Life-Giving Words and Acts

homily by

The Rev. Dr. Stephen L. White

Grace Episcopal Church, Great Barrington, Massachusetts

March 29, 2020

Sometimes the readings assigned for Sunday seem to be just what we need to hear when we need to hear it. I think that’s true for todays’s gospel story about Jesus life-giving words and actions in John 11:1-45.

Do you know the Jesus prayer? It’s a simple prayer from the Eastern Orthodox Church that you can say over and over silently as you walk up a flight of stairs or wait for your toast to pop up in the morning, or fold laundry or empty the dishwasher.

It goes like this:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Hold that thought for a minute while I say a few words about today’s gospel story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. At our house we used to re-enact this miracle every school-day morning when we had to get Aidan out of bed. The dead comes back to life!

Seriously: Here’s the key point about today’s gospel in just eight words that I want you to remember: Jesus speaks and acts, and there is life. That’s what this gospel passage is about – a message we so desperately need to hear and take into our hearts and minds during these perilous times. Jesus speaks and acts, and there is life.

In our 3 year cycle of Sunday Bible readings we have this Lazarus story in year A on the fifth Sunday of Lent, and in the off years we are encouraged to use this gospel on weekdays during the fifth week of Lent. So the church thinks there is an important message for us here.

There is the culmination of a progression here and in other similar gospel stories. In Mark and Luke we have the raising of Jairus’ daughter who has just died. In Luke we have the raising of the son of the widow in Nain who is being carried out for burial. As always, the punch line – implicit in the action and made forceful here – is “Jesus speaks and acts, and there is life.”

These stories of the raising of the dead play a crucial role in the gospel narratives because they set in motion the events leading to the crucifixion. The narrative of the giving of life leads, then, to death.

Theologically the story is even more important. The dialog and the discourse draw out the theological point that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Sometimes things in the Bible are a little bit obscure, but this could not be more clear: He who will go to his own death is life for us.

So the high point in the narrative is the great pronouncement that has been echoed in the Anglican burial office since the Reformation: “I am the resurrection and the life, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” And then Jesus very pointedly says “Do you believe this?”

Well, do you? He’s not just putting this question to his disciples in the Bible story; he’s asking us too. “Do you believe this?”

The theology of the story of the giving of life is a promise of never-ending life. This never-ending life is not only for later when our bodies die – it is a living reality, here and now and always, animated in us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In this moment when we are isolated in our homes by the threat of a deadly disease and consumed with worry about what will happen to us and those we love, along comes this beautiful story of Jesus giving us abundant life. We hear this story now just when we need to hear it most.

And I think this message of life is about the life of the church as well. It suggests that our Christian religion should be life-giving, not deadening. It should enliven us, not suck the air out of us. It should fill us with joy, not with dread and fear and guilt.

In a way, this is a kind of litmus test – a way to tell truth from falsehood. If something deadens us, if something brings us down low, then there is no truth in it and it is not from God. But if it gives us life – abundant life – then it is filled with truth and is from God. So, when you hear Billy Graham’s son and daughter or Jerry Falwell, Jr. saying COVID-19 is a test from God or is a punishment for sins, that’s not from God. Jesus wants us to follow him but he doesn’t beat us up if we don’t; he gently beckons us, but doesn’t destroy us.

Remember the Jesus prayer I told you about at the beginning? Well, I want to suggest an alternative version of the Jesus prayer that is perfect for these troubled times which is the gospel narrative’s punch line. Say it with me:

Jesus speaks and acts, and there is life.

Let us pray:

We give thanks to you, O God,

even for this terrible time,

but only because we trust that you are in it,

speaking to us and acting for the good of us all

and making holy our deepest distress.

Amen.