Though we die, we will live
a sermon by
R. Charles Grant, D.Min.
Bon Air Presbyterian Church - Richmond, Virginia
Memorial Service for Annette Phillips Greame
Text: John 11:1-3, 15-27, 41-44
The story of the miraculous raising of Lazarus is among the most provocative of all the stories of Jesus. Within the gospel of John, it is the last and the greatest of the evangelist’s seven miracle stories. As a resurrection story, the raising of Lazarus foreshadows what is to come, and God’s raising of Jesus on Easter.
This story is also the most personal of all of the stories about Jesus. For the most part, we don’t know much about Jesus’ relationships with family and friends. Except for Mary and Martha, and Lazarus. According to Luke and John, these were Jesus’ closest friends. His spiritual family. Those whom he loved dearly. The story includes the only reference to Jesus displaying emotion for another person, when he weeps for Lazarus.
In bringing together close friends and family and the mystery and terror of death, the raising of Lazarus becomes a story for everyone. A story about US. For we, family and friends of Annette Greame, are gathered on the occasion of the death of a loved one. And like Mary and Martha, we find ourselves awash in grief. For sure, we give thanks that Annette enjoyed a long and productive life, and we are grateful that her suffering is over and that she is reunited with her beloved Bob. But still, we wish we had had a little more time, a little more good time. And the death of a dear friend always gives us pause to think about ourselves and our own mortality, as we try to make sense out of faith in the face of death.
Martha speaks the words we hardly dare to speak at death: “Why did you let him die, Lord? Why didn’t you come sooner?” Martha reflects a stage of grieving we all go through: seeking answers to questions which have no answers. Martha wished Jesus had come sooner, so that her brother’s death could be averted. Such questions and yearnings are natural and inevitable. Such questions simply reflect what WE want: we want to keep sharing in the joys of life with those whom we love. We do not want this life to end. We want to live. Jesus understood that. That is why Jesus cried when Mary and Martha came to him.
The story of course, does not end with our wants. Just like Easter morning just a half week away, this story ends with mournful women with Jesus before a tomb of death. And as in the Easter story, in the raising of Lazarus we see that death is powerless in the face of the power of God.
But before Lazarus is raised, Jesus interprets what is come: He asks Martha, “Do you believe in the resurrection?” She says “Yes, Lord, I do”. And then Jesus interrupts her to reply, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live!” Here we find more than an explanation of the raising of Lazarus. The evangelist gives a summation of what faith and life in Jesus Christ is all about: those who believe in him, even though they die, will live!
Like Mary and Martha and their friends, we are gathered at death. Asking questions which have no answers. Numb with grief. Face to face with death, filled with fears for living. And God’s word to us is the same word that came to those friends of Jesus: those who believe in him, even though they die, will live! Maybe our questions are not answered. Maybe they will NEVER be answered. We live with our fears and our doubts. But in Jesus Christ we are given a living and life-giving hope that though we die, we will live!
Friends: This is the word of the Lord: those who believe in him, even though they die, will live! This is the word of the Lord for you. Now, let us find comfort in these words. AMEN.