In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen

The Fifth Sunday in Lent (2011)

In Life and in Death, We Are the Lord’s Rev. Toby Byrd

John 11:1-16 (ESV)

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. [2] It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. [3] So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." [4] But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

[5] Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. [6] So, when he 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 seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" [9] 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. [10] But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." [11] After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." [12] The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." [13] Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. [14] Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, [15] and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." [16] So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

In the resurrection of Lazarus we see yet another miracle performed by our Lord Jesus. However, of all the miracles of Jesus, the resurrection of Lazarus from the realm of the dead stands as the capstone of all the signs and wonders He performed during His earthly ministry.

In reading the account of the resurrection of Lazarus the average Christian should be able to learn several comforting lessons, such as; the power of prayer as evidenced in the petition of Jesus and the value of divine delay in answering our prayers. Of all the valuable lessons John’s account of Lazarus teaches us, none is more relevant than its reminder that In Life and in Death We Are the Lord’s.

Our Lord is visiting the lands east of the Jordan when a message from Lazarus’ sisters is brought to Him, telling Him that Lazarus is very ill. Now all the Gospel writers mention the great love Jesus had for Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Therefore, one would expect that as soon as Jesus receives the news that Lazarus is ill, He would go to him immediately. However, this is not the case. Fact is, when word came to Him that Lazarus was ill, Jesus wasn’t all that concerned because He knew that this illness did not lead to death, but rather this illness, “Is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (v. 4). St. John tells us that Jesus actually stayed two more days in the area and then He says to His disciples, “Let us go to Judea again” (v. 7).

As Jesus prepared to leave the eastern side of the Jordan to go into Judea for the purpose of visiting the home of Lazarus, His disciples question the wisdom of this move, asking Him: “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” (v. 8).

It was during the Feast of Dedication, when our Lord was in Jerusalem, at the Temple, that the Jews were offended by Him when He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30 ESV). Angered by His words, they picked up stones with which to kill Him, but our Lord was unharmed. Here, now, east of the Jordan, Jesus was relatively safe so why would He want to place Himself in jeopardy by walking into the lion’s den? This move bewildered His disciples.

Nevertheless, this grim reminder by the disciples failed to kindle fear in His heart or alter His plan. Thus, He responds to their question with a question, asking; “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” (vv. 9-10). Jesus is speaking of the ordinary working day, a day which extended from morning until evening and consisted of twelve hours. This was the Jewish method of reckoning the time of life and labor which God allots to every man—twelve hours a day. Thereby Jesus implies that His own earthly working day had not yet ended. Even though it was the twelfth hour for Him no one would be able to rob Him of His last hour by killing Him. His enemies would not be able to cut short His life and work which had been allotted to Him by His Father; He would not die before the completion of His earthly mission. Our Lord’s response to His disciples applies equally to us.

Jesus says, “If a man walk,” and not, “If a man work.” Here our Lord keeps to this mental picture when He says, “he does not stumble.” The reason for not stumbling is plain: “because he sees the light of this world,” daylight is all around him. Just as the twelve hours of the ordinary working day are made light by the sun in the heavens, enabling a man to complete his task; so the time of life granted by God to a man is full of light in order that he may accomplish the work God wants him to do. Only Jesus could see the day of His life; every hour which God gave Him with perfect clearness. We are unable to do so because our eyes see dimly because of sin. Because of His clearness of vision, our Lord was able to move amid dangers with an assurance and fearlessness that astonishes us. We, on the other hand, can only place ourselves into God’s hands, doing His will as His Word and His providential indications point it out to us. However, we too, must know that the time He wants us to have will surely be ours—the entire twelve hours, even if we do not know just which hour each is as it arrives.

When Jesus speaks of, “the night” it is evident He is speaking in contradiction to “the day.” The day with its twelve working hours pictures the length of our lives allotted by God, the night pictures death; the end of life’s day. Jesus describes our life as “seeing the light of this world” and our death as “the light is not in him.” When we are alive we are able to see the light of the world, our Lord and Savior, Jesus. We can see His life, His death, and His resurrection by which we are saved. We can see God’s will in the life of His Son and through His revealed Word of Holy Scripture, thereby knowing His will for us. Therefore, we must be walk while it is day, while the light illumines our path. If we try walking in the night, without light, we easily stumble, fall into sin, and fail to do the will of Him who called us into the light. When night comes it is after the twelfth hour and we can no longer walk. However, we can rejoice with the disciples that theirs and our own lives and labors are under the same divine control as our Lord’s. Therefore, let us not fear what men threaten us with; instead, let us walk while we still have light. Then, when the end of our earthly journey approaches, we can confess with St. Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7 ESV).

