Sermon Sunday March 9, 2008
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Earlier this week I learned from a friend of mine out in Iowa that a movie is currently being shot in Wisconsin. And apparently people are being invited to come to an open casting call to possibly be an extra in the movie. Apparently they need quite a few people. My friend was going to go but he soon found out that they are asking that any men that audition be no taller 6’1, well he is 6’3, so he couldn’t go.
And the reason they don’t want anyone taller than 6’1 is because they don’t want anyone to be taller than the two main stars. It’s about perspective. They want to convey the idea that these two characters are the centerpieces of the film and making sure that they are as tall, or taller than everyone else in the film will help to underscore that point. Someone can appear to invoke a very large and dominant presence until somebody larger and taller and more dominant comes along.
And so in the Word that our Lord brings us this morning we are presented with two great miracles that, on their own, seem very impressive. In our Old Testament lesson we read of something that seems almost like a scene from a good sci-fi movie.
Ezekiel writes of being brought by the hand of the Lord into a valley where he was surrounded by dry bones, where he is asked by God if these bones can live. Ezekiel, seeming kind of like he doesn’t really know what to say then says "O Lord God, you know." And then Ezekiel is told by the Lord to prophesy to the bones and tell them that the Lord will put breath in them and will give them flesh and cover their bodies with skin. And Ezekiel does as He is told and is stunned as he sees this very thing happening. He witnesses these bones coming together and being covered with skin and then he is told to prophesy to breath so that breath will come from the four winds and come into these skin-covered bodies that not that long ago were a bunch of dry bones. And breath comes into them, and what used to a bunch of dry bones now stands before Ezekiel as a vast multitude.
And in the Gospel lesson we have of course the very well known story of the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead for three days and Jesus brings him back to life simply by standing in front of Lazarus’ tomb with the stone rolled away and literally commanding Lazarus to rise by saying "Lazarus, come out!!" And Lazarus comes out of tomb alive.
These are two remarkable miracles to be certain. But they are not the whole story. They are really just reflections of the far more impressive and glorious act that was to come. Unfortunately we sometimes forget that in Christ Jesus God brings us so much more than what we see in either of these miracle stories.
As impressive as the raising of Lazarus is, Jesus was not sent to be a faith-healer or a miracle worker. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is impressive and certainly gets our attention, but Lazarus still died. Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb was not the defeat of Lazarus’ death but simply the postponement of it. But eventually, his death came. Jesus is surrounded by people in this story who couldn’t see Jesus as anything more than the One who could bring Lazarus back to life. They were under the impression that the best that Jesus could offer was simply the delaying of our death but ultimately they believed that death would have the final victory.
But we’re just the same, in fact we’re probably worse. We’re probably more like the dead bones from the Old Testament lesson. We are like the dead bones in that we daily put our hope in the temporary even when the eternal is staring us right in our face. We work ourselves to the bone. We pour ourselves into pursuits of entertainment and excessive consumption. We set our mind on the flesh rather than the Spirit. Meanwhile in the midst of our obsessions with the temporary, the things of flesh, we allow the essential to slip by us.
So yes, we are not only like Mary and Martha and even Lazarus, who even having been raised from the dead, was still sick with the same faithlessness which was the real source of his death, but we are also like the dry bones in the lesson from Ezekiel. It's true we are among the people of God whom the Lord tells Ezekiel the bones are. But that’s actually pretty scary when you read verse 9 where they are referred to as the ‘slain’ or maybe even scarier in verse 11 where it says that ‘we are cut off completely.’
But that is the truth. Having been cast-off from God, we are as good as dead, and we cannot resuscitate ourselves. But the Lord poses a question to Ezekiel and asks him, "Can these bones live?" He asks Ezekiel this question and, as I pointed out before, Ezekiel doesn’t really appear to know how to answer that question. But that doesn’t matter because God has already decided for Himself. He already knows the answer and the answer is an emphatic ‘yes.’ And He doesn’t just promise that these bones can live again but promises that they will live again.
