Untitled Sermon (3)

Our Own Small Miracle

This week’s gospel reading is an appropriate one for this week I think. This is John’s gospel account of the raising of Lazarus, possibly one of the most well known of all of Jesus’ miracles among those familiar with the bible and those not. We are coming to the end of the first week of our Easter season and it seems appropriate to end the first week by reflecting on another resurrection account within the New Testament, that of Lazarus. Jesus raises Lazarus before he enters into Jerusalem to be ultimately sentenced to his crucifixion and, of course, resurrection.

There are so many reasons to love the story of Lazarus and I was having a hard time trying to choose one thing to focus on. I mean here we have one of Jesus’ last miracles, most well known miracles and we see a side of Jesus that is so human you can’t help but be moved. I mean the phrase “Jesus wept” is a powerful statement. But events in my week sort of chose my area of focus for me.

I was having one of those awful weeks. Just terrible. And it revolved around one person, a family member. Now I love this person I don’t always agree with what they say and believe but I love them. Unfortunately, they have always been just unhappy. No matter what I’ve done to please them they think I should do more. Be more. Accomplish more. This family member has said many an awful thing to me to make me feel bad about myself and I am usually much more resilient than I was this week. I have to admit it finally got to me, I was sad and hurt and wondered what I ever could have done to make this person feel so badly about me. I mean I love this person, they are family, so to be rejected by them feels awful. And I thought about the gospel account of Lazarus that I would be talking about tonight. And the first thing that crossed my mind was how sympathetic I felt toward Lazarus’ sisters. When Martha sees Jesus she says “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And later when some of the Jews see how Jesus has wept for his friend the Jews say “could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

I am sure we have all had these times in life where we ask Jesus “why didn’t you help me?” or “why didn’t you intervene or change something so that this bad thing wouldn’t have happened to me?” Well that was my week. I thought “Jesus, why couldn’t you have done something so that things would have turned out better for me? Turned out the way I wanted it to or the way I think it should be?” “Why couldn’t you create this person do be more compassionate so we could get along?” Saying it out loud sounds pretty ridiculous and self-centred doesn’t it? But it is so easy to get caught up in our own suffering. It is easy to allow a situation to spin us out of control so we focus on our own hurt feelings and sadness and its not a fun or productive place to be.

I will admit, I fall into these traps often especially with this particular individual. I get caught up in the drama and come out doubting myself and wishing I was blessed with different gifts or that I was more like someone who this particular family member does feel proud of. And after I have beat myself up about what I should be or could be based on someone else’s idea of what successful or what a good person is a miracle happens. Maybe not as shocking and apparent as Lazarus but just as profound for me. I realize that God doesn’t make people do anything, God doesn’t create these situations. But if we believe in Him He does give us the strength to get through. He has done this by giving us hope of the life everlasting through the resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Christ experienced the human experience and died on the cross. He rose in glory so that we may await in joyful hope his coming again in glory. We go on with life and with life comes struggles and bumps but Christ Jesus has given us the armour to battle our way through the wilderness by giving us hope and we are reminded of that hope through the loved ones around us who support and care for us. Pain and suffering, hurt feelings and sadness is inevitable in this life but we will get through it if we take the time to remember that we are blessed. And I know that all of us here at this Evening Prayer service are blessed with the strength and support of loved ones because we all belong to a larger church family that supports and cares for one another. It is so easy to ask why God? and focus on the bad, but this Easter season I ask you to remember the light of hope given to us through Christ Jesus and to take the time to feed and nurture this light throughout the season. Build new relationships and take care of the ones you have now. Carry this light with you for all the seasons of the years to come.

The New Revised Standard Version The Total Corruption of the People

But as for me, I will look to the LORD,

I will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

The New Revised Standard Version Penitence and Trust in God

Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;

when I fall, I shall rise;

when I sit in darkness,

the LORD will be a light to me.