WEBVTT 00:00:01.229 --> 00:00:03.629 You think you have to die before you get resurrection? 00:00:04.669 --> 00:00:07.429 Brother, resurrection and life is standing right 00:00:07.429 --> 00:00:19.730 in front of you. Not someday. Now. You've been 00:00:19.730 --> 00:00:22.929 on the road for a while now. Maybe not with sandals 00:00:22.929 --> 00:00:25.269 and dust, but with the same weight riding shotgun. 00:00:25.989 --> 00:00:28.989 You can feel it in the story before we even get 00:00:28.989 --> 00:00:33.810 there. Bethany, a house full of grief. Four days 00:00:33.810 --> 00:00:37.670 too late. And you know that feeling, the quiet 00:00:37.670 --> 00:00:41.250 question you don't want to say out loud. If you 00:00:41.250 --> 00:00:45.130 had been here. And somewhere in you, you're not 00:00:45.130 --> 00:00:47.710 just hearing this story, you're standing in it. 00:00:48.149 --> 00:00:51.710 Watching the road, wondering why he didn't come 00:00:51.710 --> 00:00:54.789 sooner. And now it's Sunday morning in your headphones. 00:00:55.009 --> 00:00:56.990 Maybe you're not in the room, but you're not 00:00:56.990 --> 00:01:00.020 outside of it either. This is church right here. 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:02.640 Maybe it's in your car, your kitchen, the quiet 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:05.319 place where you needed something real. So settle 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:08.819 in. Hey, don't rush past this one. There's something 00:01:08.819 --> 00:01:11.659 here, I promise you, with your name on it. And 00:01:11.659 --> 00:01:21.000 I'll see you on the other side. I was thinking 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:23.359 ahead of time, and actually when I was doing 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:27.359 the communion meditation. That I do recognize 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:31.340 that I don't want to fall into the trap of applying, 00:01:31.579 --> 00:01:35.879 misapplying the hope. I think that pastors, preachers 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:39.879 have misapplied to their congregations for centuries. 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:42.040 And that is that you actually pay attention to 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:46.739 the finer details, the sermons. But I will say 00:01:46.739 --> 00:01:50.819 this, that if you have been with us and you have 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:54.030 been listening. You'll know we're in the season 00:01:54.030 --> 00:01:56.769 of Lent. We just talked about how Holy Week is 00:01:56.769 --> 00:02:01.010 upon us. And from Ash Wednesday, if you think 00:02:01.010 --> 00:02:03.469 back to the times when we've been together, we 00:02:03.469 --> 00:02:06.750 have spent a lot of our time in the wilderness. 00:02:07.709 --> 00:02:10.729 And that was on purpose. Because that's what 00:02:10.729 --> 00:02:14.159 those 40 days are supposed to represent. Time 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:17.199 in the wilderness, learning to trust in the provision 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:20.539 of God when your present circumstances don't 00:02:20.539 --> 00:02:22.800 seem to give you any indication that that's the 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.879 right move. That's what God is looking for in 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:30.039 relationship with us. And if you're with us on 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:33.699 Wednesday night, you notice that we came out 00:02:33.699 --> 00:02:38.319 of the wilderness and the road began to narrow. 00:02:40.110 --> 00:02:43.370 Now the road definitely begins to narrow and 00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:47.469 it's leading to one place and one place only. 00:02:48.409 --> 00:02:53.189 And that's Jerusalem for that Passover celebration. 00:02:54.490 --> 00:02:58.409 And we've been trying to put our sandals on and 00:02:58.409 --> 00:03:02.009 walk with those folks as they make that journey. 00:03:02.090 --> 00:03:05.870 So today is another attempt for us to perhaps... 00:03:06.590 --> 00:03:09.629 Put our minds, our imaginations there to imagine, 00:03:09.729 --> 00:03:14.969 to feel like what that scripture story must actually 00:03:14.969 --> 00:03:18.689 feel like. So you've been on the road now for 00:03:18.689 --> 00:03:24.469 days. The walk from the Galilee down to Jerusalem 00:03:24.469 --> 00:03:29.969 is long. It's hot. And it's familiar. You have 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:32.969 made this trip every year since you were just 00:03:32.969 --> 00:03:36.780 old enough to keep pace with your father. You 00:03:36.780 --> 00:03:39.860 travel down the Jordan Valley and the air is 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:43.939 thick with heat. Your water skins empty way too 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:48.259 quickly. And then comes that slow rise through 00:03:48.259 --> 00:03:56.340 the Judean hills until the road levels out and 00:03:56.340 --> 00:04:01.520 you can now begin to smell Jerusalem ahead. The 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:07.889 smoke, the sacrifices, Too many people packed 00:04:07.889 --> 00:04:12.830 into too small a space because it's Passover. 