¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴But 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.” ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
 ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹Jesus 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. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

 ¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” ²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

 ²⁸When 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.” ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The 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. ³²When 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.” ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

 ³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus 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.” ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I 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.” ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The 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.”

 ⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Folks of a certain age will remember “Burns and Allen”, a half-hour sitcom that was broadcast in the 50’s.  Someone of tender years such as myself, well, I recall seeing some of these shows many years later in reruns.  In real life George Burns was married to Gracie Allen.  Many years after Gracie died George found himself going through the letters and other papers she left behind.

In among them was a note that Gracie wrote to her beloved husband George; in it she wrote, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma”.  This aphorism has been stated in different ways over the years by others.  My favorite is, “The world may use a period but God responds with a comma”.  What we may view through human eyes as something final, God is able to transform into a new beginning.

In our reading from the Hebrew bible this morning we are with Ezekiel as he prophesies to the dry bones in the valley.  Ezekiel lived around 600 BCE, during the time of the Babylonian exile of the people of Israel and his writings take two distinct forms.  In the first half of his book Ezekiel confronts the Hebrews, scolding them for their unfaithfulness to God and their idolatry.  He tells them that this is the reason that they have been vanquished by Babylon.  In the latter half of his prophecies Ezekiel reminds the people of Israel that, although they are undeserving of it, God remains with them and will restore them to a right relationship with the Holy One.  And this is where we encounter Ezekiel this morning, prophesying to the lifeless, desiccated, abandoned bones that are the remains of the exiled people of Israel.  And by the breath of God and by God’s Word these metaphorical dry bones are brought back to life and the House of Israel is restored.  Ezekiel knows that God is able to bring about a new beginning from what was thought to be a final ending.  God does not leave things the way they are, God does not abandon God’s people.  “The world may use a period but God responds with a comma”.

And in John we read that Jesus responds to the message from Mary and Martha regarding Lazarus, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”  And he plans to depart for the region of Judea to the village of Bethany.  Perhaps now would be a good time to take a look at some of the Hebrew names of the people and places involved in this story.  Lazarus is a shortened version of Eleazar, which in Hebrew means “God has helped”.  The Hebrew word, “Beth” translates as “House of”.  Bethlehem is “House of Bread”, the name of our sister congregation in Auburn, Bethel, means “House of God”, and the village of Lazarus and his sisters, Bethany may be translated as “House of Misery” or “Affliction”.  So we find Jesus on his way to a village whose name is associated with suffering to come to the aid of his friend whose name means “God helps”.

In Jesus God helps the afflicted, for “The world may use a period but God responds with a comma”.

But Jesus doesn’t immediately embark on his journey to Bethany, he remains on the other side of the Jordan River for two more days after hearing the news of Lazarus’ illness.  When he arrives both sisters say to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Nonetheless, Jesus did not arrive when Lazarus was still alive, and the reason for this has been debated since the Scriptures were written.  Jesus himself tells the disciples that they and others will believe in him and glorify God when Lazarus is “awakened” from the dead.  This has caused some discomfort among Christians, the fact that Jesus waited for Lazarus to die so that he might raise him from the dead.  Why not cure him of his illness and prevent his death?  Well, that wouldn’t have had the same impact as a resurrection, would it?  “Lazarus is not dead; he is merely sleeping” Jesus tells the disciples.  “Everyone who believes in me will never die” he tells Martha, offering her the opportunity to respond to his question, “do you believe this?”.  And in her reply, “yes Lord, I believe”, Martha confirms that she knows, “The world may use a period but God responds with a comma”.

Another aspect of Jesus waiting the extra time before coming to Bethany was likely rooted in the belief among the Jewish people that the soul of the departed remained close to the body for three days before leaving.  Thus, after three days had passed, it could be stated with finality that the person was truly dead.  Jesus’ raising of Lazarus would then be accepted as a valid resurrection, since no one would doubt that he had, in fact genuinely passed on.  That, and of course the fact that Lazarus had been in the tomb a total of four days; Martha confirmed this by advising Jesus that he would be met with a stench when the stone was rolled away.  A stark reminder for us all that, in so many ways, death stinks; for the living who remain more so than for the departed.  Yet, when Jesus calls Lazarus out of the cave which served as his tomb, out he walks, his death wrappings still dangling from his previously decomposing body.  Jesus spoke, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 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.”  And with these words the dead return to the living for, “The world may use a period but God responds with a comma”.

There is no doubt that the restoration of the dry bones of the House of Israel, as recounted in the Ezekiel passage is deeply connected to Jesus’ raising of Lazarus.  And Lazarus’ death and raising by Jesus is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own crucifixion and resurrection.  And the salvation brought about by Christ’s sacrifice is what leads ultimately to our own restoration.  And, as in all things that describe the kingdom of God, there are the “not yet” and the “already here”.  When Jesus reassured Martha that her brother Lazarus would live again, and she replied that she understood that this would happen on the “last day”, his next words clarify Jesus’ true nature.  He tells her, “I am the resurrection AND the life”.  The eternal one and the one we live in the here and now; in the kingdom of God that has been established on earth, among those who proclaim, “Yes, Lord we believe”.  For all who confess Christ Jesus as Savior know that, “The world may use a period but God responds with a comma”.

When Lazarus walks out from the tomb that confined his dead body Jesus instructs the people to unwind the cloths that restrained him and to allow him to go free.  It is not yet the time for Lazarus to enter into eternal life with the Father in the heavenly places.  His mortal life has been restored and he will continue to live in the earthly phase of the kingdom of God; in the “already here”.  The “not yet” part of Lazarus’ life will come later, when he, along with all those who believe will rise on the “last day”.  But for now, God has determined that Lazarus should continue to live among his beloved sisters, Martha and Mary, and all those who love him.  Jesus has shown them and us that even the stench of death doesn’t have the last word, for, “The world may use a period but God responds with a comma”.

Will you pray with me?  Good, and gracious, and holy God, often we feel as though we are as dry bones in the desert valley and that our hope has been lost.  And we have shared in the grief of Martha and Mary, broken by the loss of a loved one.  Yet we live in hope and trust that we will be redeemed and reunited on the last day.  Help us to live our lives in expectation of that time, as ones who have been unbound and set free by the God who places a comma when the world places a period on our lives.  And we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the One who is the resurrection AND the life.       

God is Good, all the time.  All the time, God is Good.  Amen.