At the time that Ezekiel would have said these words they would have been alluding to Israel’s return from exile, but these events also point to something deeper that applies just as much to us as it did to ancient Israel. These words point to the same thing that the raising of Lazarus pointed to. Both of these events point to God’s people being rescued from sin, death, the devil. They point to the moment when the One who called Lazarus out of the tomb would go into death Himself, and He would take with Him the sin that leaves us dead in the valley. The gulf between us and God that is created by sin has been bridged by the forgiveness won for us on the cross of Christ.
And in the waters of baptism you were marked with that cross and sealed by the Holy Spirit and through the Words of promise that were spoken over you at the font, the power that death has over you was taken away. You may still face death but death will not have the final say.
These are two impressive events; the raising of Lazarus, and the dry bones taking on skin and flesh and coming to life. They are amazing and they would have been impressive to see. But again, they must be kept in perspective. God did not send His Son Christ Jesus to delay death. Christ Jesus came to defeat death. He didn’t come just to bring us back to life, He came to give us new life. And that is exactly what He did for us by dying our death for us.
Indeed your place in our Lord’s eternal kingdom is secure and He wants to make sure that you are aware of it and that you believe it. And so He sends the Holy Spirit who claimed you in baptism. And He pours the Holy Spirit within you. The Holy Spirit dwelling within you calls you away from setting your mind on the flesh, and calls you to the Spirit which is life and peace. He calls you to faith in the One who suffered and died for you, was raised for you, and now comes to you in His Word and sacrament.
And so whatever hope or promise you may see in these two great miracle stories, it is merely a reflection of the hope and promise we have in Christ Jesus. And this hope has not been given to us to hoard and keep to ourselves. It is ours to give freely by simply proclaiming the Gospel of Christ Jesus as the crucified and risen Son of God as Savior of the world. These may seem like mere words, but while Ezekiel and Lazarus show us that words spoken under the authority of the Lord can raise the dead, the event of the death and resurrection of Christ that these miracles point to remind us that words spoken under the authority of the Lord can give new life.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Earlier this week I learned from a friend of mine out in Iowa that a movie is currently being shot in Wisconsin. And apparently people are being invited to come to an open casting call to possibly be an extra in the movie. Apparently they need quite a few people. My friend was going to go but he soon found out that they are asking that any men that audition be no taller 6’1, well he is 6’3, so he couldn’t go.
And the reason they don’t want anyone taller than 6’1 is because they don’t want anyone to be taller than the two main stars. It’s about perspective. They want to convey the idea that these two characters are the centerpieces of the film and making sure that they are as tall, or taller than everyone else in the film will help to underscore that point. Someone can appear to invoke a very large and dominant presence until somebody larger and taller and more dominant comes along.
And so in the Word that our Lord brings us this morning we are presented with two great miracles that, on their own, seem very impressive. In our Old Testament lesson we read of something that seems almost like a scene from a good sci-fi movie.
Ezekiel writes of being brought by the hand of the Lord into a valley where he was surrounded by dry bones, where he is asked by God if these bones can live. Ezekiel, seeming kind of like he doesn’t really know what to say then says "O Lord God, you know." And then Ezekiel is told by the Lord to prophesy to the bones and tell them that the Lord will put breath in them and will give them flesh and cover their bodies with skin. And Ezekiel does as He is told and is stunned as he sees this very thing happening. He witnesses these bones coming together and being covered with skin and then he is told to prophesy to breath so that breath will come from the four winds and come into these skin-covered bodies that not that long ago were a bunch of dry bones. And breath comes into them, and what used to a bunch of dry bones now stands before Ezekiel as a vast multitude.
And in the Gospel lesson we have of course the very well known story of the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead for three days and Jesus brings him back to life simply by standing in front of Lazarus’ tomb with the stone rolled away and literally commanding Lazarus to rise by saying "Lazarus, come out!!" And Lazarus comes out of tomb alive.
These are two remarkable miracles to be certain. But they are not the whole story. They are really just reflections of the far more impressive and glorious act that was to come. Unfortunately we sometimes forget that in Christ Jesus God brings us so much more than what we see in either of these miracle stories.