00:04:14.069 --> 00:04:17.449 But this year is different. This year, you've 00:04:17.449 --> 00:04:21.329 made the journey with a purpose beyond the feast. 00:04:22.310 --> 00:04:27.050 You have walked this year with this rabbi, the 00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:31.720 one from Nazareth. And you've seen... Him do 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:35.000 things you still can't explain without your brother 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.079 -in -law trying to change the subject. But you 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:41.879 were with him. You were a part of something. 00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:51.079 Except now, you're not sure where he is. Somewhere 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:55.579 in the last few days, Jesus is separated from 00:04:55.579 --> 00:04:59.060 the group. You didn't see him leave. You only 00:04:59.060 --> 00:05:02.980 realized at some point that he is no longer ahead 00:05:02.980 --> 00:05:08.800 of you on the road. And you assume maybe he'd 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:12.399 gone ahead into Jerusalem. Maybe he had business 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:16.500 there before the feast. Maybe he wanted to arrive 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:22.620 ahead of the crowd. It made sense. But does it 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:26.379 sit right? And it hasn't sat right for days. 00:05:27.790 --> 00:05:30.470 And the closer you get to the city, the heavier 00:05:30.470 --> 00:05:35.550 it begins to feel. You don't know where he went. 00:05:35.910 --> 00:05:40.389 And the not knowing is part of what those four 00:05:40.389 --> 00:05:45.230 days did to you. They made your faith heavier 00:05:45.230 --> 00:05:49.430 than your certainty. And now, now you're approaching 00:05:49.430 --> 00:05:53.870 Bethany. A mile and a half, just a mile and a 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:57.660 half from Jerusalem. It's the last village before 00:05:57.660 --> 00:06:01.180 the climb over the Mount of Olives and down into 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:06.300 the city. And the Pilgrim Road runs right through 00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:09.939 it. And even from a distance, this time, you 00:06:09.939 --> 00:06:15.060 can tell something has happened. There are too 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:20.639 many people. And you can hear the mourning before 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:25.519 you reach the edge of town. Lazarus is dead. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:31.560 Martha and Mary's brother. Everybody knows them. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:35.879 Jesus stayed at their house. He ate at their 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:40.620 table. They were close. And Lazarus has been 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:49.040 dead for four days. And Jesus isn't here. And 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:52.889 that's what catches in your throat. He isn't 00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:56.050 in Bethany mourning his friend. He isn't in Jerusalem 00:06:56.050 --> 00:07:02.509 as far as you know. He's just gone. And you're 00:07:02.509 --> 00:07:06.069 standing on a road full of grieving people thinking 00:07:06.069 --> 00:07:10.569 something you don't want to say out loud. If 00:07:10.569 --> 00:07:15.470 he knew Lazarus was sick, why didn't he come? 00:07:17.420 --> 00:07:21.759 If Bethany is so close to Jerusalem, why didn't 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:29.759 he at least stop? What kind of man heals strangers, 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:37.540 skips the funeral of someone he loved? And you 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:42.339 don't have an answer. Only the ache of that question. 