Lazarus Responds

Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44 - All Saints Sunday, November 7, 2021

Pastor Ritva H Williams

We meet Jesus this morning at a tomb. The tomb of Lazarus, a beloved friend buried four days earlier. Family, friends and neighbors have gathered to support the family through that first intense week of devastating grief. The scene is highly emotional with lots of tears, loud wailing, and beating the bee

Mary throws herself at Jesus’ feet crying out, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” How often do we play the if only game? Fantasizing about what we might have done differently? As if we could change the past. As if Jesus or God could, would, or should change the past to make it come out the way we want it to. 

Mary’s tears and wailing trigger a deep emotional response from Jesus that is difficult to translate into adequate English words. He is filled with sorrow and sadness, but he is also disturbed and troubled, perhaps even disappointed, frustrated and angry. As John O’Donahue writes, “Having someone close to you die is an incredibly strange and desolate experience. Something breaks within you then that will never come together again” (Anam Cara, p. 207). Jesus weeps for the loss of his beloved friend Lazarus. He weeps for his beloved friend Mary who is hurting so bad. Jesus weeps with Mary sharing her pain and brokenness. 

The scene shifts to the tomb itself and the crowd witnesses the miracle of Lazarus walking out of his stinking grave. This episode of John’s gospel ends with Jesus telling Lazarus’ family and friends to unbind him and let him go.

Have you ever wondered what happened to Lazarus after Jesus called him to come out of the tomb where he had lain dead for four days?

We meet Lazarus again in John’s gospel a week later hosting a dinner for Jesus — a welcome back and thank you Jesus event at which Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with a pound of pure nard. It is an extravagant gesture of gratitude that fills the whole house with a beautiful aroma. In the midst of the joyous family celebration Judas chastises Mary for wasting a perfume worth a year’s wages. She should have sold it and given the money to the poor. Jesus defends Mary’s extravagance saying, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:1-8).

Lazarus is mentioned once more. When word gets out that Jesus is in Bethany, a great crowd gathers not only to see Jesus but to also see Lazarus — this man returned from the dead. Many people believe in Jesus because of Lazarus, so the chief priests plot to kill him (John 12:9-11). That’s it, we never hear another word about Lazarus in the gospels. 

To fill in the blanks, legends grew up about Lazarus. One early church tradition has him sailing to Cyprus to avoid the plots against his life. In Cyprus he meets Paul and Barnabas who appoint him Bishop of Larnaka. After 30 years of successful ministry Lazarus dies a natural death. In an alternative tradition, the authorities put him and his sisters out to sea in a little boat without sails, oars, or rudder, which miraculously makes it to southern France. In this version Lazarus becomes Bishop of Marseille until he is arrested and beheaded. Both traditions remember Lazarus as a bishop and saint who never smiled. 

Was he worried about the fate of the unredeemed souls he saw during his four days in hell? Was he plagued by dread knowing that he would have to experience death and purgatory again?

American playwright Eugene O’Neill imagined a radically different end for Lazarus. In 1925, he published a play called “Lazarus Laughed.”

As the curtain goes up, Lazarus is seen stumbling out of the dark, blinking into the sunlight. After the grave clothes are taken off of him, Lazarus begins to laugh a gentle, soft laugh; nothing bitter, nothing derisive, an embracing, astonishing, welcoming sound … The very first thing Lazarus does is to embrace Jesus with gratitude … The very first words Lazarus utters are the words, “Yes, yes, yes,” as if to embrace reality as it is being discovered all over again.

[When asked what death is like, Lazarus responds:] “Death is not the way it appears from this side. Death is not an abyss into which we go into chaos. “Death is a portal through which we move into everlasting growth and everlasting life.” …“The grave is as empty as a doorway is empty. It is a portal through which we move into greater and finer life. Therefore, there is nothing to fear. Our great agenda in this part of life is to learn to accept, to learn to trust. We are here to learn to love more fully.”

When Lazarus goes back to his daily tasks, he is not anxious and afraid anymore. His calm presence influences his neighbors to live more generously with each other, conflicts die down, and life gets better for everyone. But the Roman authorities see Lazarus as a threat to their agenda of control by fear and intimidation. They arrest Lazarus, and tell him to stop laughing. Lazarus just laughs more. They haul him before one high ranking Roman official after another until at last he is brought before the Emperor himself who threatens to kill Lazarus unless he stops laughing. Lazarus laughs and says, “Go ahead and do what you will.” (1)

“The grave is as empty as a doorway is empty. It is a portal through which we move into greater and finer life. Therefore, there is nothing to fear. Our great agenda in this part of life is to learn to accept, to learn to trust. We are here to learn to love more fully.”

More recently, Dan Doyle, poet and professor of humanities at Seattle University, described the resuscitated Lazarus as: 

a man of gentle knowledge, of abiding faith, and of quiet strength.

He told us over and over again that we were loved by one who knows our hearts, 

and who despises not our petitions, and that we would never be alone.

At long last, Lazarus died and we wept for sorrow again.

But we knew in our depths … that the Resurrection promised by the prophets is

real, that death no longer holds sway over our simple lives, and that we will see

each other again in the world to come. (2)

Hear again the good news proclaimed by John the Seer in our second reading: 

The home of God is among mortals. God will be with them. God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. 

Thanks be to God!

Today as we read the names of those who have died in the last twelve months, hear the bell ring and light a candle in their memory, we do two things: (1) we acknowledge that the death of a loved one represents a real and serious loss for their families and friends, even as we believe that death does not and will not be the final word about these dear ones; and (2) we recognize that we stand upon the shoulders of those who lived and died before us, and give thanks for the contributions they continue to make to our lives. 

 1) Bill Johnson, “Lazarus Laughed,” 4/03/2017 at billjohnsononline.com summarizing the 1997 sermon “Easter and the Fear of Death” by John Claypool. 

2)  Dan Doyle, “Lazarus (John 11:1-53),” at faithhub.net