5th Sunday of Lent: God can Handle It

May the Words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always
acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord our strength and our redeemer.

What a week it’s been!
I don’t know about you:
But it’s been a ROUGH week in our house.

We began the week with the death of our beloved cat:
And then roamed in our grief as all four of us recovered from different strains of
Strep.

Four separate doctors visits, and five different antibiotics later:
Here we are.
And it sort of fits with this fifth Sunday of Lent:
Where next week we’ll begin the Holy Week Journey:
And the recounting of Jesus’ last days.

Ultimately:
Those last days will bring us to the day of all days.
The day of the Resurrection.
We WILL shout for joy.
But first: We will mourn in pain.

Today’s readings set this up.
In each one, we hear of pain.
Sorrow.
Weeping.
And even some Anger.

All of the emotions that are a part of grief.
(I came back to these readings many many times this week as our family had
conversations about death and grief.)

But just like the Holy Week Journey that we begin next week,
None of this is the end.
Sorrow and Weeping are necessary parts of the grieving process.
But that’s not the end.
Death is never the end.

Life wins.
And God is strong enough to take all of it.

Our Old Testament Reading from Ezekiel speaks of the famous valley of dry
bones.
And God tells us that dried up bones are not the end.
Hope is never lost.
Because God will breathe the spirit of life.
God is sure to say, “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.”
Dry bones don’t stand up to God.
God can take it:
God can turn dry bones into life.

The Psalmist cries out in anguish.
In a prayer of deep lament:
We hear “Out of the depths have I called to you O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.”
But the Lament is not the end.
Because the psalmist has confidence in God, saying:

“I wait for the Lord;
My soul waits for him,
In his word is my hope.”

The pain of Lament isn’t the end.
The Psalmist: Even in anguish is waiting for God--
Hoping in God’s word.
And the anguish doesn’t stand up to God.
God can take it:
God can turn it into life.

Paul writes to the Romans:
“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and
peace.”
Paul is hoping for eternal glory with Christ--
Knowing that focusing on the things of this world--
The things of the flesh--
Leads only to pain and anguish.

But again—the things of the flesh don’t stand up to God.
God can take it:
And turn the flesh into the dwelling place of God,
Just as Paul says, “The Spirit of God dwells in you.”

And finally: The Gospel reading.
This famous story of the raising of Lazarus.
We know how it will end.
That death doesn’t stand up to God.

God can take it:
And turn death into life.

But there’s more:
Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary is deathly ill.
These three are close friends of Jesus’ and the sisters send word to Him.

But Jesus doesn’t come.
He stays—two days longer in the place where he was.
KNOWING the Lazarus needs him.
Lazarus, and Mary and Martha whom he loved.

And Lazarus dies.
He’s been dead for four days when Jesus finally arrives.
And Martha and Mary are angry.

They’re not just grieving the loss of their brother.
They’re pretty angry at Jesus.
In Separate, private occasions, both women say to Jesus:
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

And who can blame them for feeling this way?
How many times have we thought the same thing?
“If only God would have answered my prayers.”
“If only God HEARD me.”

Like the Psalmist, Martha and Mary lament.

But unlike the Psalmist—who is praying to God--
Martha and Mary get the opportunity to say it right to his face.
And they take that opportunity.

Saying:
WHERE WERE YOU?
IF ONLY YOU HAD BEEN HERE:
HE WOULDN’T HAVE DIED IF YOU HAD BEEN HERE.
IT’S YOUR FAULT.

And you know what?
Whether it’s true or not:
Jesus takes it.
God can take it.

Our Anger.
Our Anguish,
Our pain.
Our need to place blame.
Even if we place it in the wrong place.
None of it stands up to God.
God can take it all:
And God can turn it into life.

I think that Martha and Mary are two of the bravest people in the Bible.
Because they weren’t afraid to say what they were thinking.
They weren’t overly sweet and adorable when looking Jesus directly in the eye.
They didn’t try to put up a perfect act.

They were honest.
They lamented.
They wailed with grief.

And so did Jesus….

I find this part of the story to be one of the most moving lines in the New
Testament.

“Jesus began to weep.”

Even though Jesus KNOWS that he is going to Raise Lazarus from the dead--
Jesus WEEPS.

And weeping is more than crying.
The actual definition of to weep is “Expressing DEEP Sorrow.”
Deep Sorrow.

Jesus weeps.
This compassion--
This expression of Human emotions--
Shows us that God can take it.
God can handle all our pain.
Our anguish, our sorrow and our weeping.

And not only take it:
But take it on.

God will take it on too.
God becoming human:
Jesus on the cross:
TAKES ON our pain, anguish, sorrow and weeping in a real and tangible way.
And turns it into life.

God takes it.
And takes it on.
For us.
With us.

But it’s also never going to be the end.

This little story ends with Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
But that’s not the end of the larger story.

Because the part that we don’t hear is that Lazarus is going to die again.
A human death.
In which his loved ones once again cried out in anguish.
Weeping for him.
Weeping for themselves.

But the real end of this larger story--
Is that God will again breathe the breath of life into Lazarus’ body.
And it will be different than the raising that we read about today,
Because it will be ETERNAL, resurrected life.

And God will do the same for us.
Because death is never the end.
Only life—eternal life with the Spirit of God.

And in the meantime--
In our own human anguish--
In our weeping--
Our mourning--
In all of it--
God can take it.

We can tell the truth.
Like Mary and Martha,
We don’t need to hide from our anguish.
We can tell it.
We can pray it.
We can shout it.

And none of it stands up to God.
Because in the end: Life with God always wins.
God can take it all:
And turn it into life.

Amen.