The Last Word
(John 11: 1-45)
Growing up in my house as the oldest of three children was challenging to say the least. My sister was the middle child and apparently, she felt there was some sort of competition for the attention and affection of my parents. I can’t say much about the psychology of being a middle child because I married one but there definitely is something to it. My brother was the youngest and he was adept at keeping a low profile and staying out of the fray. She loved to argue and thrived on always getting the last word. I wasn’t smart enough to let it go and not get drawn in to the game and, if it looked like I might be getting the upper hand in the argument she would play the Dad Card and start crying which more often than not ended up with me involuntarily going to my room and my sister gleefully getting the last word, as if that settled anything. It had to have been miserable for my parents, who were as hard-working couple as you would ever want to meet and didn’t deserve this constant turmoil over nothing. It wasn’t until I realized that there was life after high school that things would get better. It came in the form of me transferring to a college hundreds of miles away, leaving my brother to deal with it, sorry Jeff, and not worrying about who was going to get the last word.
And it’s who gets the last word that the Apostle John is writing about in our gospel reading for today. Two thousand years ago, in the Jewish tradition, death was final with some believing in the concept of a resurrection on the final day and others not believing in a resurrection at all. The unheard of raising of Jesus’ friend Lazarus from the dead was Jesus’ way of demonstrating that for true believers, death does not get the last word, life is not over.
John starts out by telling us that a certain man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany just outside of Jerusalem, was ill. He had two sisters, Martha and Mary whom Jesus loved as dear friends. The sisters were so worried about this illness that they sent word to Jesus telling him that the one whom he loved was ill. They knew that there was something special about their friend and perhaps, if he were to come, he could do something. They were aware of the other miracles Jesus had performed like giving sight to a man born blind, something no one had ever done before, and maybe Jesus could do something for their brother. John tells us that when Jesus heard this he said: This illness isn’t fatal. It’s for the glory of God so that God’s Son can be glorified through it. Initially, you would think that this would have gotten a reaction out of the disciples but by this time they had seen Jesus do and say so many amazing things that they just figured he knew what he was doing and not to question it
After two days Jesus said to his disciples that it was time to return to Judea which really concerned the disciples who reminded him that the Jewish opposition wanted to stone him and advised against it. Jesus responded: Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? Whoever walks in the day doesn’t stumble because they see the light of the world. But whoever walks in the night does stumble because the light isn’t in them. I’m sure the disciples were wondering why Jesus had to constantly speak in riddles and wouldn’t just come out and speak plainly, like “I’ve only got so much time left to get my message out and those who hear it will walk the path of life without tripping or stumbling on sin, but those who don’t hear it or understand it will walk in a constant darkness stumbling and falling.”
But Jesus continued, unphased, saying: Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going in order to wake him up. They thought Lazarus was just in some sort of deep sleep and would wake up on his own, none the worse for wear, but Jesus bluntly told them that Lazarus had already died, that he was glad he wasn’t there so that they could believe. So they went, in spite of the Jewish threat of death with Thomas encouraging them to go so that they may die with Jesus.
By the time they arrived Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days and many Jews had come from nearby Jerusalem to comfort and mourn with Mary and Martha. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she ran to meet him. Upon reaching Jesus she said: Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask God, God will give you. Jesus told her that her brother will rise again, to which she responded that she knew that, that there would be a resurrection on the last day, but she knew that if Jesus petitioned God, her brother would rise and live again. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? And she replied without missing a beat: Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, the one who is coming into the world. What a profession of faith, even in the face of personal loss and grief, a time when we question what we know.
Martha then returned to Mary and told her that Jesus had arrived and was asking for her, so she quickly got up and went to where Jesus was waiting, when Martha had met with him. The Jews, who were there comforting Mary, saw her leave quickly and assumed, in her grief, that she was going to the tomb to continue her mourning. Instead, she led them to where Jesus was, fell to her feet and said: Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. John tells us that when Jesus, in his humanity, saw her crying along with the mourners he was deeply disturbed and troubled and asked where they had laid Lazarus, at which point Jesus began to cry. Some of the Jews observed at how much Jesus must have loved Lazarus but a few of the skeptics in the crowd said: He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?
When they arrived at the tomb Jesus instructed them to roll the stone away that was covering the entrance and Martha responded that Lazarus had been dead for four days and the smell would be awful. Jesus responded: Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory? So, they rolled the stone back and Jesus looked up to the sky and said for all to hear: Father, thank you for hearing me. I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me. After saying this Jesus shouted in a loud voice: Lazarus, come out! Can you imagine that? Every eye fixed upon the dark tomb and then seeing the dead Lazarus come out still wrapped in his burial clothes. As they stood there dumbfounded Jesus said to them: Untie him and let him go. John records that many of the Jews who came with Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. Did you get that? Many, but not all, believed in him. That’s what I think Jesus meant when he said: But whoever walks in the night does stumble because the light isn’t in them. They have refused to see the light and remain blinded by their disbelief out of stupidity and jealousy and are doomed to stumble in the darkness.
To say that being a follower of Jesus Christ is a leap of faith would definitely qualify as an understatement. He talked in circles sometimes, metaphorically speaking and teaching by the way of parables when it would be so much easier if he just plainly said what was on his mind, but he wanted his followers, you and me, to dig deeper, to look closer at what he was doing and to search for the hidden meaning in what he was saying. He certainly wasn’t one to spoon-feed the gospel to those who were gathering to hear his words. To me, this story resonates as in my experience as a pastor I have spent time with those who grieve the loss of a loved one and many times they have told me that they prayed to God for a miracle and that their prayers went unanswered. Some were angry, some were bewildered, and some questioned their faith. Was being a believer of Jesus Christ all for naught? I try to comfort them, explain that God does hear their prayers and that sometimes his answer is yes, sometimes it’s no, and other times its’ not yet, or wait for it, and sometimes the answer is not what you expected.
Jesus’ attitude and actions here are not callous but demonstrate that he knows God’s ultimate purpose for this illness and acts on his own terms. Yeah, I know, that’s a hard one. It was even hard for Jesus in his humanness because he was overcome by his emotions and openly wept. His public prayer for all to hear is a public testimony of his dependence on the Father and to the truth that he does the works of God.
Jesus doesn’t mean that Lazarus’s sickness isn’t fatal, but as the story shows, death doesn’t get the last word when Jesus is on the scene. It’s because Jesus is the resurrection and also the life, believers in him will both live after dying, be raised, and never really die, because they have an eternal life that has already begun.
He who is life can surely restore life. Whoever believes in Christ has a spiritual life that death cannot conquer or diminish in any way. When we realize his power and how wonderful his offer to us really is, how can we help but commit our lives to him? Our physical death is not final if we believe in God’s word and promise. That is the last word.
Let us pray.
Because we have taken Jesus as our savior, we have a home in a great new land that outshines the sun, and we have the blessed assurance that Jesus, our Lord and Savior, will remember us when the time comes for us to enter into our eternal rest. In the meantime, we will walk in the light as we continue to do the work of the Father whenever the opportunities arise as others stumble in the darkness because they refuse to see and accept the word of God and his promise to us, his children. We pray that we may be the ones who bring them to the light so that their mortal death is not their last word. This we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.
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3/22/26
The Last Word
Whoever believes in Christ has a spiritual life that death cannot conquer or diminish in any way.