Lent with Lazarus ~ Connecting with the Cast of Characters

 

Within the cast of characters we meet in the resurrection of Lazarus, the ensemble includes the disciples (who don’t get it and are a bit dense – which I resemble that remark) and the fierce faithfulness of Martha and Mary.  We also have Lazarus, who I will reflect on more next week and whether he was unwillingly casted into the role of “Dead dude Jesus could rise from the dead”.  I am struck by how the disciples really don’t get what Jesus is talking about.  Notice verse 8, the disciples don’t even want to go anywhere near Judea to visit the grieving family.  They essentially say, “Um last time we were there Jesus, people were examining rocks to throw at you!  Do you really think we should go back there?!”  Then, when Jesus says that Lazarus is sleeping, the disciples essentially look at Jesus like a deer in highlights.  If I hold the Bible close, I can hear the disciples thinking, “Do we look like an alarm clock, Jesus?  He can wake up on his own!”  I imagine Jesus rubbing his temples, mutter and mumble to himself about why he called these guys to follow him, then bluntly saying, “Lazarus is dead.”  Insert lightbulb over disciples’ heads.  Then, Thomas, the twin says, “Well, I guess we should go and die with Him.”  Is this said with certainty or confusion or fear?

 

I wonder, who is the “Him”?  Is it Lazarus?  Or does Thomas imagine like Daniel in the Lions’ den that there is a stone with his name on it waiting to be thrown when Jesus steps back into the Judean city limits?  Is there regret or resignation or apprehension or acceptance of what could happen in Thomas’ voice?  Or maybe all the above and more emotions sitting in that comment.

 

When have you echoed Thomas?  When have you this last week thrown up your hands in exhaustion or exasperation?  When have you tossed in the towel thinking, “I just can’t do it anymore,” where the “it” is stress or strain of life sitting on your shoulders?

 

Now compare the disciples to Martha who when she hears Jesus is near; she goes out to meet him.  Conjure that conversation in your heart.  Is Martha perturbed or perplexed by Jesus?  Do her words have some anger sprinkled in when she says, “If You had been here, Jesus, Lazarus would still be alive.”  Or is there a passionate pleading?  I love how fiercely faithful Martha is, she names and claims her pain rather than pushing it down.  She tells Jesus what is in her heart.

 

What do you need to say to the Sacred today?  Do you have Martha-like words you need to share with God?

 

Then, Martha names and claims a faithfulness that death and life have always mixed and mingled together.  Too often in our world we see death as an ending.  Yet, science tells us that there are the same number of atoms in the universe today as when all this first began.  Creation is always recycling and renewing and restoring and re-storying the world.  You are made up of the same soil and star dust as the dinosaurs and your great grandparents.  You have atoms from the beginning within you!  Sit with this holy truth today.

 

Finally, notice how Mary echoes Martha in her first words to him, “Lord, why weren’t you here?”  Those moments when we let someone we love down or disappointment hangs heavy in the air between us and someone we care about.  Do you connect with this part of the story today?  Step into the roles of disciple – that we see in a mirror dimly and that our point of view is a view from a point.  Step into Martha’s sandals with fierce faithfulness of God’s presence and promise.  Step into Mary’s sacred disappointment about where our souls sag and hearts lag.  These parts and pieces of the story connect to my story and I pray to yours as well today.

 

Prayer: Thank you, God, for narratives that open us to truths about the human condition that have been, are, and will be found in our lives.  Help us hear our moments of confusion, confession, and concerns that this narrative awakens this day.  In the name of the One who brings life to the atoms where we only see ashes, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.

Lent with Lazarus ~ Week 2

 

We are continuing this week with the words of John 11:1-44.  This is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  Today, I encourage you to read a different version of the Biblical narrative than you did last week.  When we engage various translations, the word choices can evoke and provoke different reactions or responses.  Reading another translation slows you down as you compare the different ways the story is told.   I encourage you to read slowly, savoring each syllable of the passage below.  I pray you will open your sacred imagination to find yourself standing in the narrative as a participant.  You can name how the  Gospel story speaks to your story.  Name, notice, and pray your insights.  Name, notice, and pray your questions.  Name, notice, and pray your emotions.  Name, notice, and pray which character you are connecting with…and why that might be.  For today, slowly read this version of the story from the Voice translation:

 

There was a certain man who was very ill. He was known as Lazarus from Bethany, which is the hometown of Mary and her sister Martha. ² Mary did a beautiful thing for Jesus. She anointed the Lord with a pleasant-smelling oil and wiped His feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus became deathly ill, ³ so the sisters immediately sent a message to Jesus which said, “Lord, the one You love is very ill.” ⁴ Jesus heard the message.