This very truth is what gives us strength when describing the passing of a Christian. A Christian’s death can never be a tragedy. When a believer dies we must conclude that according to God’s reckoning the sun has set on their God-given day. Their life is the Lord’s. Since our lives are in God’s hands, we easily come to the same conclusion to which St. Paul came: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 ESV).

Therefore, if all things work together for good for those who love God, then; In Death We are Also the Lord’s.

In spite of the urgency of the message, Jesus stays where He is. He withheld His healing power, and Lazarus dies according to God’s will. Jesus loved Lazarus, and Lazarus died. Jesus loves us, and we die. In fact, He loved us with an everlasting love and with His loving-kindness; He has drawn us to Him (Jer. 31:3). However, faithful Christians as we may be, we die at the time appointed by the will and counsel of God. That could be a depressing thought. Nevertheless, even as our bodies are lowered into the grave, the loving hand of God is still upon us; we are His in Life and Death. Therefore, we can exult with St. Paul, “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:8-9 ESV).

When Lazarus died, Jesus said to His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him” (v. 11). Once more we see that the disciples didn’t really understand what Jesus was telling them. They mistakenly believe that Lazarus has simply gone to sleep and surely he’ll awaken. However, as our Lord has frequently done in the past, He is using “sleep” as a euphemism for “death.” If we were to euphemistically refer to “death” as “sleep” would it be correct to imply that it’s nothing more than wishful thinking? Are we deluding ourselves when we sing at the funeral of loved ones, “Asleep in Jesus! Blessed Sleep,” or “I Fall Asleep in Jesus’ Wounds,” or “I Know of a Sleep in Jesus’ Name”? Are we to pervert the word of God “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19 ESV) and take this to mean that the grave is our final place of residence?

To those and similar questions we answer with an emphatic No! We join our voices with that of Job and with certainty and confidence we cry, “I know” not that “I merely think” but “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:25-27 ESV). Death for the Christian is a sleep, the bodies of the righteous rest in peace in the grave. However, the soul in death is separated from the body and brought into the presence of God. Death is the highest form of communion established between the Christian and God. This very thought is the basis for St. Paul’s confident assertion, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philip. 1:21 ESV). When a faithful Christian dies, their soul is committed into the hands of our faithful God and Redeemer. Knowing that Christ has died for us, assured that our sins are forgiven, confident that our souls have been cleansed and made righteous by the blood of the Lamb and therefore we are presentable before the great and righteous Judge, the believer enters with joy into that great experience we call death; body in the grave, soul in heaven.

The truth that we are the Lord’s also in death needs to be reinforced in our day. Too frequently our elaborate burial rites and the unseemly grief are almost tantamount to a denial of our confession that in death we are still the Lord’s. While we may weep even as our Lord wept at the grave of His friend Lazarus, we must not—in the words of St. Paul—mourn “as others do who have no hope” (1 Thes. 4:13 ESV). It is essential for the heart of a Christian to be firmly convinced that Christ’s innocent life, His holy blood, and precious death are our salvation, that we, together with all the saints, must cling to Christ alone, and that no saint in heaven ever relied on himself and his own righteousness. As a result of our Christian faith, we cry out with the Great Apostle, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55 ESV). Death cannot claim victory in the grave of a faithful Christian.

When Jesus left for Bethany, He indicated to His disciples that He would awaken Lazarus. If death is a sleep there must be an awakening. Even as Lazarus rose from the sleep of death, so also we shall rise. He who is the Resurrection and the Life will return in glory. On that glorious day, all the dead shall rise. All those who lived and died in the Lord will be raised to eternal bliss and happiness on the Last Day, in the resurrection, which is the joining of our immortal soul with a glorified body.

Therefore, as we leave this house of God this morning to face the hard and disheartening realities of life in this coming week, I pray that you may take great comfort in the knowledge that In Life and in Death, We Are the Lord’s. Amen.

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.