Reflections on "Looking Toward Easter" John 11: 28-44; John 19: 38-42

As you may have noticed, one of the Scripture lessons changed from Thursday to Sunday.  Actually, as I was working on the sermon I was using the John 11: 28-44 passage, but when I put it in the bulletin I was not paying attention and put John 11: 11-27.  They are similar passages -- the first is Martha's encounter with Jesus after her brother Lazarus has died; the second is her sister Mary's encounter with Jesus after Lazarus has died.  The initial words of Martha and Mary are the same, but Jesus responds differently.  To Martha, he shares the hope, "I am the resurrection and the life...." To Mary, he speaks less and acts more as he weeps with her and then commands Lazarus to come back to life.  It would make for a neat sermon to tell that story and the story of Mary and Martha when Jesus comes to their house and each reacts differently to Christ's presence.  But, that's a sermon for another day.

This sermon probably had too much resurrection in it given that next Sunday is Easter, but it is part of the Lenten Bible study that finishes the Gospel of John this week.  The end of John, of course, has to do with resurrection.  Hopefully it set the stage well for next week's Easter sermon without stealing all its thunder.

(John 19:38-42) After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (NRSV)

“Looking Toward Easter” February 14, 2016; FPC,Troy; John 11: 28-44; John 19: 38-42; Lenten series on the Gospel of John

Introduction: Not quite Easter. Yes, we are talking about resurrection this morning, but it's not Easter yet.

We are talking Easter because this week our Lenten study finishes the Gospel of John, and of course, the end of the Gospel of John takes us through the resurrection.

The waving of the palm branches has us looking toward Easter, but we still have a few things yet to do.

We have the Last Supper – in John the gathering for a meal when Jesus washes his feet; in the other gospels the gathering for a meal in which Jesus breaks the bread and passes the cup and declares that it is his body broken and his blood shed for the world.

We still have the betrayal of Jesus by Judas; the arrest of Jesus; we still have Jesus on trial; then Jesus dying on the cross; we still have Jesus being laid in the tomb; then after we have the body lying the tomb;

Finally, we are ready for the resurrection.

This morning, I want to point out a few things for us to notice as we prepare for our Easter celebration of the resurrection.

Move 1: Resurrection takes us back....back to the garden.

a. In the Gospel of John, when Joseph of Arimathea comes to prepare Jesus body and put it in a tomb, we are told that the the place where Jesus was crucified was in a garden an that there was an empty tomb also there.

1. in that tomb, in the garden, Joseph lays Jesus' dead body.

2. To the garden Mary will return in a few days where she discovers that the stone has been removed and the tomb is empty.

3. Garden has been a running theme in the Gospel of John.

2. The arrest of Jesus in the Gospel of John takes places at an unnamed garden.

2. The first words in the Gospel of John are, “in the beginning,” which mimic the opening line of the biblical story, the beginning in which God creates the world and breathes the breath of life into Adam and Eve.

2. The beginning in which God places Adam and Eve in the the Garden of Eden.

b. The garden of Eden.

1. that place where God and humans lived in right relationship.

2.  that place where humans lived in right relationship with one another.

3.  That place that showed off all of God's goodness.

4.  that place where perfection was shattered by human sinfulness and the desire of humans to be like God.

100. Thematically, the Gospel of John points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the beginning of the return to that place.

1. In the resurrection, Jesus defeats sin and death.

2. Because of the resurrection, we have the opportunity to be in right relationship with God and with each other.

3.  Resurrection offers a return to the garden.

Move 2: Resurrection is not just coming back from the dead.

a. Look at the difference in Jesus' raising of the Lazarus and the resurrection of Jesus.

1. Had to get people to move the grave stone.

2. Grave cloths are still on Lazarus.

3. Wrap still around his head.

4. Image from the movies of zombies running around with the mummy wrap still one them.

3. Lazarus was easily recognizable by those there.

4. Lazarus did not live in a qualitatively different fashion after being brought back to life.  He was not more alive than before, simply alive again in the same way as before.  That he was alive again no doubt pleased both Jesus and Lazarus's sisters, Mary and Martha. 