00:07:44.139 --> 00:07:47.779 And you're almost ready to just keep on walking 00:07:47.779 --> 00:07:53.620 into the city when someone says, the rabbi's 00:07:53.620 --> 00:07:58.779 coming. Where the road bends and the dust won't 00:07:58.779 --> 00:08:01.759 settle, where four days have done what four days 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.839 do, where the sisters have repeated the same 00:08:04.839 --> 00:08:07.279 sentence to every person who walks through their 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:11.949 door, if he had only been here. where spices 00:08:11.949 --> 00:08:14.970 have now been measured, the stone has been rolled, 00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:20.250 and grief has found its rhythm, the way grief 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:23.509 does when it lingers long enough to just seep 00:08:23.509 --> 00:08:29.569 into the walls of the room. And now he's coming 00:08:29.569 --> 00:08:36.269 up the road. Late. The way you arrive when you 00:08:36.269 --> 00:08:39.409 should have been there from the beginning. Friends. 00:08:40.620 --> 00:08:43.100 Tune your ears to the reading of Holy Scripture 00:08:43.100 --> 00:08:45.539 this morning. Our account this morning comes 00:08:45.539 --> 00:08:48.080 to us from the Gospel account according to the 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:52.820 beloved disciple John, beginning in his 11th 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:57.639 chapter, verse 17. So when Jesus came, he found 00:08:57.639 --> 00:08:59.940 that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already. 00:09:00.919 --> 00:09:04.100 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about 15 stadia 00:09:04.100 --> 00:09:07.519 away. Many of the Jews had joined the women around 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.620 Martha and Mary to console them concerning their 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:15.480 brother. Then when Martha heard that Jesus was 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:18.639 coming, she went and met with him. But Mary stayed 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:22.179 in the house. Therefore Martha said to Jesus, 00:09:22.299 --> 00:09:25.519 Lord, if you had been here, my brother would 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:29.590 not have died even now. I know that whatever 00:09:29.590 --> 00:09:33.409 you ask of God, God will give you, Jesus said 00:09:33.409 --> 00:09:39.129 to her. Your brother will rise again. Martha 00:09:39.129 --> 00:09:42.789 said to him, I know that he will rise again at 00:09:42.789 --> 00:09:49.309 the last day. And Jesus said to her, I am the 00:09:49.309 --> 00:09:52.789 resurrection and the life. He who believes in 00:09:52.789 --> 00:09:58.590 me will still live even if he dies. Whoever lives 00:09:58.590 --> 00:10:02.889 and believes in me will never die. Do you believe 00:10:02.889 --> 00:10:08.870 this? She said to him, yes, Lord. I have come 00:10:08.870 --> 00:10:11.929 to believe that you are the Christ, God's son. 00:10:12.129 --> 00:10:17.149 He comes into the world. And when she had said 00:10:17.149 --> 00:10:21.649 this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, 00:10:21.690 --> 00:10:24.909 secretly, saying, the teacher is here and is 00:10:24.909 --> 00:10:28.639 calling you. When she heard this, she arose quickly 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:32.299 and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:34.840 the village, but was in the place where Martha 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:38.659 met him. Then the Jews who were there with her 00:10:38.659 --> 00:10:41.159 in the house and were consoling her when they 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:44.159 saw Mary, then she rose up quickly and went out 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:47.220 following her, saying, She's going to the tomb 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:52.899 to weep there. Therefore, when Mary came to where 00:10:52.899 --> 00:10:56.299 Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, 00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:02.559 saying, Lord, if you had been here, my brother 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:07.259 wouldn't have died. When Jesus therefore saw 00:11:07.259 --> 00:11:11.399 her weeping and the Jews weeping who came with 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:15.779 her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled 00:11:15.779 --> 00:11:20.490 and said, Where have you laid him? They told 00:11:20.490 --> 00:11:26.870 him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. The Jews, 00:11:27.009 --> 00:11:29.889 therefore, said, see how much affection he has 00:11:29.889 --> 00:11:32.649 for him. Some of them said, couldn't this man 00:11:32.649 --> 00:11:36.149 who opened the eyes of him who was blind have 00:11:36.149 --> 00:11:40.470 also kept this man from dying? Jesus, therefore, 00:11:40.549 --> 00:11:45.250 again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb. 