Jesus: His sickness will not end in his death but will bring great glory to God. As these events unfold, the Son of God will be exalted.

⁵ Jesus dearly loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. ⁶ However, after receiving this news, He waited two more days where He was.

Jesus (speaking to the disciples): ⁷ It is time to return to Judea.

Disciples: ⁸ Teacher, the last time You were there, some Jews attempted to execute You by crushing You with stones. Why would You go back?

Jesus: ⁹ There are 12 hours of daylight, correct? If anyone walks in the day, that person does not stumble because he or she sees the light of the world. ¹⁰ If anyone walks at night, he will trip and fall because he does not have the light within. ¹¹ (Jesus briefly pauses.) Our friend Lazarus has gone to sleep, so I will go to awaken him.

Disciples: ¹² Lord, if he is sleeping, then he will be all right.

¹³ Jesus used “sleep” as a metaphor for death, but the disciples took Him literally and did not understand. ¹⁴ Then Jesus spoke plainly.

Jesus: Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and I am grateful for your sakes that I was not there when he died. Now you will see and believe. Gather yourselves, and let’s go to him.

Thomas, the Twin (to the disciples): ¹⁶ Let’s go so we can die with Him.

^17-18 As Jesus was approaching Bethany (which is about two miles east of Jerusalem), He heard that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days. ¹⁹ Now many people had come to comfort Mary and Martha as they mourned the loss of their brother. ²⁰ Martha went to meet Jesus when word arrived that He was approaching Bethany, but Mary stayed behind at the house.

Martha: ²¹ Lord, if You had been with us, my brother would not have died. ²² Even so I still believe that anything You ask of God will be done.

Jesus: ²³ Your brother will rise to life.

Martha: ²⁴ I know. He will rise again when everyone is resurrected on the last day.

Jesus: ²⁵ I am the resurrection and the source of all life; those who believe in Me will live even in death. ²⁶ Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never truly die. Do you believe this?

Martha: ²⁷ Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Anointed, the Liberating King, God’s own Son who we have heard is coming into the world.

²⁸ After this Martha ran home to Mary.

Martha (whispering to Mary): Come with me. The Teacher is here, and He has asked for you.

²⁹ Mary did not waste a minute. She got up and went ³⁰ to the same spot where Martha had found Jesus outside the village. ³¹ The people gathered in her home offering support and comfort assumed she was going back to the tomb to cry and mourn, so they followed her. ³² Mary approached Jesus, saw Him, and fell at His feet.

Mary: Lord, if only You had been here, my brother would still be alive.

³³ When Jesus saw Mary’s profound grief and the moaning and weeping of her companions, He was deeply moved by their pain in His spirit and was intensely troubled.

Jesus: ³⁴ Where have you laid his body?

Jews: Come and see, Lord.

³⁵ As they walked, Jesus wept; ³⁶ and everyone noticed how much Jesus must have loved Lazarus. ³⁷ But others were skeptical.

Others: If this man can give sight to the blind, He could have kept him from dying.

They are asking, if Jesus loves Lazarus so much, why didn’t He get here much sooner?

³⁸ Then Jesus, who was intensely troubled by all of this, approached the tomb—a small cave covered by a massive stone.

Jesus: ³⁹ Remove the stone.

Martha: Lord, he has been dead four days; the stench will be unbearable.

Jesus: ⁴⁰ Remember, I told you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.

⁴¹ They removed the stone, and Jesus lifted His eyes toward heaven.

Jesus: Father, I am grateful that You have heard Me. ⁴² I know that You are always listening, but I proclaim it loudly so that everyone here will believe You have sent Me.

⁴³ After these words, He called out in a thunderous voice.

Jesus: Lazarus, come out!

⁴⁴ Then, the man who was dead walked out of his tomb bound from head to toe in a burial shroud.

Jesus: Untie him, and let him go.

