Come Out

John 11:1-44

Lent 5, March 22, 2026

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“Come Out”

Jesus upsets human assumptions.  About life. About death. About him. His followers thought they knew him.  But in a single act, our Lord prefigures resurrection in a way that commands us all to come out into new life. The story of the raising of Lazarus is an invitation to unbind our fears and griefs and place our hope in the One who is the Resurrection and the Life.

In John’s gospel, the disciples witness the superpowers of the man they call rabbi.  He has proved to be an ethical and spiritual warrior against the devil.  To Nicodemus he is a wise teacher.  To the outsider woman at the well Jesus offers inclusion and reconciliation.  And to the man born blind he is the miraculous healer.  So when a friend falls gravely ill, what could be easier than walking with Jesus to Bethany and curing him too?  Except it is not that simple.

There is a problem of timing. A message is sent from the sisters of Lazarus to Jesus: “Lord, the one you love is ill.”  Not a direct ask; more an implied expectation. Maybe they should have written sooner or used stronger language to request his presence.  When Jesus gets word, he remains two more days before rounding up his disciples and commencing the day’s walk.  He tells those around him, “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” (John 11:4).  But when he gets to the town, Lazarus has already been dead four days.  Jesus seems to have foreknowledge that even if he had hurried, he couldn’t have made it there in time to prevent the death occurring.  Yet his delay challenges our assumption that God is going to act the moment we want.  It is troubling and uncomfortable that God’s ways may not fit with our schedule, or that there may be other factors at play that we do not understand.

There is also a problem of location.  Bethany is close to Jerusalem, less than five kilometres away across the Kidron Valley, near the Mount of Olives.  Going south to Judea draws Jesus into the dangerous region of the capital city.  The locus of opposition is the Jewish authorities in the Temple and ruling council.  Every time John’s gospel saws “the Jews” in these chapters leading to the passion, that doesn’t mean the whole people of Israel.  The term specifically relates to those who had the means of challenging, persecuting, and punishing anyone they felt was a disturber of their faith.  It’s no wonder that Jesus’ disciples were afraid when he suggested going back to Judea.  Visiting the home of Lazarus was going to be a life and death mission, putting their Rabbi visibly in the sights of the Jewish leaders. To go with him in support put them in danger too: they could be arrested and punished by association.  Thomas is not exaggerating when he says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16).  It could be their end. Being a disciple puts you at risk in ways you cannot always foresee. However, being willing to walk in the footsteps of our Lord takes us through death to new life.

And a third problem is understanding what Jesus is about.  Martha and Mary think he has come too late to do more than comfort them.  They meet Jesus with gentle reproaches.  Or maybe they are just stating the truth.  “If you had been here my brother would not have died” says our English translation.  The original Greek is stronger: “my brother would never have died” (John 11:21 and 11:32).  Now a sick Lazarus could have received healing and avoided the cost of the funeral arrangements this time around.  But the words the sisters speak are echoed in Jesus’ response to Martha.  “I Am the Resurrection and the Life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).  Believers do not cease to exist even when the physical body stops.  Death is not the end.  And for those who believe in him, resurrection begins in this life- now!  It is not just a general rising on the last day, but a new reality in Christ. 

But those gathered to mourn the loss of Lazarus cannot see this, and so Jesus is deeply disturbed.  The emotion expressed is anger more than sorrow.  Jesus is angry at their unbelief in God.  Angry at people falling into despair in the presence of death and failing to see that there is more.  Maybe he is also angry at them sealing Lazarus in the tomb and thinking that was the end of him, with the grave a final resting place.  Jesus weeps.  Yes, he weeps in love for Lazarus and the pain of those who loved him.  And he weeps in frustration and anger for a people who do not have faith in God’s power to give life.  He commands those present to take away the stone and doesn’t have patience for their reluctance.  If you want to see the glory of God, you have to take the risk of trusting him.  Even when Lazarus comes forth, Jesus has to tell the people “Unbind him and let him go” (John 11:45).  They have to unwind the grave cloths.  But they also have to let go of their own disbelief and assumptions about how the power of life and death and God work. 

When Jesus calls Lazarus to come out of the tomb, he is also calling to each of us.  We cannot stay in safe, dead places if we want to see resurrection.  Life doesn’t go according to our plans.  But death is not the end, and the grave is only a marker to the transition to resurrection.  If we truly believe that Christ has power not only over sin but over death itself, then fear and grief cannot trap us in.  Can you live with that?

The Jewish authorities saw the threat, but not the promise in this miracle.  It was for them the proof that Jesus was more dangerous than they ever thought possible.  If he could disrupt people’s assumptions about the basics of the institution of faith, he needed to be stopped, and soon.  The raising of Lazarus leads directly to the plot to arrest and kill Jesus.  The dreadful irony is that the one who brings life is marked for death. “It is better for you that one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed,” says the high priest immediately following this episode.   His assumption, wrongly, is that executing the one who is the Son of God will put a stop to the changes God is working.  His words, unbeknownst to him, become a prophecy for God’s glory.

There is something in this Scripture story for each of us to overturn our assumptions and challenge us to come out into the resurrection life.  What binds you to sin, despair, grief, lies, frustration or pain?  What steps do you need to take out of the safe, dead places in order to experience resurrection right now?  God give us the courage to take the risk.  We can tell others that resurrection is not a quiet rest later, but new life now in this world and on into the next.  Amen.