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:48.899 Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:53.480 Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:58.299 sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by 00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:01.519 this time there is a stench, for it has been 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:07.259 four days. Jesus said to her, Didn't I tell you 00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:10.379 that if you believed, you would see God's glory? 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:14.399 So they took away the stone from the place where 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:18.610 the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes 00:12:18.610 --> 00:12:21.549 and said, Father, I thank you that you listened 00:12:21.549 --> 00:12:25.629 to me. I know that you always listen to me and 00:12:25.629 --> 00:12:28.649 because of the multitude that stands around, 00:12:29.009 --> 00:12:33.990 I say this, that they may believe that you sent 00:12:33.990 --> 00:12:38.870 me. And when he said this, he cried out with 00:12:38.870 --> 00:12:47.230 a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. came out, bound 00:12:47.230 --> 00:12:49.730 hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was 00:12:49.730 --> 00:12:52.730 wrapped around him with a cloth. And Jesus said 00:12:52.730 --> 00:13:00.090 to them, Free him and let him go. Thus ends reading 00:13:00.090 --> 00:13:04.269 a word this morning. And the dust still won't 00:13:04.269 --> 00:13:08.090 settle. The sisters have stopped saying if. And 00:13:08.090 --> 00:13:11.399 now you are standing. On the road, you were ready 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:14.759 to walk past from five minutes ago, but now your 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:19.440 feet won't move. And I want to ask you something, 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:24.299 and I want you to think before you answer. Have 00:13:24.299 --> 00:13:27.539 you ever been angry at someone for not showing 00:13:27.539 --> 00:13:32.039 up, only for them to arrive and make it worse? 00:13:33.860 --> 00:13:39.019 Not worse because they were cruel. But because 00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:43.720 what they did revealed how badly you underestimated 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:48.679 them. You thought they didn't care. And then 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:52.320 they did something that made your anger look 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:57.460 frighteningly small. That is where you're standing 00:13:57.460 --> 00:14:02.159 right now on that road. You were ready to write 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:06.419 him off. Not completely, not forever, but in 00:14:06.419 --> 00:14:11.120 that quiet human way where disappointment begins 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:15.580 to harden our hearts. He should have been here. 00:14:16.299 --> 00:14:20.899 He should have come. And now he is here, weeping 00:14:20.899 --> 00:14:25.639 at the tomb of the man he could have saved. You 00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:28.659 hear someone behind you say what you've been 00:14:28.659 --> 00:14:31.220 thinking, right? If he could open that blind 00:14:31.220 --> 00:14:34.399 guy's eyes, couldn't he have stopped all of this? 00:14:34.539 --> 00:14:37.899 And I wonder if that's not exactly what those 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:43.419 four days were actually for. Not punishment. 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:52.399 Not neglect. A furnace. Because the faith you 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:56.629 carried on this road, The faith that said, I 00:14:56.629 --> 00:15:01.470 have seen Jesus do amazing things. That faith 00:15:01.470 --> 00:15:07.529 wasn't ready for a tomb yet. It needed to be 00:15:07.529 --> 00:15:11.429 broken down into something harder, something 00:15:11.429 --> 00:15:15.129 more honest before it could hold what is about 00:15:15.129 --> 00:15:20.850 to happen. You have to lose your confidence in 00:15:20.850 --> 00:15:24.460 him. before you can gain something bigger than 00:15:24.460 --> 00:15:29.580 confidence. But Jesus doesn't answer the question. 