 

A couple of thoughts today:

One, I love how the Voice translation makes this story into a script for a play.  You can image actors and actresses embodying each role.  Go back, re-read, using different voices.  For example, in verse 16, Thomas, the Twin says, “Let’s go so we can die with Him.”  You could read that with the voice of Eeyore, or you could read this with confidence, or with a bit of fear caught in the back of your throat.  Second, I encourage you to pay attention to the fierce faithful women: Mary and Martha in this passage.  March is Women’s History Month and this week I will share more about Mary and Martha.  For today, enter playfully into this telling of Lazarus’ story, let the words wash over you.

 

Prayer: God, untie us during this season of Lent from the “shoulds” and the “have tos” and all the demands/decrees we put on ourselves.  Help us pay attention to the stories we tell ourselves about our lives.  Do we believe that our story is a drama or comedy or tragedy?  As we open our sacred imaginations to Lazarus help us find ourselves and You in these words.  Amen. 

Lent with Lazarus ~ Prayer

 

This week we launched into the narrative of Lazarus.  We named, claimed, and prayed our insights and questions.  We explored one question concerning why Jesus lingered rather than leaving immediately to see his friend?  We dove into the difficult topic of regret.  And yesterday, we focused on breathing in this moment.  We will continue to stick and stay with Lazarus throughout the coming weeks, but for now, I invite you to join me in prayer.

God of every moment, thank you for questions that help us name and notice our curiosity.  Thank you for deep stories that open us to new insights about the stories we are telling ourselves.  Thank you for moments I chose a road that was rough, rugged, and now can let the wisdom of that decision point me in other directions.  In short, God, thank you for stumbles and fumbles and falling flat on my face.  Thank you for picking me up.  Thank you for those I love.  Help me be awake and aware of the choices I am still making this day that culminate, combine, and create the life I am living.  In the name of the One whose life is a light to my heart, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.

Lent with Lazarus ~ Pushing Pause

 

Today we push pause together.  We sit holding our lives lightly with each other.  I invite you to take a deep breath.

Breathe in God’s grace meeting you right where you are…breathe out any perfectionistic tendencies.

Breathe in God’s love that says, “You are enough”…breathe out all the striving we do to earn God’s favor.

Breathe in a feast of holiness that feeds our soul…breathe out fasting from the constant drip, drip, drip of cynicism and criticism in our culture.

Breathe in slowly and deeply…breathe out letting your exhale be even longer.

Breathe in trusting in God…breathe out all the voices that want to fix or save or solve your problems.

Breathe in….breathe out.

Be still in this moment and feel God’s love.  Amen.  

Lent with Lazarus ~ Lesson of Regret

 

As we continue to stick and stay with the story of Lazarus and why it was that Jesus didn’t leave quickly to see “the one whom he loved,” we can talk a bit about regrets.  This is not necessarily a topic we like to discuss.  Recently I read a fascinating book by Daniel Pink where he describes four core regrets.  First, foundational regrets around education, finance, and health.  Times we have overspent and under saved.  When we didn’t live up to our hopes.  Second, there are moral regrets where we took the low road, did something we are not proud of, or compromised on our values.  Third are connections regrets when we failed to honor the people who matter.  Or we lose touch with friends or family.  These are relationships that have frayed or fizzled or faded and we long to rekindle.  Finally, there are boldness regrets that we didn’t dare to dive into an opportunity when the door was opened to us. 

 

Which of the above four do you find as part of your story?

 

For me, it is all the above.  Pink points out in his book that we have an obsession as a culture to live with no regrets.  But we all have moments we wished we had traveled a different path when we came to a fork in the road of life.  Paying attention to our regrets can be helpful and healing.  There are lessons to be learned when we listen and lean in to our regrets, if we are willing to be a student.  For example, I had regrets around how much time and energy I was sharing with my family, the people who I love more than anything in this world.  I could stew about lost time and missing out.  Or I could show up to family dinners with energy and my full self. 

 

Pink even suggests that you do a failure resume.  This is where you list those places and people, opportunities, and choices that you wish you had a mulligan or rewind button in life.  Perhaps you are thinking, “Um, thanks, but no thanks.”  But maybe today you will sit with the holy lesson that not all our decisions were amazing.  We make mistakes.  And God’s love doesn’t depend on being perfect, rather it is with God’s love embracing and enfolding our entire life that we find a perfect love that makes us whole.  May this truth help you be open and honest during this season of Lent.  Amen.

