I Am the Resurrection and the Life

Rev. James Harris

Funeral • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Goal: That the grieving will find joy in the face of death

Notes

Transcript

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Bob, Robin, Scott, Love family & friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, may we all together find abundant hope, peace and comfort today from God’s Word to us. We pray the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to fill us all with faith and comfort us with His presence as we celebrate Jesus and all the work of salvation won for Bob on the cross and empty tomb.

The text that was chosen for today is the Gospel narrative of the death and resurrection of Lazarus, especially these words, “Jesus said to her, “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. Do you believe this?”” (, ESV)

You have heard the story, which seems rather odd at first. Normally when Jesus was informed of someone sick or dying, He immediately goes and heals and restores. Yet this narrative, Jesus is informed of His friend, Lazarus’, illness, He stayed and didn’t get up and immediately follow. “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” (, ESV) This is a very odd behavior, seemingly, for our Lord. Yet this has great significance, to which we will get to in a few moments. The fact is, Jesus waits until Lazarus is dead before He goes to Mary and Martha.

Even His disciples were sort of perplexed, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” (v. 8). When Jesus explained that Lazarus had died, and this was for their benefit that he died, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (v. 16) is Thomas’ response. This is nothing more than pessimistic unbelief. It seems as if Thomas does not believe that Jesus is able to raise Lazarus from the dead.

So, Jesus and His disciples leave the area east of the Jordan where John the Baptist had been doing his ministry and traveled to Bethany, only about a two mile trip from Jerusalem, but for Jesus and His disciples, it was a two day trip. They are greeted by Martha who meets them along the way. It seems like she is really upset with Jesus for not coming sooner, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” These are not words of reproach, rather expressing deep sorrow and poignant regret. Martha, and subsequently Mary, respond with incredible faith, “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” And we see how the strength of her faith is denoted by what she says to Jesus, “...even now, I KNOW, what ever you ask from God, God will give you. She knows! Even though this moment for Martha and Mary is very dark, both are convinced by all that they had heard Jesus teach, and witnessing the miracles He has worked in this world. This faith is expressed in the response of expectancy, where they expect Jesus to ask something of God.

“Your brother will rise again.” Jesus meets Martha and Mary with the truth. Martha confesses her faith, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (v. 24). Jesus responds to her, “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. Do you believe this?”” (, ESV). Jesus plainly tells her that He, Himself is the resurrection of all flesh. He is the one who even has power over life and death, and He, Himself, will raise all who believe in Him. Jesus is not just a prophet, Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ who is coming into the world.”

So they take Jesus to the tomb where Lazarus’ lifeless body lay decomposing, returning to the earth from whence he came. Jesus tells them standing around to open the tomb, remove the stone from in front of the cave. Yet Martha confirms that to do so would release a foul odor, because Lazarus has already been dead 4 days.

Here is where the really cool part comes in. Jesus tarried where He and His disciples were for two more days prior to them coming to Bethany. You see, there was an ancient superstition at the time that said basically that a dead person could come back to life within three days. Now it is the fourth day…the smell of decomp is strong…Lazarus was, to quote Charles Dickens, “as dead as a door nail.” All hope was lost for Mary and Martha, and those who came to console them.

So it is with death. It is so final. Regardless of cultural superstitions, dead is dead. One does not just simply wake up from death. We all know this truth from our own experiences. Today, we too look at the finality of death. Bob has died. That’s it, he is dead. No resuscitation will help, no high voltage paddles to shock the heart back into working, the brain into firing signals again to heart and body to beat, breathe, and live.

No one present needed a reminder of this. There would have been a rather foul odor. Yet acting in faith, they took the stone away from the entrance to the tomb. Jesus prays to His Father, through whom Jesus would raise Lazarus. He simply calls out, “Lazarus, come out.” And he who died comes walking out of the tomb, still bound by death’s rags, but is unbound and freed.

Lazarus lives again! So it will be with Bob. The Lord Jesus will return again at the Last Day. He will raise all flesh. And then the Judgment. As we confess in the Creed, Jesus will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead. All those who, like Bob, have died in the faith, confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, trusting fully in His work accomplished on the cross, His blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins, and that He was raised from the dead, will live again. This time though, life is going to be so very different.