As impressive as the raising of Lazarus is, Jesus was not sent to be a faith-healer or a miracle worker. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is impressive and certainly gets our attention, but Lazarus still died. Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb was not the defeat of Lazarus’ death but simply the postponement of it. But eventually, his death came. Jesus is surrounded by people in this story who couldn’t see Jesus as anything more than the One who could bring Lazarus back to life. They were under the impression that the best that Jesus could offer was simply the delaying of our death but ultimately they believed that death would have the final victory.
But we’re just the same, in fact we’re probably worse. We’re probably more like the dead bones from the Old Testament lesson. We are like the dead bones in that we daily put our hope in the temporary even when the eternal is staring us right in our face. We work ourselves to the bone. We pour ourselves into pursuits of entertainment and excessive consumption. We set our mind on the flesh rather than the Spirit. Meanwhile in the midst of our obsessions with the temporary, the things of flesh, we allow the essential to slip by us.
So yes, we are not only like Mary and Martha and even Lazarus, who even having been raised from the dead, was still sick with the same faithlessness which was the real source of his death, but we are also like the dry bones in the lesson from Ezekiel. It's true we are among the people of God whom the Lord tells Ezekiel the bones are. But that’s actually pretty scary when you read verse 9 where they are referred to as the ‘slain’ or maybe even scarier in verse 11 where it says that ‘we are cut off completely.’
But that is the truth. Having been cast-off from God, we are as good as dead, and we cannot resuscitate ourselves. But the Lord poses a question to Ezekiel and asks him, "Can these bones live?" He asks Ezekiel this question and, as I pointed out before, Ezekiel doesn’t really appear to know how to answer that question. But that doesn’t matter because God has already decided for Himself. He already knows the answer and the answer is an emphatic ‘yes.’ And He doesn’t just promise that these bones can live again but promises that they will live again.
At the time that Ezekiel would have said these words they would have been alluding to Israel’s return from exile, but these events also point to something deeper that applies just as much to us as it did to ancient Israel. These words point to the same thing that the raising of Lazarus pointed to. Both of these events point to God’s people being rescued from sin, death, the devil. They point to the moment when the One who called Lazarus out of the tomb would go into death Himself, and He would take with Him the sin that leaves us dead in the valley. The gulf between us and God that is created by sin has been bridged by the forgiveness won for us on the cross of Christ.
And in the waters of baptism you were marked with that cross and sealed by the Holy Spirit and through the Words of promise that were spoken over you at the font, the power that death has over you was taken away. You may still face death but death will not have the final say.
These are two impressive events; the raising of Lazarus, and the dry bones taking on skin and flesh and coming to life. They are amazing and they would have been impressive to see. But again, they must be kept in perspective. God did not send His Son Christ Jesus to delay death. Christ Jesus came to defeat death. He didn’t come just to bring us back to life, He came to give us new life. And that is exactly what He did for us by dying our death for us.
Indeed your place in our Lord’s eternal kingdom is secure and He wants to make sure that you are aware of it and that you believe it. And so He sends the Holy Spirit who claimed you in baptism. And He pours the Holy Spirit within you. The Holy Spirit dwelling within you calls you away from setting your mind on the flesh, and calls you to the Spirit which is life and peace. He calls you to faith in the One who suffered and died for you, was raised for you, and now comes to you in His Word and sacrament.
And so whatever hope or promise you may see in these two great miracle stories, it is merely a reflection of the hope and promise we have in Christ Jesus. And this hope has not been given to us to hoard and keep to ourselves. It is ours to give freely by simply proclaiming the Gospel of Christ Jesus as the crucified and risen Son of God as Savior of the world. These may seem like mere words, but while Ezekiel and Lazarus show us that words spoken under the authority of the Lord can raise the dead, the event of the death and resurrection of Christ that these miracles point to remind us that words spoken under the authority of the Lord can give new life.
Amen
posted by Steve at 1:15 PM
1 Comments:
I really liked this sermon. Neat intro and how you used that story about perspective to tie in with the miracle stories.
I just loved this part:
"Jesus is surrounded by people in this story who couldn’t see Jesus as anything more than the One who could bring Lazarus back to life. They were under the impression that the best that Jesus could offer was simply the delaying of our death but ultimately they believed that death would have the final victory."
Right there is a Easter sermon all set and ready to go. In fact, I may write that down for an idea for next easter.
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