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Fifth Sunday of Lent

John 11
17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.


From the frequently misquoted file, I give you Uncle Ben.

Perhaps this is more of a confession, since I have quoted Uncle Ben more than once from the pulpit: “With great power comes great responsibility.” It turns out that Ben didn’t say it—it only appears as a caption within the comic book. But just before you storm out for being misled on all things related to Spiderman, I should say that the 2002 film version makes the same mistake as me, so it’s really not my fault.

The truth is, we wanted Uncle Ben to say it, as advice, as he’s about to breath his last, since it makes for a better story. And here is where our desire and the facts on the ground come into conflict. Now last June, I looked at other misattributed quotes, particularly quotes that seem to come from the Bible, and I think the impulse is the same: we wish it was said there, or we wish it was said that way, or we wish some he or she said it.

The most famous is perhaps the 1994 inauguration quote from Nelson Mandela: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate...” It is variously reported that he either said it or quoted it and neither is true. The words actually belong to Marianne Williamson—an Oprah favourite—who is seemingly touched that so many want to put her quote on his lips.

Here are a few others, just so you can be extra annoying at your next dinner party: Voltaire did not say “I will defend to my death your right to say it,” and P.T. Barnum did not say “there’s a sucker born every minute,” and Machiavelli did not say “the end justifies the means.”

Another famous one, more of a misquote than a misattribution, is “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” It is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, and he did make comments about change, including at least one long quote that contains a similar sentiment, but he never said “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

So why does this matter? Isn’t ‘close enough’ good enough? Sometimes, yes—but not when we are begin led in a particular direction by a misquote or creative reformulation. Saying ‘Gandhi said this’ gives the words instant credibility based on the greatness of the man himself. But if he didn’t actually say it that way, I can’t help but feel manipulated.

The original, extended quote is about not waiting for others to act, and not the new meaning we tend to give it, which is ‘individual acts contribute to overall change.’ This new meaning, that I can make change by changing myself, may be true on some level, but it also drifts too close to the new-age idea that if my desire for something is strong enough, it will happen.

And this is the moment we can segue over to the extended reading Carol shared, concerning the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. Reading the entire story would leave no time for lunch, so better that we find the heart of the story: the heart’s desire of Mary and Martha, two women we’ve met before.

It’s really a passage about wishes:
‘Lord, we wish you to come quickly, because Lazarus—whom you love—has taken ill.’
‘Lord, we wish you have come sooner,’ Martha said, ‘because my brother has died.’
‘Lord, we wish you have come when we first called,’ Mary said, ‘because he would not have died.’
Even the crowd gets into it: “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

For much of the extended passage, we’re not really sure what to make of Jesus’ response to this deep need. He seems in no hurry to help his friend, and we are left wondering why he would dilly-dally when he could save these sisters so much pain. In the end, it seems like Lazarus is little more than a demonstration of God’s power. And that might make everything okay in the end, but it still casts Jesus in the worst possible light, willing to let Lazarus die to make a point.

So, unsatisfied that this is simply a demonstration piece, and assuming that something else is happening here, we look for clues. Is there something else in the passage that might help us understand why Jesus acts the way he acts?

The key to the passage, I would argue, is actually an echo of something else familiar to us. Take first the heart of the passage, the question posed by the crowd: “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Not only does the question provide a good summary of the whole story of the death of Lazarus, but it points to another summary question, this one near the cross: ‘Then the crown began to mock him, saying “he saved others, why can’t he save himself?”’

If we imagine that this echo is intentional, that this is more about the death of Jesus than the death of Lazarus, then suddenly it all starts to make sense. In other words, simply wishing that death not come—the death of Lazarus, the death of Jesus, our own death—will not prevent it. Yes, Jesus could perform miracles and save some from death, but on this occasion, with Lazarus, it had more to do with cross and tomb than Lazarus and tomb.

And, of course, there is one other clue, perhaps even more obvious, that this is about Jesus’ death more than Lazarus’ death, and that’s the exchange with poor Martha:

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

In other words, Jesus will not provide the answer, Jesus is the answer. He is not giving the comforting words that will help Martha deal with here sense of loss, he is the comfort, the resurrection and the life.

And we see this again and again in John’s Gospel, human need met in Jesus the Christ:

Are you hungry? Jesus said ‘I am the bread of heaven.’
Are you in the dark? Jesus said ‘I am the light world.’
Are you directionless and lost? Jesus said ‘I am the good shepherd.’
Do you feel even more lost than that? Jesus said ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’
Are you dead? Are you dying? Are you afraid of what’s to come? Jesus said ‘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.

We want the world to give us comfort, and we get cliché.
We want the world to give us the words we need, and we get an approximation.
We want the world to provide an end to death, and we get products that will make you look younger longer.

Jesus is the change we want to see in the world, the bread, the light, the resurrection and the life. He works in us and others by the Spirit to reconcile and make new, to transform the world in his image, and put an end to death.

‘Peace I leave with you’ he said ‘my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.‘ Amen.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 1:53 PM