I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE

TEXT: John 11:25-27 and John 20:1-18

We have just heard two resurrection stories. The first story comes from the early part of the of John and, I believe, comes as a prelude to the second resurrection story. It prepares us to hear and understand the experience.

Jesus has been traveling through the Galilee. He has restored sight to the blind, fed five thousand and more with two loaves of bread and a few fish. He has healed the sick and cleansed the lepers. He is now coming back to Jerusalem to what he knows will be the end of his ministry on earth. And he is prepared for what is ahead. But he knows that his friends and followers are still lost and not at all prepared for what is in store.

As he works his way toward Jerusalem, heading for the Passover that he will celebrate with his friends, he nears the town of Bethany, the town where his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus live. Outside the town he sees Mary and Martha coming out to meet him. Lazarus has been sick and has died. Martha, in her commanding way, tells Jesus: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died”. Jesus responds by reassuring Martha that her brother will rise again. Martha’s faith is seen in her reply to Jesus: “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day”. This is where we hear Jesus’ last “I am” statement: “I am the resurrection and the life”, and he follows it with a call to faith: “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”.

When Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” he was claiming to be the source of both. There is no resurrection apart from Christ, and there is no eternal life apart from Christ. Beyond that, Jesus was also making a statement concerning his divine nature. He does more than give life; he is life, and therefore death has no ultimate power over him. Jesus confronts this spiritual life on those who believe in him, so that they share his triumph over death. Believers in Jesus Christ will experience resurrection because, having the life Jesus gives, it is impossible for death to defeat them.

1 And then Jesus puts the ultimate question before the sisters. “Do you believe this?” In her mind, I’m sure Martha was thinking of the last days, the end days, when it is said that all the dead will be raised together. But here is Jesus now bringing the idea of the resurrection much closer to home. He wants it to be known that it is not just a hope of something for the future, but a certainty for the present. Jesus is both the life-giver now, and the future raiser of the dead. Resurrection is not just a far off hope, but something guaranteed by his presence. Because of Jesus, those who die as His will live again. Indeed, they who know him will never die.

The story of Lazarus functions as a parable of the Christian life. Jesus uses it to teach those he loves, as well as those standing by, the meaning of belief in God, and in God’s revealer, Himself. It is the first act of a three-act drama that helps those close to him, and helps us, understand what Jesus knows is coming just a short time later. Just as Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, unraveled his grave cloths, brought him from the darkness of death into the light of life, he prepares us for the darkness of into the glorious light of Easter.

Darkness and light are important themes in the Gospel of John. Earlier in the Gospel we learn about Nicodemus visiting Jesus at night and then we hear Jesus’ claim that “I am the light of the world”. Here we now find ourselves in Act Two with as she comes to the tomb while it is still dark. Perhaps she could not wait until daylight. In our John text, she did not bring ointment to anoint Jesus’ body, but she knew he wasn’t alive. She’d been there when he died. When she saw that the stone that sealed the tomb was rolled away she didn’t shout, “Christ is risen!” She didn’t assume resurrection. She just ran to tell Simon Peter and the other disciple, “the one whom Jesus loved”. We last saw this unnamed disciple at the foot of the cross with Jesus’ mother. He is the other disciple who stayed with Jesus through the crucifixion.

The two disciples ran a foot race to the grave, the “other disciple” getting there first. It’s hard for us to see any significance in that fact, but I feel compelled to add that one of the church fathers had a delightful explanation: “Ishodad of Merv, a bishop from around 850 AD, traces John’s greater speed to the fact that he was unmarried”.

2 Whatever the explanation, the other disciple looked into the tomb, but didn’t enter. Peter, probably panting a bit, reached the tomb and went inside. Goodness! Why does John include so many details about the grave cloths and their positions? The reason is plain and it brings us back to the Lazarus story: If anyone had removed the body, he would not have stripped it first; nor would he have taken the trouble to remove and roll up the soudarion and put it in a place by itself. The soudarion was a cloth covering the face of the deceased. Lazarus came out of the tomb, “his face wrapped in a cloth”. With the grave cloths left behind some might wonder what Jesus was wearing if he was alive.

Simon Peter saw all these details, but gave no response. Our text says that when the other disciple went in, “he saw and believed”. Both disciples then returned home. There’s no indication that they ran to tell anybody.

As the second act of the Easter drama ends, I think of a poem by R.S. Thomas, an Anglican priest who in his poem “The Answer” bears a glimmer of resurrection breaking through:

…There have been times when, after long on my knees in a cold chancel, a stone has rolled from my mind, and I have looked in and seen the old question lie folded and in a place by themselves, like the piled grave cloths of love’s risen body.

The third act of the Easter drama begins as Mary weeps alone outside the empty tomb. There is little connection between the beginning of this act and the end of the previous one. Despite the differences in the various Gospel readings, each tells us that the stone was rolled away, there were angels, and Mary Magdalene was there. She sits alone at the empty tomb. In John’s telling, when Mary looked into the tomb the grave cloths had been transformed into angels. That didn’t faze her; she treated them like orderlies stripping a hospital bed where you were looking for someone you love.

She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but assumed he was the gardener. Only John locates the tomb in a garden. She heard his voice calling her by name. Remember that when Jesus said “I am the good shepherd” we learned that the Good Shepherd knows each of his sheep by name and the sheep know his voice. Hearing

3 his voice, Mary cried out, “Rabboni”, teacher, claiming her place as Jesus’ rabbinical student. “Do not hold on to me,” Jesus said. We may try to hold onto Jesus with our creeds and confessions, our denominations and doctrines. But Jesus said “Go and tell”. His personal word to Mary could not stay private. Jesus’ words are also for us: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God”. Those of us who believe are granted the same relationship with God as Jesus has. So, Mary went and told the disciples “I have seen to Lord”.

Three disciples appear here in Act Three. One sees the grave cloths neatly folded and believes. The second sees the same thing and there is no indication that he believes anything. One is surprised into believing by hearing the sound of her name. In each of these we find ourselves at one time or another. John leaves room for each of us –for one who sees and believes, another who sees and leaves uncertain, and one who needs to hear her own name.

We each come to the resurrection story in our own way. The hope of the resurrection is that this world is not just where Jesus died – this is where Jesus lives! And because Jesus lives, because God has broken the power of sin and death, we have been set free to live as well. Sometimes that is hard to believe. Some days it is hard to see with eyes of faith.

Two resurrection stories. In one, Lazarus, even as we Christians whom he clearly represents in the story, comes stumbling out of the tomb to a new lease on life. Like we, he is still dragging around with him the wrappings of death. Because he had a mortal body, he would die again. After the resurrection, Jesus did not have a mortal body. He would never die again. He simply passed through those grave cloths. Jesus asked Mary and Martha: “Do you believe this?” They said, ”Yes, Lord, we believe”.

This is a day to celebrate, to share the victory feat of our God! We have been set free! Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”. Jesus asked Mary and Martha: “Do you believe this?” ”Yes, Lord,” they said, “we believe”. Good news

4 comes to us this day. We have been set free from the power of death. Christ is on the loose. No telling what he is up to next, but we can know for sure: He not only knows Mary’s name, he knows each of our names too.

5