But even when resuscitated, Lazarus remained mortal; he still faced inevitable death.  In other words, his mortality was postponed but not transcended.  And when he finally died, Lazarus stayed dead, like all others before him.  In sum, his resuscitation did not mean that he was more alive than he had been, or that he continued in life forever, or that he lived powerfully in the lives of others (Luke Timothy Johnson, Living Jesus (1998).

6. Brought back to life, but still bound by death.

b. Jesus' resurrection seemed different.

1. Stone moved.

2. Grave cloths laying there in the tomb.

3. Head wrap neatly folded.

4. People did not recognize Jesus – Mary thinks he is the gardener.

5. He can just appear behind closed doors.                      
6. He is transformed by the resurrection to something beyond merely being brought back to life.

  c.   In the resurrection, Jesus invites us into a new reality.
 

            1. One of the members of the congregation I serve sent me these words from the first chapter of Luke Timothy Johnson's book Living Jesus (1998):

2. The resurrection of Jesus has nothing to do with his avoiding death by luck or design in order to continue his former life without any real change.

2. In other words, if Jesus had just been brought back to life, it might have brought joy to his friends and his family, but ti would not have changed the world.

2. The world needed, and God provided, a resurrection.

5. The resurrection of Jesus ushers in a new reality.

6. we may die an earthly death, but we are no longer bound by death.

7. the world and its power may be able to kill, but it cannot overcome the power of God to resurrection.

Move 3: Mary and Mary

a. Mary, Martha and Lazarus' sister.

1. Like Martha, Mary meets up with Jesus after her brother Lazarus is dead and in the tomb.

2.  Like her sister, Mary is frustrated with Jesus. “If you had been here he would not have died.”

3.  when Martha utters those words, Jesus tells her that “he is the resurrection.”

4. With Mary, he does not speak as much as he does.

5.  first he weeps with her.

6. then he goes into the tomb, into the stench of death, and brings Lazarus back to life.

7. Jesus shows here what it means that he is the resurrection.

8. that he is her hope in the face of death.

6. Hope to which he will give evidence to when he brings Lazarus back to life.

b. Mary Magdalene

1. because her name does not include mention of a husband's name, the assumption is made that she is single, or maybe a widow.

2. tradition had it that she had hard life, even that she was a prostitute.

3.  scene from the movie Risen:  When the Roman soldier appointed by Pontius Pilate to find the missing body of Jesus find out the names of some followers of Christ, he goes to the soldier's barracks to get some men to go with him to find these followers.  He asks if anyone knows one the disciples, and everyone shakes their head "no."  When he asks if anyone knows who Mary of Magdalene is, almost all the soldiers sheepishly look around and then raise their hands.  Most of them know her.

4. Jesus knew her , too, but no not because of who she was, but because of who she became when he welcomed her and offered her God's forgiveness and God's love.

5.  Jesus had given her a new start on life.

6.Now in the resurrection, he gives her hope for a life beyond her earthly life.

100. Mary and Mary – personal stories of how their lives were changed.

1. as you look toward Easter, it is not just a remembering of the story of what happened to Christ after he died.

2. It is not simply trying to figure out what resurrection means, and when we cannot turn it all over to the mystery of God and the call to faith.

3. It is the power of God to resurrection.

3. As John Buchanan writes, Easter is an “invitation to 'walk through the door' into the new world where the ultimate reality is not the death of all things: the ultimate reality is God and love everlasting.” Christian Century, “Editor’s Desk: Easter’s coming” 3/20/13 (3)

Conclusion: We have a pretty good copier in the church office. Generally, it runs pretty well. When things get sorta messed up, you can just hit the cancel button; or if it's a little more messed up you can hit the “Main power” button. Between those two, most problems are solved.

But sometimes, when signals get crossed, or human error has overcome the ability of the computer

Sometimes we have to go to the back of the machine and find the button that turns off all power to the machine. Big problems apparently require a new beginning. Not a minor fix, but a complete restart.

We look to the resurrection, not for a little change in our lives, or some type of band-aid for our world.

The resurrection is God's radical transformation of the world, an invitation to return to the goodness of the Garden of Eden where it all began.