Lent with Lazarus

 

We are living with Lazarus this Lent.  We are diving and dwelling into this unique narrative that is only in the Gospel of John.  Yesterday, we prayerfully read the passage; we are slowly savoring the words as if we were eating a delicious piece of dark chocolate.  And I invited you to pay particular attention to your questions.  And here is one of mine: why did Jesus procrastinate in going to see Lazarus?  Rewind and remember the story, Jesus hears that Lazarus is seriously sick.  The brilliant storyteller John tells us Mary and Martha send Jesus the text message about their brother’s critical condition it reads, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”  Do you hear the throb in those words?  The love Jesus has for Lazarus is phila love or familial love (remember that from a few weeks ago).  Lazarus might have been Jesus “anma cara”, soul friend. 

 

Given this reality of a love between Jesus and Lazarus, why didn’t Jesus hop on the next train to Bethany?  Why didn’t he leave skid marks in the sand?  Why in the world would he linger, terry, decide that he needed to finish binge watching all of Netflix?

 

Now, as preachers and teachers, we often think we must settle and solve these questions for you.  Religious professionals think it is our job to defend Jesus, deflect anything that feels like criticism.  So we say things like, “Oh, Jesus totally knew what he was doing, that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, and it is a happy ending after all.  So it’s all good.” 

 

Really?

 

Was it okay to put his friends, Mary and Martha, through the emotional rollercoaster of burying their brother just to prove his power?

How did Lazarus feel about being the prop in this parable?

And finally, I am not sure that this “ends justify the means” explanation solves everything.

 

Why did Jesus stay put rather than run to be with his friends?  Truth be told, we don’t know.  I know John presents Jesus as having it all under control.  But also remember, John isn’t doing live Tweets from the scene of the story unfolding in real time, John is writing after the fact.  John is writing after Lazarus had been raised from the dead.

 

We don’t know exactly why Jesus chose to stay behind.  More importantly, it opens the door to ask, why do I do what I do?  Why do I procrastinate sometimes?  Sometimes it is out of fear that I might fail. Sometimes it is because I see in a mirror dimly, don’t realize the consequences of not acting quicker.  Am I trying to do too much and let a ball drop unintentionally?

 

Most of us can look back on our lives and see moments when we think, “If only…”  If only I had bought Google stock.  If only I had focused more on family than on career.  If only I had eaten healthier.  I am not sure if Jesus had those thoughts.  But one clue in the text is that Jesus wept (vs. 35).  I believe his tears are real and somewhat are in tension with the explanation that he knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  If Jesus went there knowing his friend who died four days ago and everything was going to be alright in the end, why cry?

 

I don’t have all the answers.  But I do connect with this story in moments when I terry, drag my feet, and let my inner three-year-old stomp his foot and say, “I don’t wanna!”  I also have moments when I think, “If I knew then what I know now.”  And yet, life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.  May we continue to sit with this story that can provoke and evoke so much within us.  Amen.

Lent With Lazarus - Week One

 

During the season of Lent, we will open our sacred imaginations to the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus.  Each Monday in Lent, I invite you to read John 11:1-44.  I encourage you to read slowly, savoring each syllable of the passage below.  I pray you will open your hearts to see what is stirred.  I pray you will find yourself standing in the narrative as a participant.  I pray this story speaks to your story.  Name, notice, and pray your insights.  Name, notice, and pray your questions.  Name, notice, and pray your emotions.  Name, notice, and pray which character you are connecting with…and why that might be.  For today, slowly read this version of the story: 

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶ after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰ But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹ After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³ Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” ¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” ²⁸ When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴ He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus began to weep. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” ³⁸ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

As you let the passage simmer and settle on your soul, I encourage you to share: one insight or idea from the passage as well as one question you have in response to stepping into this story.  I look forward to seeing your insights and questions in the comment section. 

Prayer: Thank you, O God, for rich stories that take our souls new places and open us to understandings of our own stories.  As these words provoke and invoke our responses and reactions, remind us to hold the question, “Why”?  Why do I have that emotion or question or insight?  May these prayerful ponderings guide us with Your grace throughout the season of Lent.  Amen.