An Appetizer
Sermon
Life Everlasting
The Essential Book of Funeral Resources
Object:
For a faithful 69-year-old woman following a second heart attack
An Appetizer
John 11:1-44
(The sermon text which follows had been preceded by a brief story of Ann's life and her relationship to the pastor and the people.)
You have heard the story of Ann's life. You have recognized, once again, the importance of God in one's life story. Ann would expect me to share just a portion of God's story, now, with you. So, listen to one chapter of this story.
(Read John 11:1-44.)
Within this rather extended story is my text for today. It is the shortest verse in the entire Bible: "Jesus wept." John's Gospel is the only one which relates this story about John's beloved friend, Lazarus. Lazarus had been sick. By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead four days. Some Jews were consoling the family -- perhaps in ways much as people have spoken to you and tried to console you these past few days. But, instead of going to the family in order to console them, Jesus went to the tomb. And, like you and me ... he wept. He wept because of a friend's death. Jesus, at this moment, also experienced, therefore, the truth of that passage in Ecclesiastes:
There is a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
Yes, in this life there is a time for everything. And Jesus, as you and I, wept at the tomb of death. And yet, he knew that in the eternal reaches of God's time, there is something more. For he says to Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall never die."
Then he says:
* while Lazarus lies dead;
* only a few chapters before the account of his own death; and
* in the midst of his own agony, loss, and mourning.
Jesus does not say that the dead will live on in the memories of the living ... although that may be true in some cases. He indicates something more important: the dead will live on with God through the resurrection; that is, through him. Still, despite his knowledge of God's victory to come in his own resurrection, Jesus wept. Our text gives us no clearly defined answer as to why Jesus cried. Only one thing is certain: Jesus did not cry because he felt guilty about delaying four days before coming to the aid of an ailing, beloved friend.
This raises the question about Jesus' divine and human natures and their relationships to one another. Here is John's account. We meet the human Jesus of Nazareth crying over the loss of a friend ... while at the same time he knew the outcome for Lazarus and for himself. Jesus Christ did not feel guilty. But, Jesus did weep ... just as you do now. And because of those tears, our Lord can comfort us because he has been here in grief.
He has gone before us. Now he will walk through the valley of despair ... loneliness ... and grief, with us, as our companion on the way. And like the preacher of Ecclesiastes, we shall find that we will dance again ... as unbelievable as that may now sound. We shall find ourselves laughing with Paul at death and the grave: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" For we know, with Paul, that Christ is the resurrection and the life; Christ has conquered death, and as a result, death has no longer a sting, no longer a victory over us.
True, like Jesus, we weep; but it is for our loss, not for those who have died in the Lord. For those who die in Jesus Christ have God with them.
Yet, the sting is there for us. We think it will linger on forever. We find it hard to imagine that we will laugh. So, let me tell you a story. When I was about ten or eleven years old, I was outdoors playing with some friends, the Lipsk brothers. Raymond and Mike and I were playing in the front yard when Ray announced that he had just placed his foot over a hole in the ground. Quickly, I remembered that this was the very spot where we had seen wasps flying in and out of a hole. Taking charge, I told Ray not to remove his foot, and for Mike to run to the backyard and bring a board so that I could slide it over the hole, while Ray simultaneously slid his foot off the hole. As I was bending over the spot, with the board in my hand, and my face about six inches from the ground, Ray panicked and removed his foot. Many angry wasps came flying out -- directly at my face, stinging me countless times. Needless to say, I left my beloved bicycle where it was and ran home to my parents for comfort. My father soothed my stings. Yet, I must say that at that moment I thought the stings would never go away. But they did. I did eventually stop crying.
In similar fashion, we will reach a point when we cry no more. Jesus, likewise, reached a point when he ceased to weep. Then he resurrected his beloved friend. He raised him from the tomb and Jesus' raising of Lazarus is a foretaste, an appetizer of Jesus Christ's own resurrection -- and of ours. I know. You know. Ann knew and believed. What? That our redeemer lives! And we know that whoever believes in him, though he or she dies, yet shall they live with God. And since our living redeemer, Jesus Christ, wept and suffered at death's tomb, he can be with you ... always. Go in peace. Amen.
