Saturday, March 23, 2013

Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go"


 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."  As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.  Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.  Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."  Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, "Where have you laid him?"  They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"  And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."  Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.  And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."  Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"  And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.  Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."  Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.  But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did.

- John 11:28-44
~~~

But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
"Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"
 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them."
These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.  Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me."  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

- John 12:37-50

In yesterday's reading, we began the story of Martha, Mary and Lazarus - the setting for the seventh and final sign in John's Gospel.  The Gospel tells us that a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.  It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.  Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."  When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.  Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go into Judea again."  The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?"  Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?  If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.  But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."  These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."  Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."  However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.  Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.  Nevertheless let us go to him."  Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."  So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.  Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.  And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.  Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.  Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."  Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?"  She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."  As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.   In yesterday's reading, we read also the alternate reading for the day, which contained the story of Mary's anointing of Christ's feet with ointment (see yesterday's reading).   So we understood in yesterday's reading and commentary the closeness of these friends, and the love and warmth that is shared between them, which is something marvelous to behold.  John's Gospel gives us the story of love on many levels; while Jesus speaks of the Father's love for Himself as Son and this is shared in the sonship of believers, there is also the love between these friends.  We note here that Mary immediately leaves her position of mourning (sitting in the house) because she is called by the Teacher.

Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.  Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."  Then, when Mary came where Jess was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.   Again, we witness the amazing sight of the Son, as God-man, divine and human, in his human love for Mary and the others. John's Gospel tells us here quite clearly that this groaning in the spirit and the troubled nature of Jesus happens when He sees Mary weeping, and the others weeping with her.

And He said, "Where have you laid him?"  They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"  And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"  My study bible notes here:  "As true man Jesus shows by example that weeping is the natural human response to death.  As true God He shows compassion upon His creation when the soul is torn from the body."  That's a beautiful encapsulation of the "God-man" Jesus Christ and what is happening here.  It's important to note, it seems to me, the word for "love" that is used in this context.  It's not the same word Jesus used earlier in John's Gospel, when He said, "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again"  (See I am the good shepherd).  There, the word used in the Greek was agape, in the verb form.  We may consider "agape," in some sense, to be the love that God shares with us, that God is, the love in which we may participate and which we may share with one another.  John's first Epistle uses this word "agape" when he writes:  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:8).   But here, in this context, in which we read of Jesus' friendship, and the other mourners exclaim, "See how He loved him!" they are using a different word.  That word is philo - again in its verbal form.  The root of this word is the word for friendship, meaning a kind of choice to love, and it is also the word for "kiss."  We understand the customs and cultures of the world that use kiss not in an erotic way, but as a sign of friendship and true affection, like a hug or embrace.  Another definition is to cherish.  So our Lord, here, is also the true friend, and it is an awesome thing to contemplate both the divine love of the Creator and His compassion, plus His depth of friendship and love for these people as human being as well.  It is almost too much for us to even comprehend that such a complete Incarnation of the divine is possible.

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."  My study bible notes:  "Jesus comes to the place of burial. A corpse that has by the fourth day begun to deteriorate is enough reason for Martha's warning.  Embalming was prohibited in Judaism.  The body was simply anointed with spices and other aromatic substances which would keep the stench of decomposition at bay for a time."  Again, we note aspects of their friendship:  despite the command of the Lord to take away the stone, Martha warns Him against the problems he may incur in doing so.  She is free to speak up in friendship.

Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"  My study bible tells us that "the Savior responds to Martha's cautionary note by reminding her of His earlier words."  Again, we note the love of Jesus:  there is no rebuke here, but rather a loving reminder!

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.  And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."   My study bible says here:  "Again we see the Evangelist's insistence on relating Jesus' dependence upon the Father for all His works.  Jesus prays for the bystanders, that they may have the insight to see the glory of God in the miracle." 

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"   A note reads: "Jesus' loud cry for all to hear is reminiscent of His earlier words, 'The hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth' (5:28, 29)." 

And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.  Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."  Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.  But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did.   A note here reads:  "That Lazarus came out bound in his linen graveclothes is interpreted by patristic writers as an indication he will need them once again:  he will eventually die.  The Savior's grave linens, by contrast, were left in the tomb.  He will have no more use for them, for He will never die again."  There's something else we see in this "binding hand and foot" and that is the hold of death upon humanity.  In His divine nature, Christ has come to lift death from us, to lead us to eternal life.  His command to "loose him, and let him go" is a powerful story of liberation of human beings from the bonds of death, in whatever form we may encounter death, whatever way in which the affliction of evil cuts our lives short, limits the abundant life of Christ in which we may participate throughout our lives, even in this world, even as we await the "call"  after this life.

I have included once again the alternative reading for today in the lectionary.  It is reflective upon the events in the earlier reading for its emphasis on the Judgment and on the love between Father and Son, and that love that is evident in the signs of Jesus.  The symbolic connection between the raising of Lazarus and the day of Judgment is clear.  But we must also note powerfully Jesus' emphasis in His worldly mission:  "If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world."  The Judgment comes through the relationship with the Father, but in His Incarnation Jesus has come out of love, to save.  He is here to liberate, to unloose the bonds of death, to set us free -- so that death will "let us go."  If we think of death as that which limits life and limits the life in abundance that He promises us through the Spirit, we can think of all kinds of ways to experience death in life.  How many people suffer from affliction in myriad forms even as they walk in this life?  I am sure we all know of the limiting forms of suffering we, our friends, our family, our community may experience even as we walk in this life, as we may experience in our own ways a "walk in the valley of the shadow of death."  Perhaps, in our modern lives, one such scourge we may experience or see the effects of is addiction, which comes in many, many forms, and can make life a living hell, a walking death, in its binding and affliction and slavery.  Jesus is here, as man and God, to liberate, to bring life, to unloose and unbind, so that whatever binds us in a false kind of idol will "let us go."  The God-man who comes to us out of the love of the Father will set us free in ways that are not possible except through His help, and He has brought us His Spirit out of that love, to be with us, by our sides when we call, at all times.  This healing may not take forms we can predict nor even desire.  We may be called upon to walk through that valley and face our fears, to repent and "change our minds" in ways that aren't easy nor simple - but He will give us legs to stand on, "a rod and a staff" that comfort us, and lead us in the ways we need to go to heal.  His rod is correction, His staff is strength and guidance.  But His help is always ready, there for us, even knocking for us open the door to our hearts.  Lazarus' death was a gift in the sense that it was an occasion for the works of God (see yesterday's reading), as was the blindness of the man blind from birth who was healed at the Feast of Tabernacles.  So we should see an invitation in every affliction we may experience.  Let us remember Lazarus, and his sisters Martha and Mary, those whom He loved.  But above all, He is with us, He has been with us, and in His love is every form of love for us.  This is the God we worship, the one true thing to remember when you face whatever else in life that might try to take it away from you.