Bob struggled in this life, as do we all. But as time went on, the struggles got worse. Frequent trips to doctors offices, hospitals, insulin injections, finger pricks, skin cancer surgeries, infections and everything else. He suffered in his body, Bob suffered in his heart, as he longed for Margot who went home several years ago. He suffered in life. However, the scars that told the stories of suffering, were Jesus scars. As we eagerly await the consummation of all things, as we long for our own recreation, and that of the new heavens and the new earth, we suffer. We suffer the marks in our body, in our heart and in our soul. Scars of physical afflictions, shattered hearts as the affects of our own sin and the sins of others, and our soul becomes tattered with the constant assaults of the devil, the world around us, and ourselves. Jesus scars.

“I am the resurrection and the life” Jesus says, “whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.” This is the promise of God! When Jesus met with Martha and He said those comforting words to her, He followed up with a very important question, “Do you believe this?”

Jesus Himself has the power over life and death. Through His death and resurrection, the fulfillment of the Father’s will, Jesus has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. This is why He tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” All who believe in Him will not die, but they shall live. Sure, death is the inevitable thing for all of us. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and also that the wages of sin is death. This is the one sure thing in life than everyone can count on. We will all die. But with the curse of sin, Paul reminds us of the promise of God, that we “...are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (3:24).

This is what Bob believed…and this is the only way in which Bob was justified and saved. Through faith in Christ Jesus alone. No good work could add to his salvation, it was complete when Jesus said on the cross, “it is finished” and he bowed His head and breathed His last breath. Bob held tight to the promise of God through His Son Jesus. So Bob will live again.

In the end, when Jesus returns, Bob will be raised. His own flesh and blood will stand and breathe again, when his soul is reunited with his newly resurrected body. His lungs will once again breath fresh air. His own blood will course through his veins, his heart will beat with new vigor and Bob will once again walk, run and jump in exaltation of His Lord.

And then will come to pass what we are all awaiting, the New Heaven and the new Earth. The apostle John was given a vision of what is to come, “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (, ESV)

All this that we see today is going to pass away. The heavens, all the planets and stars, this creation we know today is going away. And what is coming is something we have never experienced before. A whole new creation. And everything will be as it should have been, we will be returning to a new Eden. This new creation will not be infected with sin. This is why everything is so broken today. This is why people get sick, this is why people die, the effects of the curse of sin on us and this earth. But what is coming, ah…what is coming is going to be so different.

We will once again walk with God in the cool of the day. Once again we will be whole and perfect, our bodies will not die, we will never again get sick or have any disease like cancer or diabetes or anything like that, for sin itself will no longer be a part of who we are. John sees and reports for us that God will once again dwell with His people. We will be His people, and He will be our God.

And the greatest thing of all, God Himself will approach each and every one of us and He will gently wipe away every tear from our eyes. Imagine, Jesus walking up to you and gently placing His nail scared hands on your cheeks and gently wiping away your tears from your eyes, never to cry again! This is the promise of God for all who believe in Him.

so I ask you today, “Do you believe this?” Do you know and believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God who gave His life in death on the cross so that you can receive His grace and mercy in total forgiveness of all your sins? Do you believe that three days later He was risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, and now lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit? Do you believe that He is coming back to take you to where He is? This is what Bob believed, this is what Margot believed. Question is, “do you believe this?”

It is only through the blood of Christ that we are able to be forgiven, it is the only way that we will ever be reconciled to the Father. Jesus alone is the Alpha and the Omega, He is the beginning and the end. He alone gives from the spring of the water of life…and He gives for free. No money, no work, nothing else. His gift of salvation is free, His gift of faith is also free. Jesus does it all for us. And in Him alone is the resurrection and the life.

Today we celebrate the life that Jesus has given to Bob. It is a celebration of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. It is a celebration of Jesus, for He is the resurrection and the life, and all who believe in Him will overcome sin and death and will rise again to new life. Even though Bob has died, even though you and I will die, our life is bound to Christ in and through baptism, and He is our resurrection and our life.

In the name of Jesus and for His eternal glory. Amen.