Unbound and Free Sermon for 11-5-2006
Scripture: Rev. 21:1-6a; John 11: 17-27, 32-44
Again this year we celebrate All Saints Day by remembering those loved ones that have died as well as looking at our own lives that we may truly live freely as God would have us live. All Saints day originally was to honor the Christians who were martyred in the Roman persecutions shortly after Jesus’ earthly life. This year our readings focus on God’s determination to deliver humanity and in Revelation—all Creation—from the powers of death. Our texts take place here on earth, not in the great beyond, and I believe the message calls us to remember that we can experience God’s power to defeat death here and now as well as in the age to come. For many of us our loved ones, the saints in our lives, have helped us face all kinds of difficulties including death and for that we are truly thankful. I hope this story of a little boy will help you understand more what I mean. This little boy in a small town was carried on the shoulders of his Dad to the country store. The woman behind the counter looked up at the boy and said, "You sure are tall today!" "Well," the little boy confessed sheepishly, "this isn't all me!" You know, my brothers and sisters, it never is. We all sit upon the shoulders of those who have gone before us.
Let me describe for you that New Heaven and New Earth that Revelations presents to us. Everything will be new—no more death, mourning, or pain. The world that we know today with all its wars, diseases, economic problems and so forth will be gone! More over God will be right here with us, not somewhere in a distant heaven. Those old bones, muscles, and joint problems will be gone. There will be no need for knee replacements, hip replacements and the like. There will be no one homeless or without sufficient food. There will be no children shot either on purpose or accidentally. There will be no grief as death will be no more; there will be no need for crying or pain. God will be here with us; God’s place is with mortals. And God will comfort us; this, my friends, is the truth of Revelations.
Now let us go to the Gospel reading. What an incredible sight this must have been:A crowd standing outside a grave; sisters of the deceased, Mary and Martha, grieving their dead brother Lazarus; neighbors and townspeople, huddled together to see what might happen next; and a corpse, now 4 days old, wrapped tightly in linens, and creating a very bad smell. In comes Jesus - Grieving and disturbed himself, aware of the crowd as he sees his dear friends mourning the one they loved.[1] Martha chastises Jesus, “Lord if you had been here, our brother would not have died.” Jesus comes back with a challenge to Martha and to us, “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. Do you believe this?” (11:25-26) After going through a similar dialogue with Mary, Jesus weeps along with the others as we are told that he is greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. The Greek word for disturbed is a powerful one meaning deep anger, even outrage. Many scholars see this description of Jesus as being very upset at the lack of the peoples’ unbelief. The people do not understand that death does not have the last word; they do not understand that Jesus is life, is the light. Jesus is the final word!
The next section of the Gospel is Jesus resurrecting Lazarus, who is standing there with death cloths wrapped all around him, like someone wearing a Halloween mummy costume, he looks as if he is barely able to move, and after four days in a cave, isn't quite ready to face the living. He is bound and those bands of cloth keep him from freely moving and celebrating his renewed life.And so Jesus completes the miracle by declaring that final command, "Unbind him, and let him go." (repeat) What powerful words! I believe these words are not just for the crowd, but these words are meant for all of us as well. For we know that this gospel story, this miracle, is not just a story about a single event long ago. We know that Jesus' entire ministry is focused on bringing life to the world, to the whole world. I wonder if we look closely if these grave cloths might be draped around all gathered there and around all of us. If we look carefully at ourselves, we may see that we are pretty tightly bound to things that keep us from living as Jesus has taught us to live. Perhaps we are bound by our fears. Maybe we're afraid of looking foolish. Or of being discovered to be less accomplished or less competent than we appear to be. What binds us? Do our fears bind us? Do they paralyze us from trying new things or of letting something new happen in our lives? Or could we be wrapped up in our bitterness, unable to let go of a hurt we’ve suffered? Are we bound up by the pain that someone caused us long ago, unwilling to forgive, unwilling to move on with our lives and be healed? Maybe we're bound up by our prejudices. Do we stereotype people around us by the kind of clothes they wear, the tattoos or body piercings, or their age, or the color of the skin, or the type of job they have, or the gender of the person they choose to be partners with, or their political or religious points of view. Whatever it is that may be binding us, Jesus is coming to us and setting us free.Jesus is ordering the grave clothes that we have wrapped around ourselves to be removed, so that we might live as we are meant to live, unbound and free. We can not be free until we give up our limited thinking, our prejudices, our fears.
