Take Away The Stone: 5th Sunday of Lent

Why does Jesus wait two days after hearing from Martha and Mary that Lazarus is dying before he starts out toward Bethany? Is poor Lazarus just a ball that Jesus plays with, as a friend of mine once put it? Perhaps not. It probably took Jesus at least two days to walk from wherever he was on the east side of the Jordan River to Bethany. But by the time He arrived, Lazarus had already been dead for at least four days. Lazarus was likely dead when Jesus received Martha and Mary's message. And if Jesus knew two days after getting the message that Lazarus was "asleep," He surely knew that He would not be able to save his friend from physical death.

Jesus did know what no one else could possibly have known. "This sickness isn't fatal. It's for the glory of God, so that God's Son can be glorified through it." There was no doubt that Lazarus was dead when Jesus arrived with Lazarus already four days buried. Lazarus becomes the greatest of the seven "signs," which is how John refers to Jesus' miracles. In raising Lazarus, Jesus reverses the decay of physical death, and points to the future resurrection we all will share.

But that still leaves the sisters Martha and Mary. It may not matter to Lazarus any more, but when Jesus does arrive, they knew that He waited two days before coming to them. I find it even more incredible, then, that Martha can show such faith even at this time: "Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you...I believe that you are the Christ, God's Son." No one has called Jesus the Son of God up until now in John's Gospel. Even now, Martha is steady and solid in her trust of Jesus.

Mary is more passionate and more questioning. All she can do is throw herself at Jesus' feet and only repeat Martha's words, "Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died." But she is not afraid to let out her questions, her doubts, perhaps even her anger, before Jesus. And neither should we. But both sisters still lack one thing in their faith.

Martha trusts that her brother will rise in the resurrection "on the last day." But when they come to the tomb, and Jesus says, "Take away the stone," Martha protests: "the smell will be awful." Martha does not understand that Resurrection is not just the glorious future that is promised each of us. It is a life that Jesus calls us to live now, today, this morning, and all the mornings of our lives. But to do that, we must take away the stone.

We all must take away the stone that shuts us in with our worries for the future, our anxiety over the crises of today, our resentment over past and present hurts. We protest, as did Martha, Lord, the smell will be awful. And don't suppose that it wasn't awful at first when the stone was taken away four days after the burial. What will we find when you take away the stone? We will find whatever in us smells awful. We will find whatever in us must die. That death may come in the form of rejection. It may come as the loss of something dear to you. Or it may come as something you choose to sacrifice in the hope that something better will.

At the beginning of this service, I read “An Exhortation” from the Book of Common Prayer. Let me repeat this: “If, in your preparation, you need help and counsel, then go and open your grief to a discreet and understanding priest, and confess your sins, that you may receive the benefit of absolution, and spiritual counsel and advice; to the removal of scruple and doubt, the assurance of pardon, and the strengthening of your faith.” There is a form for reconciliation, or “confession” in our Prayer Book. It is not required. But it is there if you ever decide that you need a friend to be with you when you take away the stone. But as with the other sacraments of the church, like Baptism and the Eucharist, it is not the priest to whom you confess, and it is not the priest who forgives you. The priest is merely the channel through which the grace of God in Jesus Christ flows to you.

“Where have you laid him?” Jesus asked Martha and Mary. Today, Jesus asks us, where have you laid your worries, your anxieties, your resentments and your shame? Take away the stone, and you will find Him who reversed the decay of death, who gave himself up to the same death as ours, and is always beside us, right now in this life, in death, and in the next life.