Lent with Lazarus Week Four

 

We are continuing to hold and be held by the narrative of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Jesus in John 11:1-44.  This week I encourage you to read a different version of the Biblical narrative than you did the last two weeks.  When we engage various translations, the word choices can evoke and provoke different reactions or responses.  Pay attention to a new detail you didn’t notice the last two weeks.  Reading another translation slows you down as you compare your interpretations you have formed over the last two weeks to a fresh reading today.   Below is the Message translation.  Read now with me these words:

 

^1-3 A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord’s feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Master, the one you love so very much is sick.” ⁴ When Jesus got the message, he said, “This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God’s glory by glorifying God’s Son.” ^5-7 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days. After the two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” ⁸ They said, “Rabbi, you can’t do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you’re going back?” ^9-10 Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn’t stumble because there’s plenty of light from the sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can’t see where he’s going.” ¹¹ He said these things, and then announced, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I’m going to wake him up.” ^12-13 The disciples said, “Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap. ^14-15 Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ That’s when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, “Come along. We might as well die with him.” ^17-20 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.

^21-22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God will give you.”

²³ Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”

²⁴ Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”

^25-26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”

²⁸ After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”

^29-32 The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him. Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there. Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, “Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

^33-34 When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him. He said, “Where did you put him?”

^34-35 “Master, come and see,” they said. Now Jesus wept.

³⁶ The Jews said, “Look how deeply he loved him.”

³⁷ Others among them said, “Well, if he loved him so much, why didn’t he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man.”

^38-39 Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”

The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, “Master, by this time there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days!”

⁴⁰ Jesus looked her in the eye. “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

^41-42 Then, to the others, “Go ahead, take away the stone.”

They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father, I’m grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that you sent me.”

^43-44 Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.

Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”

 

A few thoughts on this version of the story.  In verses 5-7, the story says Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, but “oddly, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stays where he was.”  I wonder when was the last time you did or said something that was odd, confusing, or confounding to yourself and others?  For me, I perplex myself only on days that end in, “y”.  Insert your laughter at my lame joke here.  I don’t know why I do what I do or say what I say sometimes.  Like Jesus confusing decision to stay, so too I scratch my head at myself too.  Lent is the chance for us to name, claim, and pray that we don’t have it all figured out. 

Second, I love how Lazarus is freed in this passage.  We need things in life that help us feel fully alive and set us free.  Picking up on the thread of celebrating Women’s History month, is there a female author or poet you love, who sets your soul ablaze with life?  Please post her name in the comment section.  

Finally, I find verse 35 profoundly powerful: Jesus wept.  Jesus is heartbroken when he comes face-to-face with the reality of death.  What is breaking your heart right now?  I have a long list: the unjust war in Ukraine; bills being passed that discriminate against my brothers and sisters who I love; friends I know who are grieving a loved one’s death.  Part of the grapes growing on the vine of our lives can be things that confuse or confound us.  I cannot fully explain (rationally or reasonably) many of the things that trouble me.  There are also people who empower and embrace us.  Jesus still weeps today and we are called to stand in solidarity with each person who is part of our life right now.  For the joy of those who awaken us and for the frustrations that simmer within us, offer all that is within you to God this day.  Amen.