With God, there is no such thing as a coincidence. For example, a pericopy system, or a Lectionary of readings has been around since Biblical times. A pericopy system, that is a reading around the text or as we call it today, our Lectionary reading system has been around many years and the purpose of such a system is to give the Church a way to hear the whole council of God over the time span of a year or in our case three years. So, readings have been appointed for each Sunday of the Church Year so that over three years we hear very much of the word of God. And these reading systems have been in place for many years. The point is that there is no coincidence that the readings we heard last week and are hearing this week have to do with bad things happening, such as the COVID 19 virus.
So, as we meander, or wander through the season of Lent, making our way to Good Friday, I am reminded of some of the older television shows which often ended with the words, “to be continued.” Last week our Gospel reading was the account of Jesus healing the man born blind and the attempt by the Pharisees to discredit Jesus. Last week we also considered the question which is the title of our sermon for today, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” and you might remember, I said we would most certainly talk about this questions again. This week, we turn to another episode of, The Life and Times of Jesus.
Our Gospel account opens with a scene at the house of Mary and Martha, two sisters that Jesus loved dearly. As our scene opens we immediately have a flashback (actually, it is a flash forward), showing us that this Mary is the same Mary who anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume and wiped them with her hair to, as Jesus says, get His body ready for burial. But now, as this scene opens, their brother and good friend of Jesus, Lazarus is sick. We see him lying on the bed. His pulse is erratic. His blood pressure is down. He is having a hard time breathing. The doctors have done all they could do. They have called in the family and now they are waiting. In faith, Mary and Martha send for Jesus. They know He has power to heal and they pray that He comes in time.
We shift scenes to where Jesus is. We watch as a messenger arrives with the message from Mary and Martha to tell Jesus that Lazarus is sick and about to die and that He needs to hurry if He wants to see him alive. Jesus speaks and what He says, His comment, takes us to a flashback scene to last week when He made a similar comment. You might recall, that when Jesus was asked about the cause of the blind man’s blindness He said that it was “so the work of God might be seen.” Now, back at our present scene, we hear Jesus say, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (v. 4). And then, to our surprise, He went on about His business. A message has just been delivered to Jesus that Lazarus was sick and about to die and what does He do, He stays where He is for two more days. Finally, after two days, Jesus gets His disciples ready and they head to Judea. Tensions mount as the disciple remind Him that there is a threat to His life in Judea, but Jesus assures them it will work out for the best. Then He tells them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up” (v. 11). Once again, we flash back to the death of Lazarus, as we see him lying on his bed. He stops breathing. The doctor checks him and declares him dead. Then we see him pull the sheet over his head and go out to call the undertaker to get the body ready for burial. As we come back to the present scene we can see that the disciples have misunderstood what Jesus was saying and they suggest that Lazarus will wake up. Then Jesus tells them plainly and bluntly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe” (v. 14).
Before we switch scenes, we hear Thomas, the disciple we love to beat up on once a year after Easter for doubting, show his true faith. He was ready to go with Jesus anywhere, even to die with Him, as we hear him say, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (v. 16). Perhaps we have been wrong and too hard on Thomas all these years? But that is for a different sermon.
We switch scenes back to the village. The tension mounts as we approach the village and as we see Mary and Martha grieving over the death of their brother, whom they know Jesus could have saved. The point is reiterated that Jesus stayed too long, if Jesus had been there He could have saved Lazarus. So now, we are told that Lazarus had been dead for four days. The questions we might ask is why is it so important that we know that Lazarus has been dead for four days? What difference does it make how long he has been dead? Is not dead, dead? The Concordia Self-Study Bible explains, “many Jews believed that the soul remained near the body for three days after death in the hope of returning to it. If this idea was in the minds of these people, they obviously thought all hope was gone—Lazarus was irrevocably dead.” And the Lutheran Study Bible adds, “John’s point is that only a genuine miracle could account for the raising of Lazarus.” And now, back to the present scene. We see Martha being told that Jesus has arrived and she rushes out to meet Him. At this point we have some words foreshadowing what is to come. Jesus tells Martha that Lazarus will “rise again.” Martha is thinking in terms of heaven and certainly she believes in the resurrection to eternal life in heaven, but Jesus is speaking in terms of now. We are drawn in closer and we hear Jesus tell Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (v. 25).
