Our experience as human beings deals in a world of measurement. A house has so many square feet of living space … it has so many rooms. A refrigerator has so many cubic feet of storage. A person is a certain height … has a certain eye color … hair color … weight. We even measure time. The house was built in 1945. The refrigerator was manufactured in 2015. The person was born in 1987. We are used to the idea that we can measure both things and people.
Measurements mean limits. In fact, measurements tell us where the limits are. If we say a box is 24″ x 12″ x 12″ we cannot put something that is 36″ long into that box. 36″ is beyond the limits of that box. We know the limits of the box because we have measured them.
We live in a world where we can measure everything … everything has limits or so we think. That is one of the challenges we have when God reveals Himself as one who has no limits … One who cannot be measured. It is very difficult to understand that when we say God is eternal, we mean that from God’s perspective, all time is “now.” And that He existed before there was time. When we say that God is omnipresent, we mean that, from God’s perspective, all places are “within Him”. God has no limits and that is very hard for our limited, human minds to understand.
Then, as though that weren’t enough, that limitless God decided to save us by taking on humanity into Himself. Now we have the one person, Jesus Christ, who is both 100% God and 100% man. I am very thankful that God does not ask me to understand by my reason how this all works. Instead He asks me to believe that it is so, and He sends the Holy Spirit to give that belief to me.
Today’s Gospel is about people who had placed limits on Jesus. Martha placed limits on Jesus. She said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Some of the visitors who came to comfort Mary and Martha also said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Every one of these people put a limit on Jesus. They all believed that Jesus could have cured Lazarus when Lazarus was still alive, but, now that Lazarus was dead, they felt there was no hope. They all believed that death was the limit. They all believed that death was the line where the power of Jesus came to an end. In a world of measurements … in a world of limits, they believed that Jesus could not overcome death.
Death is a universal experience. Different cultures have different ways of coping with death, but all cultures must deal with death in some way. Human experience teaches us that dead is dead. Once you are dead, there is nothing that can be done to undo it.
There can be any number of reasons that death comes. The immediate cause of death can be anything from accidental trauma to the failures of old age. In spite of the many different causes of death that could be listed on a death certificates, there is only one ultimate cause of death. The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write, (Romans 5:12) Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
Death spreads through sin. Do you want to know if someone is a sinner? Then wait around to see if they die. If they die, then they were a sinner. “But pastor,” you say, “Everyone dies!” Exactly! That is what the Holy Spirit teaches us through the words of the Apostle Paul.
Faithful pastors don’t have to proclaim a lot of law at a funeral. There is the dead body in the casket proclaiming, “I am dead. The wages of sin is death. In fact because I am a sinner, I deserve to be in hell.” With a sermon like that pouring out of the casket, the faithful pastor proclaims the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins, and the hope and promise of the resurrection of the body through Jesus Christ, the crucified and resurrected One.
There is no one who is master over death except the One who created life and has redeemed life. Jesus Christ, who to conquer sin which rules through death, took on mortal flesh to fulfill the measurements and requirements of the Law and then allowed Himself to be put to death in the flesh at the cross to atone for sin AND to give hope by the immeasurable gift of grace and love which God has for sinners. As St. Paul wrote: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) It is only the voice of the One who came to overcome sin, death and the devil who can break through the deafening stillness of death to speak life. This is the message of Jesus who stepped up to the tomb of the man who was definitely dead and cried: “Lazarus, come out.” He has the power to call out to the dead and bring the dead back to life. This is the proclamation of the man who is also God and who has no limits. He is as He said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25) These are the only words that can overcome the proclamation of a dead body in a casket. These are words that give comfort in the face of death.
Sadly, not everyone trusts the proclamation of the one who raised Lazarus from the dead. We saw it in the text for today as the Pharisees and Chief priests conspired against Jesus. We see it in the rejection of this message of hope in Jesus Christ by those who refuse to heed His voice calling them from spiritual death to life. People often put limits on God according to what they want or feel or think. They may think that they would rather trust in their works or they feel that their sins are too wicked to be forgiven. The reality is that spiritually we are all as dry bones and dead already. If you have believed, but have gone on sinning, when you sin you are adding the stink and rot of death to what had been clean and alive. When you allow fear to control you, you are enslaving yourself again to sin and its rule which binds you up in its power and leads to spiritual and eternal death.
Into the valley of your dry bones, God calls with the voice of His Son prophesying and preaching the Good News that hope is not lost. Hope is regained in Jesus Christ. He has died for your sins. Come forth from the tomb of sin and spiritual death that your sin may be put to death and you may live in Christ’s resurrection. He has washed you in the blood of Jesus Christ in baptism and has now taken again your sin as you confessed them and are now absolved and forgiven in Jesus Christ’s name. Now as with the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel or at the tomb of Lazarus, God in Jesus Christ has called you by name, and by His Holy Spirit has called you to believe and to have life by that faith in He who has taken your sin in His death and now gives life by that forgiveness and His own resurrection. He has unbound you and loosed you from sin, so that you may live in hope and joy. By His blood and His body given for you in His Word and here in the Sacrament of the Altar, He has caused His flesh to come upon you giving you the flesh, bone, and sinew of one redeemed in Jesus Christ and given the breath of life. Now with each breath in this lifetime, you may pray, rejoice, and give thanks for the immeasurable love which He has shown you. In the midst of sorrow, suffering and trouble, you have a place of solace and comfort. Jesus has been there, He too has grieved and knows the bitterness of death, therefore we can pray for strength. He will hear you for you have heard His voice and continue to be strengthened by His voice here in His Word where He serves you food and drink for your spiritual good which sustains you even in your physical body. He is already preparing you for the resurrection of all flesh. “The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:10-11)
Should you or I or any loved one who had faith in Jesus Christ die according to the body before Jesus Christ returns, know that He will keep the promise of His own resurrection, for He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Whether we are dead for four days, four years, or four thousand years, Jesus will return and raise us from the dead from the tombs, graves, ashes, and dust, and He will bring us into the true promise land of Holy Israel. There we and all believers shall dwell forever soul and body never to die again. We shall live in limitless joy without measure of time, in the abundance of the glories of our Lord and God who has given us the victory through Jesus Christ who is the resurrection and the life. Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas