Sermon Tone Analysis
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Scripture
Introduction
We have come to the end of this series.
Today we have the greatest sign of them all.
In fact, the case could me made that after the resurrection this is the highpoint of the gospel.No where is it made clearer that Jesus is the incarnation of God.
God’s ultimate revelation of God’s self.
This is a great way to end the season of Epiphany.
So let’s get to it.
Background/Context
This happens after Jesus’ encounter with the religious authorities for healing the blind man on the sabbath.
His argument with them ends with him telling them that he is the good shepherd and his sheep know and hears his voice and he knows them.
He in essence is accusing the leaders of being bad shepherds and not really caring for their sheep.
The controversy continues to swirl around him.
John Jumps ahead to winter and the feast of dedication and pole gathered around him and demanded that Jesus tell them plainly that he is the Messiah. he doesn’t tell them plainly, but says he and the Ftaher are one.
They try to arrest him but he escapes “across the Jordan” to where John baptized.
Exegesis
Let’s start with how it looks like Jesus wanted Lazarus to die.
On a close reading you will see this is not the case.
By the time the messengers reached Jesus Lazarus was dead.
The disciples are confused by this so Jesus has to tell them:
So they leave to go to Bethany and Thomas makes the statement let’s go die with them.
This is really an ironic statement and John uses it as a literary technique to build suspense for the crucifixion and resurrection.
They arrive in Bethany where we learn that Lazarus has been dead for 4 days.
This is an important detail, because Jews at the time believed that the soul hovered around the body for 3 days.
So Lazarus was truly dead!
And it appears to the sisters that Jesus has arrived too late to do any good.
Everyone knows he can heal, but he has not raised anyone from the dead This is reflected in Martha’s words,
Martha knows Jesus could have kept the death from happening.
And she HOPES he might be able to do something else.
Notice Mary says she knows Lazarus will rise on the last day.
But Jesus says, Yes, but realize that I am the embodiment of the last day I am the resurrection and the life.
Do you see what Jesus is saying here?
He is telling us that if we believe him, death has no hold on us.
Our victory is already won!
We are already children of the resurrection; all we are doing is waiting to claim that prize!
Do you see how that promise frees us to live in the here and now, not having to worry or be in denial about our deaths!
It means, now listen, that if we are in Jesus that our future is determined by our faith rather than our death.
In this weeks warm up I talked about scholars disagreeing on how to translate verses 33 and 38 here they are from the NLT
Jesus was angry at a number of things here.
Probably the professional mourners whose grief was artificial, probably at the lack of understanding that the Messiah has power over death, and probably death itself and its presence in the creation.
This is heavy stuff here and has the power to radically change your world view and truly transform your life. it was the same for John’s audience and is the same for us!
Application
In a poll taken a few years ago 93% of Americans believed in a heaven.
And 70% of the 93% believed they were going to be there.
What about you?
Do you ever think about that?
If we are like most Americans we are death deniers.
If you run a google search on death denial in America you receive almost 20 million hits.
That is there are 20 million articles out there that discuss how Americans live in a death denying culture, yet most of us believe we are going to heaven.
A recent Newsweek article said this “Bottom line: we all die.
And yet, we have a hard time talking about death and dying.
And when we do, there is discomfort and difficulty speaking about this topic.
We are a death-denying culture and by not being open about death and dying, we leave ourselves unprepared to face other deaths and, ultimately, our own.”
Scrooge Video
One of the saddest things I do as a Pastor is be a “rent a pastor” at a funeral.
That happens when the deceased has not belonged to a community of faith.
Usually the families caught in this predicament don’t know where to turn for help or what to do for their loved one.
They are left making decisions that their loved one should have made long before their death.
We do not want to think about our deaths and we do not want to talk about it.
Often times because we do not want to face such things, we stay away from faith communities.
We seem to think that all faith communities are about Is where one winds up after death.
That is not a life-affirming stance that is a death-focused stance.
Christian faith communities are about affirming life!
And if not they should be!
You see in our competitive culture aging and death seem to be the ultimate losses.
We say we have lost our youth instead of affirming the fact that we have gained wisdom and experience.
We spend hours and tons of money trying to look younger.
It is the same thing with death we see it as a defeat.
When we spend all our energy trying to deny death, to avoid the inevitable, we wind up not living to our fullest.
There is more to living and dying than a bucket list.
Good movie, but the philosophy of it is pure hedonism.
You have to gain all the fleshy pleasure you can before you die.
That does not affirm life, it denies death.
A bucket list is the last act of defiance at dying.
Jesus turns our culture upside down on this issue.
It is obvious that Jesus does not like death, it is obvious he does not embrace death.
No, he overcomes death.
As he says he is the resurrection and the life.
Jesus makes the statement that the resurrection is in him and it is here now and in the future.
Jesus demonstrates the power that God has given him over death.
Jesus, like his father is the life giver.
Jesus is telling us that if we believe him, death has no hold on us.
Our victory is already won!
We are already children of the resurrection; all we are doing is waiting to claim that prize!
Do you see how that promise frees us to live in the here in now, not having to worry or be in denial about our deaths!
It means, now listen, that if we are in Jesus that our future is determined by our faith rather than our death.
This is the ultimate hope!
If we do not have to fear death, what is there to fear?
Our lives as believers should not be overpowered with images of death, rather we should bask in the reality of life with God forever!
That frees us to enjoy the life we have in this world, by embracing our life in the right now instead of worrying about death and the hereafter.
Our place is secure.
We hear this scripture read at funerals way too often.
Now, what I mean this is a life affirming scripture and should be understood as such.
It should be associated with the transformed life in the here and now, more so than life after death!
You know according to many psychiatrists and theologians our anxiety lay in our own awareness of our mortality.
In fact, many theologians and psychologists will tell you the root of our anxiety comes from our own self-awareness.
It comes from the fact that we know we exist and we know that this existence will end.
That is the root of all anxiety and worry, deep down inside has to do with our own mortality.
If that is really the case then in our denial, we are death fixated.
Sherry and I spent a number of weeks with her Mother as she slowly died from heart failure.
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