Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture

Pray.

Introduction

Why do we make such a big deal about Easter?

I mean this is a lot.

Months of planning.

You all look wonderful by the way, wearing your Easter best.

Butterfly releases, flower crosses, going to the park.

family plans centered around it.

Turns out America does not really know what exactly to do with Easter.

Barna research a few years ago do a nationwide study of what people understood of Easter.

Religious and non.

67% did tie it to something to do with a God

but only 42% could associate Easter with a belief in Jesus coming back to life

with some associating it with “the birth of Christ”, the “rebirth of Christ,” or “the second coming of Jesus.”

3% believed that it was a spring or pagan holiday.

And the study shows, that even regular church going individuals are unlikely to invite someone to Easter services

Director of the project, David Kinnaman, pointed out that

“most Americans continue to view the Easter holiday as a religious celebration, but many of them are not clear as to the underlying reason for the occasion.

Perhaps most concerning, from the standpoint of church leaders, is that those who celebrate Easter because of the resurrection of Christ are not particularly likely to invite non-churched friends to worship, suggesting that their personal beliefs about Jesus have not yet translated into a sense of urgency for having spiritual conversations with their acquaintances.”

This is not to make anyone feel bad about all of this, but simply to acknowledge that the general understanding of Easter is lost.

And within the church even among those who would consider Easter a celebration of Resurrection....questions must be asked:

Do we believe in the literal resurrection?

Do we believe this is a wonderful story, or metaphor.

Do we like this story like a hopeful fairytale.

And if we do believe it, how has it shaped us?

The funeral where death died

This is one funeral I would have wanted to be at.

Maybe not at first but this is an amazing scene.

We have here.

But dont miss it.

It is a funeral.

grief

anger

sadness

blame

desperation

tears

food

This is a funeral.

However, it is a funeral that frames something very important for us.

I want you to see the participants…I think we might be able to find ourselves in the story.

Mary and Martha Grieving

First, the family is in desperate grief.

“If you had just been here...”

First Martha in verse 21

Then Martha goes and fetches her sister, the teacher is here.,

32....

Have you ever been here?

Almost blaming God? Knowing that your faith instructs one thing but experiences are not aligning.

Jesus has feelings too?

One of the things I love about Holy week is it reminds us that Jesus is human....He gets hurt like we do, he mourns, he weeps, he suffers.

The first thing we see from Jesus is some indignation, some frustration with what is happening.

NIV that we read is pretty watered down “deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”

No, this word better denotes deep anger or rage.

Some read this that he is frustrated at the disbelief and the way they are missing what he is saying and the hope that they should have.

Other’s say that he is angry at death.

I think it is a bit of both, but the latter grips me this morning.

In the face of tragedy, he is angry that that this world is broken…an anger for his friends because look at the order of things here…

He is moved in anger and immediately asks…ok where is he?!

Then the very next verse, he cries.

Jesus wept.

Jesus is angry at death, then weeping with grief… all because he has love for these friends.

I shared this quote last week....

T. F. Torrence: “There is no unknown God behind the back of Jesus.”

Suffering brings doubt

In the peripheral of the text there are these others that are present.

They could be following Jesus around or likely they are people that have come to the funeral, we see that earlier in the text.

We see them again in verse 37...

2 things about these people:

at the funerals in your life, at the low moments…there will be people that want to comfort you but do not believe in your God.

They will not understand your hope in Jesus.

Some of you are looking for God to do something and he is up to so much more.

In the previous chapter Jesus has healed a blind man and there is much dialogue there.

They think to themselves…well if this were true, he could have made Lazarus well before he died....the irony is that, yes, in fact he could have spoken a word while many miles away…but he is about to give a mightier word across a much greater distance—between the living and the dead.

Into the doubts Jesus will bring resurrection.

Jesus walks with them to resurrection

With all of the grief, the tears, the doubts, Jesus walks with them to the tomb.

Tell the story:

again angered and determined, he goes to the tomb

take away the stone

they talk about a smell

Then Jesus says those words...

“Lazarus, come out.”

Just the mention of his name and breath fills his lungs:

In one word the distance of death is breached.

In one word the greatest loss is overcome

In one word their weeping turns to joy

In one word their grief turns to dancing

In one word the great “I Am” proclaims the greatest Exodus.

Friends, this is no magic trick.

This is not simply a miracle on the level of the blind.

This is the final “Sign” in the book of John because it is the one that shines brightest on what is coming.

In just a few days Jesus was going to be rolled up in a grave similar to this.

There was going to be mourning, grief, fear, desperation, there was going to be doubt.

“I am the resurrection” would not be held by the grave.

Easter is the place, as Ben Witherington puts it, “God’s YES to life is bigger than death’s NO.”

Jesus walking out of the tomb after three days.

This means that no one is bound by a grave any more.

It does not matter if it is 4 days like Lazarus or 40 years.

Sin has no hold, death has no sting, a new light has dawned in the darkness.