So the big question Jesus asked Mary and Martha over 20 centuries ago he is still asking us today, “Do you believe? Do you believe that those who follow me even though they die will live?” If we really believe in this, we will be unstoppable! If we really believe, we can no longer be intimidated by anything the political, economic or values-maintaining systems of the dominant culture can threaten to do to us. Whether as an individual or as a community of faith, we can no longer be compromised or intimidated and therefore we will truly be free. Remember that Jesus’ tears are not just tears of sadness, but that he is indignant about our condition, about our restraining ourselves from following him and living life fully. So in no uncertain terms, Jesus cries out with a loud voice to “Come Out", come out of those places of despair, to let loose of all those fears that bind us, hold us back. Today is All Saints Day, this day on which we remember those who have died before us, and who now live in communion with God. In contrast to Mary and Martha in this story, we don't actually get to see our loved ones arise from the dead and walk among us again today. Sometimes we wish that were the case. But no, it is not our loved ones who get to wake up today, it is we who get to see ourselves alive, unbound and set free. Today we get to find ourselves in the New Jerusalem, eating at the Lord ’s Table, a feast that has no end. It is not just Lazarus who hears his name being shouted from outside that cave this morning, but each one of us can hear it as well: (Names in congregation)
Children of God, lift up your heads and live! - Not just someday, when you die and join the saints triumphant, but today, Right here and now! Because God is here. A voice is calling this morning and proclaiming to all of us again today, See! The Home of God is among you! You are freed to be alive and whole and well. No longer leaving us tied up in fear and grief and sadness, God has come among us, to wipe away every tear from our eyes, to unbind us and set us free. So as we celebrate All Saints Sunday, let us be filled with joy as we do believe, we know that God comes to us, with great love and grace, to unbind us, and to let us go free to be the people God created us to be. Let the people of God say Alleluia and Amen.
[1] Much of this description comes from an online sermon from Pastor Lois Pallmeyer, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St.Paul, Minesota.
Again this year we celebrate All Saints Day by remembering those loved ones that have died as well as looking at our own lives that we may truly live freely as God would have us live. All Saints day originally was to honor the Christians who were martyred in the Roman persecutions shortly after Jesus’ earthly life. This year our readings focus on God’s determination to deliver humanity and in Revelation—all Creation—from the powers of death. Our texts take place here on earth, not in the great beyond, and I believe the message calls us to remember that we can experience God’s power to defeat death here and now as well as in the age to come. For many of us our loved ones, the saints in our lives, have helped us face all kinds of difficulties including death and for that we are truly thankful. I hope this story of a little boy will help you understand more what I mean. This little boy in a small town was carried on the shoulders of his Dad to the country store. The woman behind the counter looked up at the boy and said, "You sure are tall today!" "Well," the little boy confessed sheepishly, "this isn't all me!" You know, my brothers and sisters, it never is. We all sit upon the shoulders of those who have gone before us.
Let me describe for you that New Heaven and New Earth that Revelations presents to us. Everything will be new—no more death, mourning, or pain. The world that we know today with all its wars, diseases, economic problems and so forth will be gone! More over God will be right here with us, not somewhere in a distant heaven. Those old bones, muscles, and joint problems will be gone. There will be no need for knee replacements, hip replacements and the like. There will be no one homeless or without sufficient food. There will be no children shot either on purpose or accidentally. There will be no grief as death will be no more; there will be no need for crying or pain. God will be here with us; God’s place is with mortals. And God will comfort us; this, my friends, is the truth of Revelations.
Now let us go to the Gospel reading. What an incredible sight this must have been:A crowd standing outside a grave; sisters of the deceased, Mary and Martha, grieving their dead brother Lazarus; neighbors and townspeople, huddled together to see what might happen next; and a corpse, now 4 days old, wrapped tightly in linens, and creating a very bad smell. In comes Jesus - Grieving and disturbed himself, aware of the crowd as he sees his dear friends mourning the one they loved.[1] Martha chastises Jesus, “Lord if you had been here, our brother would not have died.” Jesus comes back with a challenge to Martha and to us, “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. Do you believe this?” (11:25-26) After going through a similar dialogue with Mary, Jesus weeps along with the others as we are told that he is greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. The Greek word for disturbed is a powerful one meaning deep anger, even outrage. Many scholars see this description of Jesus as being very upset at the lack of the peoples’ unbelief. The people do not understand that death does not have the last word; they do not understand that Jesus is life, is the light. Jesus is the final word!
