe, that this pandemic is a blessing in disguise. This is a time of tremendous turmoil and fear and I will not pretend it is not. But this time is sacred. It is sacred because God exists in this time, just as fully as God exists in all time. This is a sacred time of waiting. So, let me ask: what will you do to acknowledge the sacred? How are you using this time of waiting?
Let me be clear, I am not asking about those tasks that we are doing to fill up our time. From what you all have told me, many of you are embarking on projects around your home and I think it is wonderful. Me – I have opened a 1000-piece puzzle. So, I am not asking about those tasks that we are doing to fill our time. I am asking about how you are experiencing the sacred during this time. Are you pausing for prayer? Are you keeping your eyes open to God and then pointing out God to others? Are you turning to the Psalms when your words fail? Are you going outside and marveling at the early signs of spring? Are you sitting in silence and listening to the voice of God whispering to you? How is this time of waiting becoming sacred for you?
I know that for some of you, this time of sacred waiting is also a time of weeping. This discomfort we are all feeling is grief. We have lost and given up so much. We have lost the regular routines of our lives, we have lost physical social connections which we all depend on. This discomfort we are feeling is grief. And so I know, that for many of you, this time of sacred waiting includes weeping. My Beloved Community, Jesus wept. The scriptures tell us that Jesus was greatly disturbed in Spirit and deeply moved and he wept. Jesus wept, which in our incarnational faith means that God knows what it is to weep. God knows what it is to weep. If this time of sacred waiting includes weeping – there too is God. Take comfort in that. Weep freely and know that God is present in those tears.
Jesus waited and Jesus wept. And so shall we. But, remember that is not the end of the story. The story ends with new life. With resurrection. And that resurrection does not depend on us. It has happened and will continue to happen. Today’s scripture ends with life. Our stories in this time of waiting and weeping will end with life. Resurrection will happen. That is a promise. So, in trusting that promise – mark this time as sacred. God bless this time, God bless your waiting, God bless your weeping.
Let us be in prayer together:
PASTORAL PRAYER
Incarnational God – you know what it is to feel all that we are feeling this day. You know what it is to wait. You know what it is to be uncomfortable. You know what it is grieve. You know what it is to weep. You know what it is to be human, and from this we find tremendous comfort. We are so grateful for the life of Jesus Christ, a life that was full of complexities, just like ours. Help us to follow the example of Jesus: to wait in the holy, to weep freely, to believe in new life.
During this time of waiting, we come before you Loving God in prayer. We know that you hear and understand our prayers, even those which are too deep for our words.
Let us sit in silence, open our hearts and spirits to you, turning over to you our prayers…
God, we pray for those who are waiting.
God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for those who are sick.
God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our healthcare workers.
God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our neighbors and for our strangers.
God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for those who are celebrating alone.
God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for those who are weeping.
God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of new life – we trust in the promise of your resurrection. We trust in your promise of new life. Help us to live into that promise by using this time to explore the sacred, to find the ways you continue to be present in our lives.
We pray all of this and so much more in the name of Jesus Christ, God in flesh, our teacher, our guide, and who taught us to pray together wherever we are by saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
I did weep, but it was out of gratitude and
inspiration. The message was just perfect for this point in time when we still have quite a bit of waiting and weeping ahead of us. I have always marveled at how similar the emotional experience of shedding tears is whether it’s coming from a place of great joy or sorrow — some call it solace for the soul. Thanks for the message of embracing the sacred — it’s within all of us just waiting to weep, love, laugh and give thanks more intensely than ever before. Thanks for giving us that permission and invitation.