There's a moment when something might seem wrong,
but you're not ready to say it yet. So you check.
You look at your phone again. You wait a little
bit longer for them to respond. You tell yourself,
you know, they're probably just busy. But the
longer the silence stretches, the louder your
imagination gets. I remember a time in my life
when if I didn't answer my phone, my mom did
not assume that I was busy. She assumed I was
dead in a ditch somewhere. And one night when
I didn't respond to her phone call, at the age
of 21, at 11 p .m. on a weeknight, she called
the police. Because in her mind there was no
other explanation whatsoever. Now I tried to
explain that there can always be other possibilities
when someone is not replying Sometimes I might
be working late or maybe I just didn't hear my
phone or you know I might actually have friends
and be out with people Let's not go there though
But you know once that fear sets in it's hard
to shake it Because when you don't know your
mind fills in the gaps We all do that When we
don't have answers, we create the explanations.
Sometimes we assume the worst. Sometimes we try
to convince ourselves it's not that bad. But
either way, we're trying to make sense of what
feels uncertain. And that works until the uncertainty
disappears. Until there's no more maybe. Until
something, someone is no longer possibly gone.
but definitely gone. And that's exactly the tension
we see in the story of Lazarus. At the beginning,
there's still hope. Talking with his disciples,
he's sick. You know, that's not the same as Lazarus
is dead. It's a very different feel. You see,
there's still time. There's still possibility.
There's still the sense that maybe things will
turn around. But you see, time passes, and Jesus
delays, not by accident, but deliberately. You
know, it's almost as if he seems to be tempting
fate, as if he's pushing what might happen. You
know, we see what's going on here with Lazarus,
but Jesus seems to be pretty confident, so I'm
sure it will turn out okay. But then the message
comes. Lord, He's dead. And everything shifts.
That moment whenever you know that you were expecting
something, and then you realize that what you're
expecting is no longer even on the table. You
see, this is no longer a situation that needs
healing. It's a situation that is final. And
yet, even then, there's still a part of us that
resists that finality. There's a part of us that
holds back from believing what it is that we
have heard. You've felt that before, I'm sure.
The stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression.
Finally, though, acceptance. When something happens
that just doesn't seem possible, Your first instinct
is not to accept it. It's oftentimes to question
it. There's got to be a mistake. You misunderstood.
That can't be right. There has to be another
explanation. You see, God's people have always
wrestled with that tension. The tension between
what we see and what we trust. Because fear and
faith, between the grave that seems final, and
the promise that is absolute. See, even in our
doubt, God calls us to stand before the tomb
and to hear his word. It's like hearing something
so unlikely that your mind refuses to process
it. It's as if someone were to come in and tell
you that Chuck Norris had passed away. And you
would not immediately accept it, would you? You'd
think, no, there's got to be a misunderstanding.
See, this is the guy who never did a push up
because he always pushed the earth down. The
man who was bitten by a King Cobra after four
very difficult days, the King Cobra died. The
man who gave death, as we had once heard, a near
-Chuck Norris experience. See a man though whose
Christian faith has been known for a long time
and for which we are truly grateful But you see
that instinct That resistance that reaction of
this cannot be true where you keep trying to
confirm it See that's exactly the kind of tension
around the tomb of Lazarus What would it have
been like to be walking there to be one of the
disciples wondering Maybe Jesus knows something
we don't. Maybe it is that as we're getting there,
Jesus is going to reveal that everyone was wrong
and Lazarus was just sick and everything is really
okay. He knows more than any of us do, right?
But by the time Jesus arrives at Lazarus' tomb
with those disciples, there is no uncertainty
left. Lazarus is gone. So then, why did Jesus
still come? He doesn't avoid the religious leaders
that everyone knows is trying to arrest him.
