From the Rev. Benjamin J. Newland, Kansas City, MO
To the Rev Shannon M. Ferguson-Kelly, New York, NY

Dear Shannon,

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I trust that your Irish self and Scottish husband have made suitable preparations for the holiday, especially as it falls on a Sunday this year, and we have the opportunity to recite Blessed Patrick’s virtues from the pulpit.

Unfortunately for the saint, he has great competition on this fifth Sunday in Lent. The story of Jesus and the Raising of Lazarus is one that cannot be ignored. In this famous story, Jesus hears of the sickness and impending death of his friend Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, yet does not come straightaway. In our day of overnight shipping and instant access via cell phone it seems terribly harsh of Jesus not to drop everything and catch the very next non-stop flight to Bethany. However, as John the Gospeller points out, Jesus has a plan.

Arriving four days too late, Jesus is greeted by a subdued, yet resentful Martha. “If you had been here this would not have happened,” she accuses him. Jesus tries to reassure her saying, “your brother will rise again.” She misunderstands him, thinking he is taking this opportunity of her beloved brothers death to teach her some fine point of theology. But Jesus replies, “No, not on the last day, but on this day. I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, though they die, will live.” This is the real point of the whole story, as far as I can tell, even though the story is far from over.

Martha returns to her house and tells her sister Mary about Jesus. Mary has none of Martha’s social reserve and promptly runs to the place Jesus is, yells at him that it is his fault that her brother is dead, and falls down weeping. Jesus, stricken by the strength of Mary’s tantrum, asks where Lazarus has been buried. Others offer to show him the place, and as he turns to go with them, Jesus wept.

And this, Shannon, is for me the end of the story. Everybody knows Jesus goes on to “raise” Lazarus from the dead. But why did Jesus weep? He had made a point of staying away long enough for Lazarus to be undeniably dead, so he can’t have been crying over the death. He must have known, as he seems to know everything in the Gospel of John, that he was going to raise Lazarus. That was the point of staying away long enough for him to be so dead. So he can’t have been crying over the absence of Lazarus. And Jesus had certainly seen enough sick and dead people by this point that the emotions of their relatives could no longer be surprising. So he can’t have been crying over the sadness of Martha and Mary. So why did he weep?

While you take a moment to ponder that question, my friend, let me not forget to make mention of the reading from Ezekiel, our favorite lesson to read on All Hallows Eve, the Valley of Dry Bones. Do you remember Victor, who was a third year when you were a first, and I merely a visitor to the Seminary? Do you remember him telling this story using a plastic skeleton to show the bones, and a white teddy bear to show the flesh, and then he squeezed the teddy bear’s middle in and out to show it breathing? A uniquely Halloween sermon.

You have to give Ezekiel credit for thoroughness though. While Jesus may have waited 4 days for Lazarus to be dead, in Ezekiel’s vision the dead are so dead as to be nothing but dry and desiccated bones, lying in dusty piles. If you can maybe imagine that Lazarus was just in a really deep coma and not really dead, you cannot work the same excuses with Ezekiel. Israel was not just dead and rotting, but long-dead, and crumbling.

Aside from that though, is this story really any different? It is the same story of the hopelessly dead given new life by the very breath from God’s mouth. Did you notice that this vision has no date like many other prophetic visions? There are no reigns of kings mentioned at all. I like to think that this is because, just like the story of Lazarus being made alive again, the story of God giving life to the bones is timeless. We are dry bones too, even today. Another way that Ezekiel outdoes Jesus is that the bones are the bones of the dead of an entire people, not just an individual. We are dry bones too, even today, and not just individually, but as a people.

So Shannon, have you figured out why Jesus wept yet? I have. Or at least, I think I have. Jesus wept because he had just realized that there were going to be a lot of people standing on the side of the freeway looking at big green signs with Golden Arches‰ on them, and wondering why they were still hungry. Do you get it? It’s kind of a joke, but the more I explain it the less funny it’s going to get. Jesus came to perform a sign. The point of the story is when Jesus says (in verses 25 and 26 in case you’re following along) that he is the Resurrection and the Life, and that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. This is not just a beautiful phrase to be brought out at funerals, though I admit Jesus does exactly that at Lazarus’ tomb. This is the whole point of the story. The sign that comes (down the page at verses 43 and 44) at the end of the story, where Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb and makes him alive again is only that, a sign!

But what a sign it was going to be! And that’s why Jesus was crying. He had just figured out that he had overplayed his hand, that his sign was going to be too much for these grieving people and that they were going to miss the point. Any 5 year old knows what a sign is. That’s what my whole side of the freeway joke was about. No child riding in the back seat of his parents’ SUV demands to pull over by the big green sign when he sees the Golden Arches‰ displayed. The child known that the sign is pointing to something else. The sign has no food. It is only telling you that there is food (in this case a hamburger and french-fries which hardly qualify) around the corner. Jesus had made a mistake. He had painted a gigantic Golden Arches‰ across the highway and people were going to just crash into it and never get off the freeway to where he was serving burgers and fries. The raising of Lazarus from the dead was just to spectacular a sign. And so Jesus wept.

It’s too bad really. Lazarus being raised from the dead is only good news for Lazarus and his friends. And it’s only going to last a few decades at most. We never hear back from Lazarus so we don’t know how much longer he lived. Even if we assume that Jesus healed him of the sickness that killed him the first time, he will eventually get sick again. Or maybe killed in a fight, or maybe he’ll just die of old age. Either way, eventually he will be dead again.

The really good news is, if we can somehow make it past that gigantic Golden Arches‰ across the freeway and take the next exit ramp, Jesus is still there, flipping burgers and deep-frying fries. “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” he says, “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who believes in me will never die.” That was the point all along. And it is still the point. It is timeless like the Valley of Dry Bones. Not just good for a couple of decades to a handful of people, but good for all of us, and for all time. Death cannot separate you from God. Have a burger.

And that, Shannon, my friend, is all I have to say. I’m sorry I didn’t get anything in there about shamrocks or driving snakes off The Island, but I’m sure Patrick will understand. After all, he’s been dead for centuries now, and probably knows the danger of flashy signs better than most. Happy Saint Patty’s Day.

Love,

Ben