Sermon 29 March 2029. Dave Johnston John 11: 1-45 With most people now forced to spend more time at home I wonder how many are watching BBC2s ‘Race across the world’, where 5 couples compete to be the first to travel over 5,000 miles with just a small amount of money. Air travel and smartphones are banned. The challengers set off in Mexico City and are heading for the most southerly city in the world - Ushuaia in Argentina. A fascinating programme because it not only gives an interesting perspective on South and Central America, it demonstrates how human beings behave when put into situations out of their comfort zone. Each one has to negotiate new unfamiliar territory, a language they don’t understand and cope with the many challenges of a long, arduous journey. As our world deals with the coronavirus, we too are in unfamiliar territory, learning a new language and facing many challenges. We are also waiting for the virus to reach a peak, be controlled and obliterated from our lives. This could take time. In the TV programme, whilst there are periods of frantic activity, running to a checkpoint or to catch a bus, there are times of waiting: couples rush to a station to discover that the next train out leaves in 10 hours, or a boat across the river goes ‘sometime tomorrow, if the weather is ok’. Waiting, in normal times and uncertain times, is a necessary part of our lives. And I want us to consider some things from this famous passage from John 11. 1. What can we learn about God in the waiting? When we read the first few verses of this passage I think my question would be why did Jesus not act immediately? Jesus is a close friend of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, almost like a family member. Word gets to Jesus that Lazarus is ill and if we read v6 in isolation we wonder what is going on. ‘When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days’. Why not go immediately? And over and over again this question may arise for us – ‘I’ve prayed about this difficult situation, I know God has the power to change things, so why is he waiting?’ I think the first thing we always need to acknowledge is that God is God. By his very nature He is much bigger than us, he knows much more than we do, he sees a much bigger picture and on top of that he has chosen to work in a world where he has given the people He created the gift of freewill. There are a number of factors there which may help us to see that just because we think the answer to our prayer should happen now, it may not be as straightforward as we think. On top of that is the whole area of us living in a fallen imperfect world which hasn’t yet come under the dominion and authority of God’s Kingdom. Its helpful in this story to look at v4-7 together: V4 Jesus makes a promise ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it’. Not only is Lazarus going to be ok but Jesus will be glorified. A promise has been made. In the waiting let us not forget the promises he has made in his word. V5 ‘Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.’ In the waiting let us not forget He loves us, more than we know. V6 ‘He stayed two more days.’ God’s timing may not fit our agenda, but we have to trust him. V7 (and if you read the rest of the chapter) the promise is fulfilled. Jesus goes to Judea and Lazarus is raised from the dead, a distinctly more powerful miracle than healing him. Sometimes waiting may turn out to be the best thing that can happen to us 2. Why does Jesus respond differently to the same comment? When Jesus finally arrives in Bethany Lazarus is already dead. Martha and Mary are being comforted by their neighbours and they hear that Jesus is there. Martha goes straight out to meet Jesus and her first comment to him is: V21 ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ Let’s read down to v32, where we now see Mary coming out to Jesus: V32 says ‘Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died’ Two sisters, both grieving over the death of their brother, both say exactly the same thing to Jesus. Now let us see how Jesus responds. Firstly Martha. ‘If you’d been here my brother would not have died, but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’ Jesus says ‘Your brother will rise again’ (don’t give up Martha) ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection’ (The Jewish belief was that on the day of judgement everyone is raised) No Martha, you need to understand. Jesus says, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ As ‘The Message’ version says ‘right now.’ Tim Keller says, ‘the flow of Martha’s heart is towards despair, but Jesus is pushing against that flow. He’s rebuking her doubt and giving her hope’. Now contrast this with Jesus and Mary: ‘If you’d been here my brother would not have died’ Mary says in v32 But there is more going on here, in v33, ‘when Jesus saw her weeping, and the others also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled’. He asks where Lazarus has been laid and then he too begins to cry. The Son of God, the King of kings, weeping and emotional. Bringing up children requires the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of a saint. When our two youngest boys were 5 and 8 years old they played a lot together, which also meant that on most days, they tried to kill each other a lot too. We bought them Lego, because on the box there was a picture of two small children building amazing cars and houses, and they were smiling and playing nicely. In that Lego box was a guarantee that said ‘this warranty for children playing Lego nicely together lasts for seven minutes’ (It didn’t, but it would have been accurate). On more than one occasion I’d be reading the paper or whatever, having got the Lego out on the floor upstairs for them, when seven mins later it all kicked off. Middle son and youngest son came running downstairs; middle son, floods of tears, ‘the Lego I made is all broken!’ and I gave him a hug, ‘don’t worry we’ll get it fixed.’ Youngest son was giggling and smiling ‘the Lego we made is all broken!’ He didn’t get a hug, he got a lecture. He got some hard truths ‘if you can’t play Lego nicely with your brother you’ll have to sit on your bed!’ The next day they swapped roles and the scene repeated itself A good parent knows when to operate the parenting of compassion and when to operate the parenting of shame (sorry, I mean discipline!) Jesus’ response to Martha and Mary tells us something profound about how he relates to us. Jesus knows us so well that he ministers to us in exactly the way that we need in any given situation. For Martha Jesus gave her the ministry of truth, because that was what she needed ‘listen, don’t give up. I am the resurrection and the life’. For Mary Jesus gave the ministry of tears, because that is what she needed; in fact I don’t think in that moment He was able to do much else other than weep with Mary. He was overwhelmed with grief. And this is a deep and profound aspect of the nature of Jesus that we will never fully grasp. Not only is he fully divine and to Martha demonstrating his power over death and his power to bring new life out of death, but he is fully human too and when confronted with great sadness, is overwhelmed with emotion. He is Wonderful Counsellor, but also mighty God, he’s the Everlasting Father, but also the Prince of Peace. He’s the Lion of Judah, but also the Lamb of God. Jesus is our everything. And like a good parent He loves each one of us exactly the same, but in any given moment he responds to us completely uniquely. Your relationship with God is completely different to my relationship with God, except for one thing, He loves you with exactly the same amount of love as He loves me. No more and no less. And like Mary and Martha, he will respond to us depending on what we need at the time. Sometimes we need a challenging word from scripture; sometimes He will send us a friend to simply be quiet with us; sometimes it is a word of encouragement. And of course, as Christ’s ambassadors in this world, we too must pray for wisdom and grace in how we respond to the needs of those around us. The coming weeks will be deeply challenging for all of us, for some it will be much, much harder. In this passage we are reminded not only of Jesus’ power over death (and all of us will experience Jesus as the ‘Resurrection and the Life’), but his enormous compassion and joining in with the suffering, questioning and sadness of our humanity.