He doesn't hesitate because of Thomas or the
others wondering if this is when they too will
lose their lives. See, Lazarus has been in the
tomb for four days. Not hours, not recently,
but four days. See, by Jewish belief, a spirit
hovered over the body for three days. maybe even
possibly to be revived or restored. Beyond that
though, death was final. And by day four, decomposition
had begun. The tomb smelled. The friends had
lost all hope. Mary and Martha were grieving
deeply. But what happens? Jesus says, take away
the stone. And the response is immediately, Lord,
don't. Just don't. We have already accepted what
is happening. See, this is Martha speaking. The
same Martha who had just confessed, I believe
that you are the Christ, the Son of God. And
yet, here she is standing at the tomb saying,
please don't open it. Because, if we're honest,
faith and fear They can sit right next to each
other. See, it happens with us all the time.
See, she believes in Jesus, but she also knows
what's inside of that tomb. She knows what four
days means. She knows what four days smell like.
And Mary, Mary had fallen at His feet earlier,
weeping. You could hear it in her voice, Lord,
if You had been here, my brother would not have
died. See, we can hear anger and accusation,
but it's grief wrapped in faith that doesn't
understand what is supposed to be happening next.
But Jesus doesn't correct them. He doesn't rebuke
them. He weeps. Not because he doesn't know what
he is about to do, but because death is not what
he created us for. and he also knows what his
friend had just been through. And standing there
between their faith and their fear, Jesus still
says, take away the stone. Because by now, see,
the reality, it seems undeniable. See, there's
no life left. There's nothing to check. There's
no pulse. There's no breath. And if we're honest,
that's the part that we try to avoid too. You
see, we as people, we don't mind dealing with
things that are struggling. We don't mind fixing
things that are broken. Whenever something is
just having a difficult day. Whenever something
just needs a little oil, a little grease. Whenever
someone just needs an encouraging word or just
a moment. Maybe if someone just needs... an extra
can or an extra box of food, if someone just
needs an opportunity to have a smile put on their
face, we don't mind dealing with the struggles.
But when something feels completely dead, like
all people are without Christ Jesus, we don't
want to face that. Because as long as that tomb
stays closed, Maybe there's a little space for
denial. And beyond that denial, we could finally
just let go of the hope. But you see, even Lazarus
is not the furthest point of hopelessness in
our story today. Because at least with Lazarus,
there was still a body. There was still a place
to go, a tomb, a name, a memory. Whenever they
were struggling, there was still somewhere that
they could come to. But then we turn to Ezekiel,
and we don't find a body. The prophet is brought
into a valley, a valley of dry bones. These are
not recently dead. They're not freshly buried,
dry, scattered, disconnected. No bodies, no faces,
just the remains of what used to be. There's
not even a person anymore. just the remains of
what used to be. See, Israel had been conquered.
They'd been exiled, removed from the land. Years
had passed. Even God's promises seemed lost.
These were not the bodies of people that they
had known individually, but this image. was meant
to communicate what Israel had gone through.
In that imagery of Ezekiel, the exposed dry bones,
they mattered even more than we might realize.
These bones were not abandoned, just by themselves,
they were also dishonored. Because burial had
been denied, dignity had been denied, identity
had been denied. We don't even know who they
are! They don't even have names. Because bones,
they weren't supposed to be left out like that.
Even after battle, they were supposed to be buried.
Because burial meant dignity. It meant you belonged
to a people. It meant that your story mattered.
But these bones? They were just left out there.
Exposed. Forgotten. See, this isn't just about
death. This is what it looks like when people
begin to believe that even God's promises don't
come through for them. When not only life is
gone, but whenever people think that meaning
feels like it's gone as well. I'm sure none of
us has ever struggled with the feeling that maybe
we've been exposed. I'm sure none of us have
ever felt like we've been forgotten. I'm sure
none of us have ever felt like we had no meaning.
But you see, God brings Ezekiel into that valley
and asks a question that almost feels absurd.
Can these bones live? What? Okay, the honest
answer is no. No, God, there's not a chance that
these can live. They're bones. What do you expect?
Not after this long. Not in this condition. Not
with nothing left to work with. Not after this
long in our lives. Not when we are in this condition.
