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These are the readings and sermons of St. John's Lutheran Church of Park Rapids, Minnesota.
They are offered so that the Word of God would shape and strengthen you to be what He calls you to be, salt and light.
You can find us at stjohnspr.org.
Now, on to the Word.
The Old Testament reading is from the 37th chapter of the prophecy of Ezekiel, verses 1 through 14.
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley.
It was full of bones, and He led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley,
and behold, they were very dry.
And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, O Lord God, you know.
Then He said to me, prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live,
and I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you,
and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
So I prophesied as I was commanded.
And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.
But there was no breath in them.
Then He said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, Son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God,
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live.
So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
Behold, they say, our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost.
We are clean, cut off.
Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God,
Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people,
and I will bring you into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people,
and I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land,
then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The epistle is from St. Paul's letter to the Romans, the eighth chapter, beginning with verse 1.
Therefore, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do,
by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.
Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
We omit the hallelujah verse in the season of Lent, so I invite the congregation to stand in respect of Christ, of whom the Holy Gospel is read.
Contrary to what you see in the bulletin, we're reading a shortened version of the Gospel for today.
Not the entire story of Lazarus and the interruptions, but the beginning and the ending.
From John 11 beginning with verse 17.
The Holy Gospel according to Saint John the 11th chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.
When Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.
Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.
Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.
Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
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?
She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.
Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave and a stone lay against it.
Jesus said, take away the stone.
Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an order, for he has been dead four days.
Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
know that you always hear me.
But I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.
When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.
And the man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go.
Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, what are we to do?
For this man performs many signs.
if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.
And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
But one of them said, but one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them,
you know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people,
not that the whole nation should perish.
He did not say this of his own accord.
But being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for the nation only,
but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
For better or for worse, watching television has come a long way over the years.
From those big gigantic councils that had that ee-dee-dee-dee little black and white screen to these mammoth flat screen TVs.
I was in Best Buy a couple of weeks ago.
You can get an 85-inch TV for like under $1,000.
And I'm thinking, who needs an 85-inch screen TV in their living room?
But if there's a market, you know.
Many of you grew up, especially up in this area, having access to one or two channels.
Now we basically have access to everything that's ever been produced for the big screen and the small screen
through a whole variety of streaming services.
It used to be you had to be glued to the time to watch the favorite show.
You had the chance of missing dialogue because of some noise.
You had the chance of missing a plot twist because during the commercial you went to get a snack and didn't quite make it back in time.
And now, none of that matters really at all.
mean, even live TV as it is can be rewound in an instant.
Just a little button.
Well, today we're going to use the magic of the rewind button to look a little more closely at the moving story that's laid before us in the Gospel.
Now one of the things that I'm going to have to inject a couple of things in here because
for some reason I was thinking it was the entire reading from John chapter 11.
You might want to open up your Bibles in the pew to John 11 because there's a couple of scenes that, well,
you missed because you were out on a snack that we're going to refer to.
We know the basic story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
It is, again, recorded for us in John 11 if you want to look it up.
Jesus first gets word that his friend is sick.
Then a couple of days later, even though it puts his life in danger, Jesus heads to Bethany.
By the time he arrives, however, the burial for Lazarus has already been accomplished and the mourning and wailing for him is well along.
Martha and Mary, Lazarus' sisters, both hope that Jesus will still help.
And Jesus does, though not without weeping first.
But he raises Lazarus back to life.
It's a great story.
But we're going to do a little bit of rewriting.
We want to catch some of the best scenes again.
We want to be able to digest some of the things that are going on.
So the first place we're going to go back to is the beloved and bold words that Jesus spoke to Martha.
am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me will live even though he dies.
And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
What power, what strength, what hope, what comfort.
Jesus has come to save the day and not even death will be able to stop him.
But who's that he's talking to again?
Did you catch this?
He's talking to Martha.
She's the one that runs out to him as he is approaching the town while Mary stays back at home.
Now I think what we would be expecting is the sitting at his feet, Mary, to run out and greet him.
But it's rather working your fingers to the bone, Martha, who goes out to Jesus.
It's almost like Cinderella at the ball.
And what a beautiful set of confessions that Martha makes.
After Jesus says, your brother will live again, she confesses the resurrection.
know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
And then after Jesus asks her if she believes he's the resurrection and the life, she confesses, yes, Lord.
believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.
How beautiful.
Martha, who is so remembered for her demands for help, has this incredible and beautiful confession of faith in Jesus.
And of course, who doesn't love the tomb scene.
mean, it is pretty amazing.
Everybody there, Martha especially, is worried about the death and the smell.
And Jesus simply says, Lazarus, come out.
And he does.
Astounding.
But how did we get to the tomb?
Well, the drama is pretty good as well, along with a number of plot twists and turns.
So let's hit that rewind button again.
All the way back to the beginning.
All the way to the scene you missed because you were out getting your snack ready for the movie.
A friend of Jesus is sick.
Now, if you happen to know a miracle worker and someone who is close to him is sick, well, of course, you send for him.
