Bloghardt's Reflector

"Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."

If you'd had just been here. If you just .. four days earlier. If we just did this instead of that. If the ball had just bounced our way, if the cookie had crumbled differently, then Lazarus would still be alive.

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." He wasn't late. This was this what it was all about. He was right on time.

He's in Bethany, so salvation was there. Resurrection was there. Life was there. For her, for Mary, for the clueless disciples who are worrying about being stoned by the Jews, for you, for me.

Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

No. No, Martha. Not some other time. I'm right here. I'm here. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

I'm the Christ. I am salvation. I am eternal life. I am here. I'll raise Lazarus right now. It's not over because he's dead. No, where I am, there life is because I am the Life. Where I am, there is the resurrection because I am the resurrection. I'm life and salvation – right here right now. Not later.

She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Yeah. Yeah, Jesus. Son of God. Christ. Good words, not for me. Not for Lazarus. So, not faith. Maybe later this will get fixed, Jesus.

So, she goes gets Mary. Mary, the one who had wept at His feet, and dried his feet with her hair, leaves the mourners behind to run to Jesus. She fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

Doesn't anyone get it? Don't they see. He's here. So, life is here. Life for Lazarus. Life for Martha. Life for Mary. Life for you, for me. So, Jesus groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."

Then, amazingly enough God wept. The Lord of Heaven and earth wept over wept over Mary. Wept because of the mourning. Wept because no one gets it. Wept over death itself. Sometimes, when you just can't keep it together any more, there is nothing to do but weep.

This is Jesus, dear friends, the God who loves you despite all your sins and in all your unbelief. Loves you so much that He weeps because you and I don't get it, don't believe, don't trust that He will actually come through for us and save us from whatever it is that is troubling us. Weeps because we are so short sighted that we don't believe that God can come through for us in any way that the one we come up with.

We think that because we get sick, something has gone wrong between us and Him. That because we lose our job, or don't get a raise, or something goes wrong that if we just do this or that, God will fix it. And when He doesn't, we wonder where He is.

Lazarus is dies so that you might believe in Jesus. The Lord gives this to His best friend – as gift. To raise you and me from our sins. To call us out of the religion where we are the life, where we determine the resurrection, where we are the only way.

There is life. There is a resurrection that Mary and Martha and even Lazarus could have never figured out on their own.

Christ is that Life. Christ is that Resurrection - even in your pain, in your suffering, in your loneliness, in your despair. He loves you in these things, showing His life in your life, His resurrection in your resurrection.

For in Christ, you cannot die. Not really. So, there's no weeping for Lazarus. Lazarus is more alive than anyone else, for He is in Christ. Only when you are truly dead can you live – because though you die, yet shall you live and the one who lives in Him and believes in Him shall never die. Not really. Not Lazarus, not you either!

Jesus said, "Take away the stone."

And then, Martha, the sister of him who was dead said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."

She jumps in front of Him. Waving her hands, “No, you can't be this much God. Had you been here before here before He died, you could have waved your hand. But now he's dead and rotten – stinky. Death stinks. Death has made him stink.”

No, not stinky. Mine. Lazarus mine. Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Notice the repetition – of Him who died. The dead man. Mary is the sister of Him who died. Death. Death.

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"

Then, and amidst all the unbelief, the despair, sadness, confusion, and doubt, comes a man who was once dead and now alive again. Lazarus, who was dead, comes out, tripping over the burial clothing. Dead people aren't dressed to walk out of tombs!

Then, Jesus is off to His next appointment. He will not delay or be late for this one. No dodging. He is headed for Jerusalem. Two miles from Bethany. He'll be there next week. Then, Holy Week. His Holy Week, ours too as we watch Him win our salvation.

This is how He loved Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. He weeps, He bleeds. He suffers. He is beaten.

For you too. For me too. He dies. For them. He is not late. He doesn't delay. For our salvation, for our life, for our resurrection, Christ dies and is buried.

He rose. How could we doubt? If He raised Lazarus after four days, He most certainly can be raised in three! He is, after all, the resurrection and the life!

Your cancer won't kill you. Sickness won't kill you. Unemployment won't kill you. Loneliness either. Not because God will necessarily take it away from you. Christ didn't take it from His buddy Lazarus.

Lazarus' sickness didn't end in death – it did, then it didn't. Your sicknesses and troubles won't end in death. It can, but then it won't.

And make no mistake those who have fallen asleep before you, they're not really dead either. They sleep. They wait for Him. For His calling, calling them out of their sleep and out of death.

Do not doubt, He will call you too.

No, He has already called you. No, you are in Christ, in the life, in the resurrection of the Son of God. You died with Him in Baptism. You rose with Him. Life now. Resurrection now. That's you.

For Christ is your life. Christ is your resurrection. Which means all this other stuff that befalls cannot kill you. Not really. It can only put you to sleep. He'll wake you.

Not later. Now. Not some other time. Right now. In sickness. In sadness, in suffering, in pain, in loneliness, in despair, even in death itself. He has called you. He will call you. Right now.

He will call. He has called. Pull back the stone. Then with a long voice, He calls you. “Come forth.”

And the dead man came forth. You too. Me too. For He said, “I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes me, through He die, yet shall He live, and He who lives in me and believes in me, shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Yes, Lord. Strap in, dear friends, 'cause here is the foretaste of your resurrection! Lazarus, Come Forth! In the name of Jesus. Amen.