The next section of the Gospel is Jesus resurrecting Lazarus, who is standing there with death cloths wrapped all around him, like someone wearing a Halloween mummy costume, he looks as if he is barely able to move, and after four days in a cave, isn't quite ready to face the living. He is bound and those bands of cloth keep him from freely moving and celebrating his renewed life.And so Jesus completes the miracle by declaring that final command, "Unbind him, and let him go." (repeat) What powerful words! I believe these words are not just for the crowd, but these words are meant for all of us as well. For we know that this gospel story, this miracle, is not just a story about a single event long ago. We know that Jesus' entire ministry is focused on bringing life to the world, to the whole world. I wonder if we look closely if these grave cloths might be draped around all gathered there and around all of us. If we look carefully at ourselves, we may see that we are pretty tightly bound to things that keep us from living as Jesus has taught us to live. Perhaps we are bound by our fears. Maybe we're afraid of looking foolish. Or of being discovered to be less accomplished or less competent than we appear to be. What binds us? Do our fears bind us? Do they paralyze us from trying new things or of letting something new happen in our lives? Or could we be wrapped up in our bitterness, unable to let go of a hurt we’ve suffered? Are we bound up by the pain that someone caused us long ago, unwilling to forgive, unwilling to move on with our lives and be healed? Maybe we're bound up by our prejudices. Do we stereotype people around us by the kind of clothes they wear, the tattoos or body piercings, or their age, or the color of the skin, or the type of job they have, or the gender of the person they choose to be partners with, or their political or religious points of view. Whatever it is that may be binding us, Jesus is coming to us and setting us free.Jesus is ordering the grave clothes that we have wrapped around ourselves to be removed, so that we might live as we are meant to live, unbound and free. We can not be free until we give up our limited thinking, our prejudices, our fears.
So the big question Jesus asked Mary and Martha over 20 centuries ago he is still asking us today, “Do you believe? Do you believe that those who follow me even though they die will live?” If we really believe in this, we will be unstoppable! If we really believe, we can no longer be intimidated by anything the political, economic or values-maintaining systems of the dominant culture can threaten to do to us. Whether as an individual or as a community of faith, we can no longer be compromised or intimidated and therefore we will truly be free. Remember that Jesus’ tears are not just tears of sadness, but that he is indignant about our condition, about our restraining ourselves from following him and living life fully. So in no uncertain terms, Jesus cries out with a loud voice to “Come Out", come out of those places of despair, to let loose of all those fears that bind us, hold us back. Today is All Saints Day, this day on which we remember those who have died before us, and who now live in communion with God. In contrast to Mary and Martha in this story, we don't actually get to see our loved ones arise from the dead and walk among us again today. Sometimes we wish that were the case. But no, it is not our loved ones who get to wake up today, it is we who get to see ourselves alive, unbound and set free. Today we get to find ourselves in the New Jerusalem, eating at the Lord ’s Table, a feast that has no end. It is not just Lazarus who hears his name being shouted from outside that cave this morning, but each one of us can hear it as well: (Names in congregation)
Children of God, lift up your heads and live! - Not just someday, when you die and join the saints triumphant, but today, Right here and now! Because God is here. A voice is calling this morning and proclaiming to all of us again today, See! The Home of God is among you! You are freed to be alive and whole and well. No longer leaving us tied up in fear and grief and sadness, God has come among us, to wipe away every tear from our eyes, to unbind us and set us free. So as we celebrate All Saints Sunday, let us be filled with joy as we do believe, we know that God comes to us, with great love and grace, to unbind us, and to let us go free to be the people God created us to be. Let the people of God say Alleluia and Amen.
[1] Much of this description comes from an online sermon from Pastor Lois Pallmeyer, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St.Paul, Minesota.
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 11:20 AM
<< Home