And that's where we run into this first plot twist.
Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, so when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he immediately went to heal him.
No!
Instead, when he hears that Lazarus is ill, he stays two days longer in the place where he was.
What an amazing setup for the whole episode.
Calm, cool, collected.
Jesus doesn't panic.
He doesn't rush about when he gets the news that Lazarus is sick.
He delays a few days until after Lazarus has died.
He will bring him back to life when he gets to Bethany.
But his disciples, well, that's another story.
They're completely opposite.
They're all panicky and worried.
Jesus tries to clue them in, but they just don't get it.
Which, honestly, is comforting because there are so many times when we are clueless.
But again, one of the things we find is this huge surprise.
Just like we're surprised that Martha is the one who ran out to see Jesus, we're really surprised at who among the disciples rallies the troops.
Jesus finally announces it is time to go to Judea.
And most of the disciples are protesting because the last two times he was in that area almost ended with his being stoned to death.
But one was willing to sacrifice his life for Jesus.
Thomas.
You know, the disciple who is so often derided as doubting Thomas, he's the one who says to his fellow disciples,
Let us go, that we may die with him.
Now, while that sentiment is not exactly a charge, right?
A little bit down in the mouth.
The boldness of Thomas needs to be remembered.
Oh, when Martha first sees Jesus, how haunting is that?
Lord, if you'd only been here, my brother would not have died.
And then Mary also came out later, greeting Jesus with the same thing, the same question, the same statement, the same weariness.
And she actually falls at the feet of Jesus, weeping.
There's a lot of agony that goes on with death.
There is no doubt about that.
But we know right along with Jesus what's about to happen.
And now we're at the tomb.
Wait a minute.
Was that a deep sigh we heard from Jesus?
Are those tears on Jesus' face?
Let's back that up a little bit.
I mean, something's wrong here.
The hero isn't supposed to be crying.
Why is he crying?
All along, Jesus has been Mr. Calm, Cool, and Collected.
The hero with a plan.
All sort of Clint Eastwood-like.
And now tears?
Well, perhaps those tears are for Mary and Martha.
He is a compassionate guy.
You'd have to be made of stone not to be moved at the heartache and loss, right?
But still, he knows what's about to happen.
All of that sadness is about to be replaced with joy.
He is the resurrection, and he has been planning to give life to the one now dead for a couple of days.
And yet he cries?
So maybe there's something more.
Let's hit the pause right there.
Let's check out Jesus' eyes.
Watch him as he looks at Mary and then the crowd.
It's like he sees them and yet like he's seeing past them.
It's almost like did Jesus maybe at that moment hit the fast forward button?
Does he see another Mary?
This time it's his mother weeping at the foot of the cross in the company of mourners?
He's heard the reproach of Martha and Mary.
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Is he in this moment now hearing the accusations of the taunting crowd and rulers?
He saved others, but he cannot save himself?
Did he hear the jeers?
If you are the Christ, the Son of God, come down from the cross and we'll believe you.
Is he in this moment feeling the pain of the thorns and the whip and the nails?
The pain of his own lament, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
In this moment standing at Lazarus' tomb, does he see another tomb?
But this time it's his body laid inside?
Perhaps.
Jesus certainly felt the pain of the moment, death having claimed a friend.
But there is something more going on at that tomb.
Jesus knows that this resurrection miracle will be the last nail in his own coffin.
Many will come to put their faith in Jesus, but Jesus knows full well that raising Lazarus
will finally mobilize his enemies to solidify their plan to kill him.
It is Caiaphas that prophesies, you know nothing at all.
Do you not understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people,
not that the whole nation should perish?
It's good to see that Jesus doesn't float through the events of our story unaffected.
There's no cold calculating deity here unmoved by human suffering.
And indeed, our sin and pain will wound him.
And he will bear that freely, not willing for death to have its final say.
The tears.
The tears at the tomb are very real, but they're momentary.
They pass as Jesus calls forth Lazarus in the resurrection.
But as he calls forth Lazarus in the resurrection, he is not only doing that, but he is foreshadowing.
He is foreshadowing his own resurrection, and truly indeed, he is foreshadowing ours as well.
Because Christ is the resurrection and the life after all.
As we rewind for one final look at the plot, we do see that all of this is a foreshadowing.
It is a preview of far greater things to come.
And as we fast forward it, we see that the resurrection of Jesus is coming on the heels of his suffering and death.
And we see that by his resurrection, he is in fact swallowing up death itself in life.
What we have today in our Gospel, what we have today is a little foretaste,
a summary of what Holy Week is going to be, and even more.
We get to see into the future as well.
Confident that Christ is the resurrection and the life, we see our resurrection as well.
Amen.
May the peace of God established through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
be the peace that fills your heart, especially in moments of grieving. Amen.
Thanks for listening to Lightly Salted. We'd love to hear from you.
You can contact us at StJohnsPR.org or look for us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Our thanks to Eric Medeas at SoundImage.org for “Morning Dew.”
God’s blessings.