00:15:30.059 --> 00:15:35.519 He doesn't explain the delay. He doesn't offer 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:40.120 a lesson about God's timing or God's will. He 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:45.860 just simply says, take away the stone. And Martha, 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:55.120 practical, grieving, Faithful Martha tries to 00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:01.039 stop him because the body has been dead for four 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:08.360 days. She's trying to spare everyone what death 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:14.500 does to a body given time. And he says to her, 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:19.980 didn't I tell you? That if you believed, you 00:16:19.980 --> 00:16:28.299 would see God's glory? Now, pause. Listen to 00:16:28.299 --> 00:16:34.879 what just happened. Martha said something perfectly 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:41.480 orthodox a few minutes ago. I know that he will 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:45.379 rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 00:16:46.590 --> 00:16:50.690 That's good theology. That's the right answer 00:16:50.690 --> 00:16:57.250 on the exam. And Jesus didn't affirm it. He didn't 00:16:57.250 --> 00:17:02.450 say, that's right, and here's how. He said, I 00:17:02.450 --> 00:17:08.549 am the resurrection and the life. He collapsed 00:17:08.549 --> 00:17:15.579 the distance. Martha's theology. had put resurrection 00:17:15.579 --> 00:17:24.240 safely at the end of time, at the last day, where 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:30.359 it couldn't ask anything of her right now. And 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:37.180 grief does that to us. Grief pushes hope to the 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:41.579 horizon. Because sometimes, and you all know 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:47.640 this to be true, sometimes hope up close is too 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:54.500 dangerous. If you hope for the last day, you 00:17:54.500 --> 00:17:58.579 don't have to risk hoping for this afternoon. 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:04.559 Jesus took the one thing she was counting on 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:10.650 later. and said, it's standing right in front 00:18:10.650 --> 00:18:16.210 of you now. And then he told her to prove it, 00:18:16.230 --> 00:18:21.910 roll away the stone. And her faith in that moment 00:18:21.910 --> 00:18:28.950 is not safe. It is a woman letting someone open 00:18:28.950 --> 00:18:34.839 a grave she has already accepted as final. Because 00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:39.759 the man asking her to do that told her everything 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:42.960 she believed about resurrection was even closer 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:47.220 than she could have ever imagined. And then he 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:52.059 shouts, not softly, not privately, but with a 00:18:52.059 --> 00:18:56.500 loud voice into a sealed tomb, Lazarus, come 00:18:56.500 --> 00:19:00.440 out. And there's also a neat little tradition. 00:19:00.460 --> 00:19:03.650 I don't know if this is true or not, but... Jesus 00:19:03.650 --> 00:19:07.829 has to shout and call out Lazarus by name because 00:19:07.829 --> 00:19:11.569 if he had just said, come out, all of the tombs 00:19:11.569 --> 00:19:15.430 would have opened. I don't know if that's true 00:19:15.430 --> 00:19:17.190 or not, but isn't that interesting to think about? 00:19:17.650 --> 00:19:23.170 Pretty cool. And the man who was dead came out, 00:19:23.250 --> 00:19:27.910 still wrapped, hands and feet bound, face covered, 00:19:28.049 --> 00:19:36.789 but moving and breathing. And you saw it. It's 00:19:36.789 --> 00:19:40.190 not some story you heard around a campfire. Not 00:19:40.190 --> 00:19:43.529 something that occurred from a distance. You 00:19:43.529 --> 00:19:47.529 saw a dead man stand because that rabbi you have 00:19:47.529 --> 00:19:50.609 been doubting this whole time called him by name. 00:19:51.829 --> 00:19:56.650 And what do we do with that? You can't unsee 00:19:56.650 --> 00:20:04.000 it. You can't set it aside. A man dead four days 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:08.500 is standing right in front of you. And Jesus, 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:13.720 the one you thought had failed his friends, says 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:19.460 unbind him and let him go. And he doesn't say 00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:25.680 that to Lazarus. He says it to you. To the people 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:29.279 standing around what would have been a grave. 