The scene immediately shifts as we watch Martha go and tell her sister Mary that Jesus has arrived. We shift back and watch as Jesus moves closer to the place where Lazarus body was laid. We shift back and watch Mary rush out to see Jesus. Tensions mount again as Mary politely scolds Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 32). Jesus consoles her as they walk to the grave. In a moment of deep humility and sadness we watch as Jesus too begins to cry for Lazarus His friend. Here we see, God in flesh, Jesus the human, grieving for His friend Lazarus.
Tensions again mount as we hear Jesus speak and ask that the stone to the grave be removed. Certainly the people did not hear Him correctly. Certainly Jesus knows that Lazarus is dead, it has been four days after all. And certainly Jesus knows that by now the odor would be too much. Has this man who has healed others gone mad? Is He out of His mind in torment and grief over Lazarus death? Does He know what He is saying? Yes, Jesus knows what He is saying. He reminds them, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So, they took the stone and moved it. And we hear Jesus pray, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” Then he called out, “Lazarus, come out!” The moment of truth had arrived. And almost immediately, Lazarus came forth from the grave. He was wrapped in grave cloth and looked like a mummy.
Last week we asked the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” and we realized that is not the right question to ask. We came to understand that we are not good people. As a matter of fact, we are sinful people, we are evil people, we are people who constantly do everything we can to sabotage Jesus and His work of saving others. We are sinners. We are conceived and born in sin and we daily sin much, adding to our sin. What each one of us is deserving of is death, even eternal death and hell.
The question we ask is not, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” but, “Why do good things happen to sinful people.” And the answer is in our text, “It is for God’s glory.” We have a God who loves us so much and who has only in mind the best for us. Certainly we will suffer trials and tribulations in this world, but these things are not from God, but are a result of sin, that is, because we live in a world of sin and a world cursed because of sin. God loves us and He works to bring the best out for us in any given situation. Someone once described life like looking at a piece of cross stitching. When you look at the back of a piece which has been cross stitched, what you see are the knots and a lot of thread dangling. Knots in cross stitching are inevitable. However, when you turn the cross stitched piece over, what you see is a beautiful picture. Life is very similar, what we see is the bottom. We see the knots. We see the mess. We experience the pains of life. What God sees is the top. He is looking down from top down. And what He sees is the beautiful person He is making us to be. What He sees is the beautiful life He is weaving for us.
Yes, “bad” things happen in our lives. We can blame others. We can blame the pastor. We can blame our parents. We can blame our government. We can even blame God. There may even be a time when we might, perhaps, blame ourselves. The fact of the matter is that in our own lives, God is constantly working out the best for us in any given situation.
But, our lesson has not been completed. There is more. In the closing scene we see the enemies of Jesus gathering around plotting. They do not like what Jesus is doing. They do not like that many people are beginning to believe in Jesus. And so they are plotting. Their interest is not in helping anyone except themselves and in keeping what they perceive as their positions of power and authority. They are all evil and you can almost see the evil they exude. They plot and plan and their plan is one of the most evil you will know. Their goal now is to do away with Jesus. They plan to kill Him.
But, in this plan of evil, we continue to see God working. From verse fifty of our text we are told that Caiaphas gives us the greatest example of good, our good, coming from evil. Caiaphas tells those planning and plotting, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” (v. 50). Jesus is that one man who died, who gave His life so that we might not die, that is, so that we might not suffer eternal death in hell, but so that we might have life, eternal life in heaven. So, we see, out of this most cruel and torturing death, out of this crucifixion, out of this taking the life of the Son of God, yes, God in flesh, out of this evil and bad, God brings the best, forgiveness for our sins and eternal life for us. Yes, we may suffer for a little while. We may suffer some of the consequences of our actions, but, by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, who suffered the eternal death penalty of hell for us, in our place, we will never have to suffer any eternal consequences for our sins. We will never see death, eternal death and hell. Instead, we have life, eternal life.
So, our account comes full circle. Our tensions are resolved, only to bring another tension, as we work our way closer and closer to the earthly demise of Jesus. As we look at scenes from next week’s account we see the crowd gather as Jesus rides triumphant into Jerusalem. We see the crowds gather and cheer Him on. And we see Him on the way to the cross. For us, for now, we are resolved and reminded in our own lives that we do live in a world of sin. We are sinners living in this world of sin. Sin happens. Yet, we have a God who loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to live for us, give His life as a ransom for us, to pay the price for our sins. We have a Savior who traded our sins for His robes of righteousness. And we have a God who is so constantly looking out for us that He is with us always, each and every second of the day always looking to bring good out of evil. What a great God we have. What a loving God we have. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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