Lazarus: St John 11 v 20-29 and 32-36: In 1945, only a few years before, the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was in his Gestapo cell plotting against Hitler. His Letters and Papers from Prison anticipated many of the questionings and dilemmas of the modern Christian. There in that cell he asks: ‘Who is Jesus Christ for us today’? or as a character in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar put it: I only want to know Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Who are you? What have you sacrificed? Johns gospel goes out of its way to tell us who this Jesus Christ is and what he means for us today. So, what does todays powerful story about Lament which focuses on Lazarus, Martha and Mary reveal to us about who Jesus Christ is? 1: Jesus Christ is Contemplative: Mary, Martha and Lazarus were very close to Jesus. Lazarus becomes very ill and he dies. Jesus didn’t come to see them straight away when Lazarus was ill or immediately when he dies, even though he was not far away. Martha says when he finally arrives ‘Jesus If only you had been here’. Jesus has the strength of mind and character not to respond at once and under pressure of what is expected from him. That strength and that alternative direction comes from dwelling deeply in God. Through this passage, as elsewhere in John, we have the sense that Jesus is listening to a deeper story within, the story of God’s purposes. We see the outcome of that deeper story in Jesus’ unexpected actions. We catch a glimpse of the deep relationship between, Father, Son and Spirit, the mutual indwelling which makes that deeper story possible. We see the contemplative Jesus first in his words to Martha and then to Mary. Jesus dwells in the Father and that indwelling is expressed in prayer. For him there is a very real and deep abiding, a resting in the vine, a unique conversation with God. Every action of value and every word of value in a follower of Jesus flows out of that deepening relationship with God in prayer. Every action of value and every word of value in the Church flows from that deepening relationship with God in prayer—our contemplation of Jesus Christ. COVID 19 has made this worse but we are very often an anxious church living in an anxious world. An anxious church finds courage very difficult, because we want to remain with the familiar. An anxious church is likely to be far too busy to be good news to the world. The antidote to anxiety is dwelling deep in God: in contemplation. The many different communities we serve need a contemplative church. The people around us who are like sheep without a shepherd need a church that is willing to take God seriously. We are really no use without a heavenly dimension. We are a poor social club. We are not a society of the preservation of old buildings. Without prayer at the centre of who we are, we can so easily become an empty group of do gooders concerned more for our own survival that for the salvation of the world. Jesus deep relationship with the Father enables him to offer meaning and significance and perspective on the otherwise random events of life. That meaning is vital in order to live reflective lives. In order to be fully human. As a Church we are called to model what it means to be fully human, to live life in fellowship and community with God, to bring the sacred and the holy into ordinary life, to live life in all its fullness. There are many ways to pray: as many ways as there are people. The Church needs them all. Contemplative Jesus: 2: Jesus who is Compassionate Jesus comes to Bethany. Martha comes to meet him first and says to him: If you had been here my brother would not have died’. Hear the words which follow: When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said ‘’Where have you laid him?’ They said ‘’Lord come and see; Jesus began to weep. So, the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’’ (v34-5). This is the only place in the fourth gospel where Jesus reveals his deepest emotions. We love him for it. This weakness and vulnerability, this lament, calls forth a response in John’s readers in every generation. There is compassion here for Mary and Martha in their grief and for Lazarus in his suffering. We love Jesus here for his compassion, his lament, for his grief. In Johns wonderful gospel we are confronted in a way no other gospel does with both Jesus divinity and his humanity—the two are woven together. This story is one of them. Martha confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. This is bold language. In the very next paragraph, this Son of God, the Messiah, the King, is weeping: moved and deeply shaken in love for his friends. John is saying more than this particular person was like this. John is saying, God is like this. God’s heart breaks and is shaken when we are bereaved, when we suffer, when we lament, particularly in the face of premature death. Vulnerability is an essential part of love and an essential part of God’s love for us. Vulnerability is an essential part of being human, of forming deep relationships. Lament is a natural expression of grief or sorrow which comes about because of our love for someone. We become more like Christ not as we become more powerful and remote but as we become more compassionate and identify with the suffering. The church is at its best is not a community of the sorted and self-sufficient and independent. The church at its best is a community of the vulnerable: those who know their need of God and those who know their need of human connection. They are therefore able to love fully. The story of Lazarus brings us face to face with the Christ of compassion, the tenderness of vulnerability who calls us to walk this way, who shows us, as it were, that this is what it means to live abundantly and fruitfully. The picture we have here is of how the church is to live in the world: the foundation of Gods mission is compassion: feeling with and suffering with others. Weeping with those who weep. Contemplative: Compassionate: 3: Jesus who is Courageous. Throughout this story Jesus demonstrates immense courage. As he does in other parts of the gospels. Here Jesus walks towards difficulty and pain and danger despite his own emotional turmoil, He offers himself to the purpose of God in this story out of love for his friends and obedience to his Father. Jesus walks towards pastoral pain and difficulty in his encounters with Martha and Mary. He stands before the tomb of Lazarus, knowing that he holds the power of life and death and calls Lazarus out! What does the word Courageous mean? To be courageous means to be whole hearted. The word courage comes from the Latin word COR meaning heart. To be encouraged is, literally, to have the heart put back in you. In the language of Jeremiah, to be given a new heart. The Church, me and you are called to be Christ like. To be a Christ Like Church means to become a more courageous church: to be whole hearted, to dare greatly together for the sake of the Kingdom of God. In the language of the Beatitudes, the church is to be courageous in being hungry and thirsty for justice. We are to be courageous in pursing peace and reconciliation. We are to be courageous, like our Lord, in bearing the cost of our discipleship and the consistent boldness of our witness. And as disciples of Jesus our courage comes from the Word of God. A Lutheran pastor, a Norwegian, was arrested by the gestapo in the Second World War. He was brought to the interrogation room and the Gestapo officer placed his revolver on the table between them and said, ‘This is just to let you know that we are serious!’. The pastor instinctively pulled out his Bible and laid it alongside the revolver. ‘Why did you do that?’ demanded the Officer. The Pastor replied: ‘You laid out your weapon---so did I’. The bottom line is, that God changes lives through the bible. Untold numbers of people have been picked up, turned around and set off on a new and hopeful path through encountering God’s word to them. They have been given the courage which has inspired them to radical service all over the world. They have been given the courage to change the face of society over slavery, education, the Factory Acts because of what they have found in those pages. They have claimed words of courage when there has been nothing else to hang on to. They have been given courage to keep on moving when the Easter experience has seemed so far away. The Bible is a book of encounter and shared experience, it should never be put on a pedestal. It has no need of one. Rather, it is to be befriended as the companion of faith where we find courage, for that journey of faith. In this powerful story of Lament, the answer to ‘Who is Jesus Christ’? Is: He is Contemplative, Compassionate and Courageous. We are called to be Christlike. So, may we follow his example in our lives. Amen