Not when we have nothing left to work with. But
you see, God tells Ezekiel to speak. Bone to
bone. structure where there was none, sinew,
flesh, skin, bodies coming back together. It
feels like a horror movie at first. Strange,
unsettling, unnatural, because they look like
bodies, but they're still not alive. How often
it is that we feel like a body, and the life
just isn't inside of us, until God says, breathe,
and the breath enters them, and they live. Hold
on to that, because we need to go back to that
tomb. Because in that moment, Jesus doesn't just
stand in front of death and observe it. He doesn't
just accept what has happened and that nothing
can change it. He speaks into it. abstractly,
not generally. He speaks by name. Lazarus, come
out. And the man who is dead walks out. He's
still wrapped, he's still marked by death, but
he is undeniably alive. And that's when everything
begins to come into focus. Somewhere in that
moment, the person who said, Don't is now standing
face to face with what Jesus can do because what
we're seeing in this moment, this is not personal
improvement. This is not recovery. This is not
things just got a little bit better. This is
not about taking something that was weak and
making it strong. This is about taking something
that was dead and making it alive. That's where
this becomes more than some dreamlike story or
a vision. Because if we're honest, most of us
don't think of ourselves or our lives that way.
We may think, I need to do better. I've got some
things to work on. I'm not exactly where I think
I should be. The Scripture doesn't describe any
of our conditions that way. It doesn't say we're
struggling. It says we're dead. Dead in our sins,
dead in our ability to fix ourselves, dead in
our capacity to create life where there is none.
You cannot improve something that's dead. You
cannot coach the bones into making themselves
into a body. You cannot encourage a corpse to
wake themselves up. Life has to come from outside
all of our power. And it's even more so with
what we see in Jesus. Because with Lazarus, Jesus
interrupts death from the outside, but then in
His own resurrection, He breaks it from the inside.
See, the people, when they saw Jesus, they didn't
wonder on that cross if He might have avoided
death. They didn't think that he had just gotten
a little sick. They saw the crucifixion. It was
finished. He was done. So when he rose, it wasn't
a question of whether he might have avoided death
in the first place. It was a declaration. Death
does not get the final word. And that changes
everything. Because now the question is no longer,
can God do something with what's left over? The
question is, what if there's nothing left and
He still calls it to life? And that's where this
becomes personal. Because every one of us has
places in our lives that feel like that valley,
places where something has dried up, where hope
has seemed thin, where it's been gone. Places
where it doesn't just feel broken, it feels over.
Sometimes it's not just painful. Sometimes it
feels like something was missed. Like something
that was supposed to happen didn't. Like maybe
we stepped outside of what God was going to do,
and we think that there's nothing left. And now
we're just left with what's left, or maybe there
was never anything in the first place. But maybe
we also think about that with the people in our
lives. And sometimes for those who don't know
Christ, we just assume that maybe we just need
to leave dead alone. But the promise of the Gospel
is not, I will help you fix what's broken. It
is, I will bring life where there is none. The
same voice that called Lazarus calls you. The
same breath that filled the dry bones is given
to you. It isn't about becoming a better version
of yourself. It is about being made new. The
old is gone and good riddance. That new life
is not something that we're just waiting for
some day. It has begun now. The faith that you
have, the life in you, the trust in Christ, that
is not self -generated. That is resurrection
at work right now. And that is the same resurrection,
not just for your life now, to get rid of the
old, to move into the new. That is for every
person you know in Christ as well. Even the ones
that you think have no hope of ever coming to
trust Him. Because that's what the Word of God
does. is it changes dead people into living ones.
And as much as we love to joke about some things,
we joke about people like Chuck Norris. We talk
about all the amazing ways in which he defied
all logic, and he counted to infinity twice.
He coughed up a man to check his closet every
night for Chuck Norris. and destroyed the periodic
table because he only recognizes the element
of surprise. Because Chuck Norris is in Christ,
he will stand with us in that resurrection too.
And that's what I actually care about. Not because
of strength, not because of reputation, but because
the same voice that calls the dead to life calls
all who belong to him by faith. So the question
for you today is not is there still a little
life left to get up and get going again the question
is Do you hear his voice? Because he is calling
He is speaking He is bringing life out of death
for you and for everyone in this world so one
day That voice will call again and the graves
will open and what feels final now will not be
final after all, because death does not win.
Christ does, and in him so do you. Thanks be
to God.