(Reprinted from "I'll Give You A Daisy A Day," CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio 45804, © 1978.)
An Appetizer
John 11:1-44
(The sermon text which follows had been preceded by a brief story of Ann's life and her relationship to the pastor and the people.)
You have heard the story of Ann's life. You have recognized, once again, the importance of God in one's life story. Ann would expect me to share just a portion of God's story, now, with you. So, listen to one chapter of this story.
(Read John 11:1-44.)
Within this rather extended story is my text for today. It is the shortest verse in the entire Bible: "Jesus wept." John's Gospel is the only one which relates this story about John's beloved friend, Lazarus. Lazarus had been sick. By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead four days. Some Jews were consoling the family -- perhaps in ways much as people have spoken to you and tried to console you these past few days. But, instead of going to the family in order to console them, Jesus went to the tomb. And, like you and me ... he wept. He wept because of a friend's death. Jesus, at this moment, also experienced, therefore, the truth of that passage in Ecclesiastes:
There is a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
Yes, in this life there is a time for everything. And Jesus, as you and I, wept at the tomb of death. And yet, he knew that in the eternal reaches of God's time, there is something more. For he says to Martha: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall never die."
Then he says:
* while Lazarus lies dead;
* only a few chapters before the account of his own death; and
* in the midst of his own agony, loss, and mourning.
Jesus does not say that the dead will live on in the memories of the living ... although that may be true in some cases. He indicates something more important: the dead will live on with God through the resurrection; that is, through him. Still, despite his knowledge of God's victory to come in his own resurrection, Jesus wept. Our text gives us no clearly defined answer as to why Jesus cried. Only one thing is certain: Jesus did not cry because he felt guilty about delaying four days before coming to the aid of an ailing, beloved friend.
This raises the question about Jesus' divine and human natures and their relationships to one another. Here is John's account. We meet the human Jesus of Nazareth crying over the loss of a friend ... while at the same time he knew the outcome for Lazarus and for himself. Jesus Christ did not feel guilty. But, Jesus did weep ... just as you do now. And because of those tears, our Lord can comfort us because he has been here in grief.
He has gone before us. Now he will walk through the valley of despair ... loneliness ... and grief, with us, as our companion on the way. And like the preacher of Ecclesiastes, we shall find that we will dance again ... as unbelievable as that may now sound. We shall find ourselves laughing with Paul at death and the grave: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" For we know, with Paul, that Christ is the resurrection and the life; Christ has conquered death, and as a result, death has no longer a sting, no longer a victory over us.
True, like Jesus, we weep; but it is for our loss, not for those who have died in the Lord. For those who die in Jesus Christ have God with them.
Yet, the sting is there for us. We think it will linger on forever. We find it hard to imagine that we will laugh. So, let me tell you a story. When I was about ten or eleven years old, I was outdoors playing with some friends, the Lipsk brothers. Raymond and Mike and I were playing in the front yard when Ray announced that he had just placed his foot over a hole in the ground. Quickly, I remembered that this was the very spot where we had seen wasps flying in and out of a hole. Taking charge, I told Ray not to remove his foot, and for Mike to run to the backyard and bring a board so that I could slide it over the hole, while Ray simultaneously slid his foot off the hole. As I was bending over the spot, with the board in my hand, and my face about six inches from the ground, Ray panicked and removed his foot. Many angry wasps came flying out -- directly at my face, stinging me countless times. Needless to say, I left my beloved bicycle where it was and ran home to my parents for comfort. My father soothed my stings. Yet, I must say that at that moment I thought the stings would never go away. But they did. I did eventually stop crying.
In similar fashion, we will reach a point when we cry no more. Jesus, likewise, reached a point when he ceased to weep. Then he resurrected his beloved friend. He raised him from the tomb and Jesus' raising of Lazarus is a foretaste, an appetizer of Jesus Christ's own resurrection -- and of ours. I know. You know. Ann knew and believed. What? That our redeemer lives! And we know that whoever believes in him, though he or she dies, yet shall they live with God. And since our living redeemer, Jesus Christ, wept and suffered at death's tomb, he can be with you ... always. Go in peace. Amen.
(Reprinted from "I'll Give You A Daisy A Day," CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio 45804, © 1978.)
