Life after Life - transcript of talk Fifth Sunday in Lent 2020

John 11.1-45


Part One – verses 1 – 16 ‘The Death of Lazarus’

We might think as we read Scripture that God is not very efficient, although we find he is always sufficient.

Jesus hears of Lazarus being sick, very sick. And yet Jesus tarries and delayed going to Bethany for a further two days.

Why wait – why waste time?

When God looked around for a man and his wife through whom God would bless the world, you might imagine God would find a nice young couple. But no, God choose an old man and his wife who was beyond years for bearing children.

This apparent lack of efficiency is to be noted throughout Israel’s story.

And when Jesus came to choose those whom he was to call Apostles, he selected a rag bag of people. Not very efficient you would think for launching the Kingdom of God movement.

As we read in 1 Corinthians 1:26

My dear friends, remember what you were when God chose you. The people of this world didn't think that many of you were wise. Only a few of you were in places of power, and not many of you came from important families.

Then in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus outlines what kind of people will embrace and inherit the Kingdom of God. It is the poor, the marginalised, the little people, the outcast, the nobodies.

If that’s what you feel like sometime then rejoice because to such as these belongs the Kingdom of God.

And it is worth noting here in our present crisis that Jesus said the meek will inherit the earth – so if we take Jesus at his word, and why shouldn’t we, the earth is going to continue in some form or other. Which is what we read in Revelation 21 with heaven coming to earth and for what we pray as I am sure many of us have been doing, the Lord’s Prayer, Your Kingdom come upon earth as it is in heaven.

So, it may look to our human way of thinking that God is not very efficient, but let us heed the words of the Prophet Isaiah

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

For it is through the little people that… ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.’  Habakkuk 2:14

Words you might recognise from that lovely hymn…

God is working his purpose out,
as year succeeds to year:
God is working his purpose out,
and the time is drawing near:
nearer and nearer draws the time,
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled
with the glory of God,
as the waters cover the sea.

In the end, despite what to us may look like inefficiency in human terms, in this case Jesus’ apparently waiting two days, God proves to be all sufficient as we hear Jesus say in this passage…

When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won't end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.

Part Two John 11. 17 – 37 ‘Jesus Comforts the Sisters’

For the first ten years of ministry as a Church of England Lay Minister I worked in two parishes, one in Luton and the other in Prudhoe, Northumberland. During those ten years I conducted hundreds of funerals. One of the most common phrases you would hear at a time like that was, ‘if only.’ And this is the first thing Martha says to Jesus as she comes bustling out to meet him. The same phrase the quieter Mary says as she meets with Jesus later, ‘if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.’

At such a time as this I want to encourage you with every fibre of my being to change the ‘if only’ into ‘I’m glad I did.’

My mum used to say, bring me flowers when I can enjoy them.

And I remember visiting my stepfather shortly before he died.

At that time, we lived in Cornwall and he and mum lived in Oldham, Lancashire, so it was a long trip to make. On my last visit to the hospital, as I was leaving, I gave a him a hug and said, ‘I love you.’ He looked at me and smiled and said, ‘do you.’ That is for me a real precious memory and I’m glad I did, rather than later saying ‘if only.’ 

I could tell you story after story of people who said, ‘if only.’ Like the car mechanic in Prudhoe who kept working beyond retirement despite his wife begging him to stop so they could spend more time together. Eventually he sold the business and settled down to retirement and even booked a cruise for him and his wife. Sad to say they never got to go on the cruise as she died within months of his retiring. Today, change any ‘if only’ you think you might be saying if something untoward happens, into ‘I’m glad I did.’ 

If this current crisis has reminded us of anything it is both the beauty and the fragility of life.

The second important phrase I would like to draw to your attention is Martha’s ‘even now’ faith.

 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Even now as we face this deadly hidden enemy that is Covid-19 – we know that God is all sufficient.

Even now let us heed the words of the poem ‘The Gate of the Year’ by Minnie Louise Haskins made famous by King George VI in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the British Empire.

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

Even now – we put our faith, our trust and our hands into God’s – much as a small child would when scared and unsure of the way.

‘Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’  Psalm 23.4

Part Three John11:38–45 ‘Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead’

In this final section of our Gospel reading for today I would invite you to consider three things presented as an alliteration.

Consider Christ’s Communion

Consider Christ’s Call

Consider Christs’ Commission

Christ’s Communion - So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”  

‘I knew you always hear me’ Jesus lived in constant communion with Father God.  Think about those who are your nearest and dearest, you don’t have to introduce yourself every time you meet, they know who you are and most often will even recognise your voice. And Jesus didn’t have to introduce himself every time he met with God in the place of prayer, he knew that God always heard him.

During this lock down we have the precious gift of time without many of the normal distractions making their demands upon us. We have a wonderful opportunity to develop our communion with Father God.

Christ’s Call -  When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”  Jesus calls Lazarus by name to come out of the place of death. And Jesus is still calling people by name to come out of the place of death and sin...

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.


‘I have come, said, Jesus, that you may have life and have it to the full.’ John 10.10


And Paul writing to the Church in Rome says…

…knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.  Romans 6.6

I hope you know this, that you have heard the voice of Jesus calling you from a life of bondage to sin to a life of freedom.

Because…’if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’

John 8.36

Christ’s Commission – ‘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.”

In his book, ‘You – God’s Brand New Idea’ Max Lucado says that ‘God loves us just the way we are but loves us enough not to leave us that way.’ When we emerge from our former life, we may well be bound up with grave clothes, grave clothes of addictions, to drink, gambling, sex – all kinds of things that can bind us. We need to be released from these things and become clothed in Christ’s new garments.

If you might be tempted to think you prefer your old stinking grave clothes, then listen to these words from the Prophets Isaiah…

I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels... Isaiah 61.10

And helping people take off and keep off and put on a robe of righteous is part of our commission from King Jesus.

‘…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’ Ephesians 4.13