JOHN 11: 32-44
Jottings on John…All Saints…Revised 2018
(For Pentecost +24, see MK 12:13-34 at marginallymark.blogspot.com.
I’ve commented on this somewhere before, but J.A. Swanson’s bright cover for William Willimon’s ‘The Intrusive Word’1, vibrantly illustrates the scene in the cemetery at Bethany. An icon, really. A crowd of people wending their way to Lazarus’ grave via different paths. Carrying arms-full of bright flowers. The tomb, in the foreground. Singers & musicians are playing, &, no doubt, wailing. Children are climbing on top of the tomb for a better view of what’s going on here.
Men have rolled the great stone seal aside. Martha & Mary are there, of course, comforting one another. Jesus & Lazarus are hugging. Lazarus, a grey-looking figure, still bound in grave cloths. Jesus, in bright gold, looks to be using His free hand to remove His friend’s head cloth! This vivid portrayal is brimming with life. Brings the whole scene alive. As Jesus brings Lazarus to life. As Jesus is Resurrection & Life. This picture by Swanson has helped bring the story of Lazarus alive for me more than any sermon I’ve preached - or heard! Can we bring out in our preaching how Lazarus’ raising might speak meaningfully to us now? Can we bring ourselves to let God hug us as Jesus hugs Lazarus? And pass that hug on to others?
Let’s preach to the moment, rather than as a history lesson. Vividly, vibrantly, colourfully. No more shades of grey. Resurrection’s in the air. Not only for Lazarus back then. For us, too. Now! How can we bring the story to life so it brings us all back to life? Help us all find ourselves in the picture in a today version of the story? Jesus can still raise us up from any deadness we’re experiencing. No need to wait for any raising up on some ‘Last Day’! God in Jesus can free us right now from whatever binds us & keeps us dead & ‘grey’. Once we come to the point of owning whatever it is we need ‘raising’ from.
The ‘icon’ I’m referring to above also illustrates the way our lives are all inter-linked: with the colourful & not so colourful all caught up together with, one way or another, everyone & everything going on. And finding them all Life-giving. Can we bring today’s story out of its past & into our own present? Can we put the ‘raising’ question in a not-back-then-but-alive-in-us-all-&-making-us-all-alive-&-kicking-with-God-in-God’s-Present-Tense? God’s Now.
Afterthought: As I join in reciting the Creed, Eucharist by Eucharist, I find myself pondering - along with other questions - whether if we don’t find & enjoy Resurrection in this world we’ll ever recognise the one we expect to experience & enjoy on That Day?
Brian
