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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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That We May Believe |
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John
11:40-43 Sixteenth
Sunday after Trinity September
27, 2009 A man has died. His body lies in the tomb. Gathered before the grave is a group of relatives and friends, weeping and trying to console one another in the face of the terrifying and mysterious enemy we call death. But one Man weeps for a different reason. Not for fear, not for grief at the passing of a friend; He weeps for the misery and sorrow human sin has placed upon all people. He weeps for the misery and sorrow that kills the soul as well as the body. He weeps for the total lack of faith in most people, and for the smallness and weakness of faith in those who have it. And in the face of all this grief, and the loss, and the stench of death, this Man calls out loudly, there can be no mistake about what was said or who said it, “Lazarus, come forth.” And the soul returned to the body, and the rotting corpse was healed, and Lazarus walked out of the tomb, alive and well. Most people do not understand the miracles of Christ. Most people think of miracles as responses to the needs people, and think that, if they have enough faith, God will work a miracle for them. There are those who make a living out of promising that you can have your miracle. They remind me of hot dog and beer hawkers at a sports arena. I can almost hear them calling, “Miracles here. Get you miracles here.” I remember hearing about a man who put his dead mother’s body in his freezer because he believed God was going to give him the miracle he wanted. He was going to have a big healing service in which he was going to pray for his mother and she was going to be resurrected right before the crowd. Do I need to tell you she was not resurrected? The idea that you can claim your miracle is just another manifestation of the church for sale, market driven gospel proclaimed in most churches today. The market driven gospel tells us to see what the “unchurched” want, and sell it to them on Sunday. Sell them a worship “experience.” Sell them thrills and chills and smells and bells. Promise them heath and wealth. Promise them miracles. Tell them God is there to enhance their lives and give them toys. Do this, and they will come, and they will bring their money. By contrast the Bible tells us to proclaim the Gospel of salvation in Christ. We are to tell the world of the God who is a Judge as well as a Saviour of sinners; a God who changes nothing for us, but rather demands that we change all for Him; a God who, rather than promising a life of ease and prosperity, tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. So what is the purpose of miracles? Christ Himself answers that question. It is a twofold purpose. First, miracles show to us the glory of God. Second, they are signs that we may believe in Jesus. The miracles of Christ show the glory of God. In verse 40 Jesus told Martha she would see the glory of God. The resurrection of Lazarus was not meant to grab headlines, nor was it simply a response of Christ to the grief Mary and Martha felt at the loss of their brother. It was much more than that. It was a revelation of the glory of God. It was a proclamation that God has power over death. The ruler of the waves and the sovereign of the skies can give life as He sees fit. Death is no obstacle to Him. The corruption of the flesh is no impediment to Him. The One who made Adam out of the dust of the earth can give life to a body that has been dead for an hour or a millennium. It doesn’t matter to Him if the body is all together in a casket or scattered across the universe. The power of God is far greater than the power of death. That is the glory of God Jesus wants us to see in the raising of Lazarus. The miracles of Christ are signs to us, that we may believe in Jesus. Jesus’ prayer to the Father said that He told Martha she would see the glory of God so the people would believe He was sent from God. “That they may believe that Thou hast sent Me,” as it is written in John 11:42. Everyone at the grave of Lazarus believed God could raise the dead if He chose. Martha believed it. She even believed in the resurrection. “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” she said to Jesus in verse 24. But what could Jesus do? Sure, He was the Messiah, but what did that have to do with dead people? When Jesus says in verse 23, “Thy brother shall rise again,” He is not talking about the resurrection at the last day. He is talking about something much more profound than the resuscitation of a corpse. The glory of God is about to be revealed in a demonstration of the power of God over life and death, and it will be done in a way that will show to Martha, and to all of God’s people, that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. The glory of God stands before us in the Person of Jesus Christ. The power of life is in Him. No man can raise the dead. No man can give life. God has given wonderful gifts to humanity in science and medicine. There are wonderfully intelligent people in those fields doing great things that are tremendous blessings to us. But they are not the creators of these things. They use their God given abilities to discover the natural order of the universe, and they apply those things to our benefit. But they themselves are bound by that same natural order. Physicians die. Scientists die. Ministers die. We are all subject the natural order. God is not. God is the Master of nature. Galaxies and sub-atomic particles obey His will and exist at His pleasure. If we could plunge into a “Black hole” and travel at a million times the speed of light for a million years, when we got to the end of it, God would be there. If man is bound by the natural order, and Jesus is not bound by it, who is Jesus? Let me put this another way. Man is bound by the natural order. God is not. If Jesus is not bound by the natural order, who is Jesus? If Jesus could heal the sick and raise the dead, can He not also give life to our souls? Can He not also present us, clean and forgiven before the Father, and take us into Heaven? That is the meaning of the raising of Lazarus. He was raised that we might believe that God sent Jesus to be our Saviour. O Lord Christ, Word of God, our Resurrection and Life. Grant that we may see in You the glory of God revealed, and believe. In Thy Holy Name we pray. Amen.
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