00:20:30.829 --> 00:20:34.509 Jesus called him out, but he told the community 00:20:34.509 --> 00:20:39.549 to unwrap him. The calling is his. The unbinding 00:20:39.549 --> 00:20:43.990 is yours. And that's not a consolation prize 00:20:43.990 --> 00:20:46.990 handed off to bystanders. That's resurrection 00:20:46.990 --> 00:20:50.410 completing itself through your very hands, the 00:20:50.410 --> 00:20:53.250 same hands who were ready to keep on walking 00:20:53.250 --> 00:20:58.329 just five minutes ago. And everything you thought 00:20:58.329 --> 00:21:05.220 you understood, has now shifted. And you didn't 00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:09.440 come here for this. You were just passing through. 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:15.240 But now the road to Jerusalem seems to run through 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:20.720 something undeniable. Whatever you thought Jesus 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:26.700 was, prophet, teacher, healer, that category 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:31.660 is now shattered. Because prophets don't do this. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:37.079 Teachers don't do this. You have been following 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:42.740 someone who speaks to death and is answered by 00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:48.819 it. And I think what happened to Lazarus in that 00:21:48.819 --> 00:21:52.299 tomb is not the most important resurrection of 00:21:52.299 --> 00:21:57.240 the whole story. I think the most important resurrection 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:04.680 happened And you, standing on a road where you 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:09.160 thought hope had been dead for four days, and 00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:12.740 then watch it come stumbling out into the light, 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:15.299 wrapped in cloth, waiting for someone to finish 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:19.319 what God had started. And you don't have language 00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:23.599 for it yet, but you can't stop talking about 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:31.009 it. So. May the God who shows up late and shows 00:22:31.009 --> 00:22:34.130 up strong meet you on whatever road you're walking. 00:22:35.490 --> 00:22:39.849 And may he honor your road, not just his schedule. 00:22:40.930 --> 00:22:44.170 May the thing you were ready to give up on hear 00:22:44.170 --> 00:22:49.190 its name called. May someone close enough to 00:22:49.190 --> 00:22:55.950 unbind you come near and let you go. Amen? Amen. 00:23:01.569 --> 00:23:04.130 You know, there's just something about this story 00:23:04.130 --> 00:23:06.990 that just won't let you stay comfortable. Because 00:23:06.990 --> 00:23:10.410 it meets you right there. In that place where 00:23:10.410 --> 00:23:12.650 you've already rolled the stone and tried to 00:23:12.650 --> 00:23:14.849 make peace with what didn't turn out the way 00:23:14.849 --> 00:23:19.650 you had planned. And still, he comes. Not early, 00:23:19.809 --> 00:23:22.769 not on your timeline, but not absent either. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:26.160 And he stands in front of whatever you've called 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:30.880 finished and says, take away that stone. And 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:33.579 that's when it gets honest. Because it means 00:23:33.579 --> 00:23:36.319 some of us have been living next to things we've 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:38.599 buried and calling it faith when really it's 00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:42.319 just distance. What if he's still calling names 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:46.140 out of the grave? then maybe it's not over the 00:23:46.140 --> 00:23:49.279 way you decided it was over. Maybe resurrection 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:51.819 isn't just something you believe in, it's something 00:23:51.819 --> 00:23:55.460 standing right next to you. And if you heard 00:23:55.460 --> 00:23:57.259 something today, something that caught you off 00:23:57.259 --> 00:23:59.819 guard, something that sounded like truth in a 00:23:59.819 --> 00:24:02.559 voice you hadn't heard in a while, go ahead and 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:04.259 throw that little like in the offering plate 00:24:04.259 --> 00:24:06.279 like we do down at the church. Just says you 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:09.130 were here and you appreciate it. And if you want 00:24:09.130 --> 00:24:11.670 to keep walking with us all the way through Holy 00:24:11.670 --> 00:24:14.710 Week and right into Easter morning, make sure 00:24:14.710 --> 00:24:17.609 you tithe your subscribe. That way you'll know 00:24:17.609 --> 00:24:20.470 when we are headed towards Jerusalem again. Until 00:24:20.470 --> 00:24:22.809 next time, friend, be blessed.