When I went out seeking images for this week’s bulletin, nearly every one had skeletons, skulls, or a combination thereof. It was a bit creepy but also brought to mind the intensity of this word from Ezekiel. When you pair this scripture with the one from John? It’s really something. The pictures I found for that scripture were all resurrected bodies wrapped in linen as if they were mummies come alive in a horror movie. I love that the lectionary pairs these two stories, both stories of resurrection and revival. And I love that they come in the darkest days of Lent.
Resurrection is everywhere in the biblical narrative- not just on Easter and both of these stories serve as a reminder that resurrection isn’t just about Jesus. It’s about more than Jesus. It’s about rebirth and reawakening and sometimes literally bringing back people from the dead.
In the words from Ezekiel, we hear The people say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” And then God tells Ezekiel to tell them “Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. In this case, of course, the resurrection isn’t a literal one. This is not God creating a sea of zombies. (Although perhaps this could be a great new television series about zombies, who knows). This instead is about renewal.
We’ve not talked a lot about Ezekiel together. But Ezekiel was a prophet both before and during the Babylonian exile. He warned the people that their behavior would result in separation from god and their homeland and then was there to help the people prepare to return to their land. Ezekiel promised that there would be a restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem and a restoration of the covenant between God and Israel. His work during the Babylonian exile was to help the people move forward and move toward reconciliation with God. He also taught the people that God was not stationary, which is revealed in his famous “Ezekiel saw the wheel” dream where he understood God as able to dwell with Israel wherever they were located.
This prophecy, then, is an example, of how Ezekiel speaks about reconciliation with God. God is going to renew the people, remove them from the grave of exile and return them to life in Jerusalem. What is significant about this scripture is that God isn’t just going to reanimate some skeletons, no, God intends to fully renew the bones- replace the muscle and sinew, to restore them to full humanity. And while this is a metaphor, it is an apt one. God isn’t just doing this thing halfway- the restoration of the community will be complete.
It is the same in the reading from John today, except in this case the resurrection is a literal one. I like to think of this scripture as an Easter preview- as proof that resurrection is indeed possible. Jesus was out doing his ministry when he received a message that his friend, Lazarus, was sick. Now, did Jesus drop everything and rush off to help his friend? No. He stayed two days longer. But eventually, he did return to Judea but by the time he and the disciples got there, Lazarus was dead.
“Jesus’ arrival in Bethany leads to confrontations with the two sisters that reveal certain theological dimensions of the story. The sisters, each individually, want to know why Jesus delayed answering their call. If only he had come earlier, he could have healed their brother. But, interestingly, Martha hasn’t given up hope that Jesus can do something. After all, she believes God will do whatever Jesus asks. So, there might still be hope. How does Jesus respond to their questions? “Your Brother will rise again” (Jn. 11:24). Martha knows that. She believes that on the last day, the dead will rise. She’s a believer in the resurrection. That’s great, but that’s not her immediate concern. She wants her brother back now. In other words, she’s not interested in the eschatologically defined resurrection. She wants resuscitation! Jesus responds to that declaration by telling her “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” (Jn. 11:25-26). In making this claim, John reveals his belief that eternal life begins now and can be enjoyed in this life. This is an expression of an inaugurated eschatology; such that eternal life may extend into the next life but has a present dimension. Now, as we’ll see, Jesus is going to give Martha what she wants, but he wants to know whether she believes he is the resurrection and the life. With that Martha makes her confession of faith: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (Jn. 11:27).”. (Cornwall).
Now Lazarus wasn’t just dead, he was four days dead and had been placed in a tomb. This is one of the small funny parts of the bible that gets me every time. Jesus says “take me to the tomb” intending to raise Lazarus from the dead, and rather than just believe him or get out of the way, the first thing everyone says to Jesus, “Wait–That’s really going to smell bad!”- seriously it says “Lord there is already a stench”. My seminary professor Jerry Sumney always said it this way: “But Lord, he stinketh!”
But Jesus isn’t concerned about the smell, decomposition, rules about mourning, or rules about touching dead bodies. He instead cares for his friends that are hurting. He cares about Mary and Martha who are mourning. He cares about having missed the death of his friend. And because he cares in this way, he even weeps at the loss of his friend. And then he does what no one was expecting, he has them open the tomb and yells in “Lazarus, come out” and that’s what happens.
Lazarus steps out of the tomb, still bound in cloth, but very much alive. This is not a zombie, but rather a full-on resurrection of a person. While the other miracles Jesus had performed were amazing, this was something beyond that. He had returned a person from death to life and he did so in front of witnesses. People saw proof that resurrection was possible with Lazarus stepping out of the tomb. And I think this is important for two reasons- the first of which is obvious- it is proof that Jesus is powerful. This is a level of power that would scare the religious authorities. But I think it’s also important because Jesus was showing that resurrection could be more than a metaphor. In Ezekiel we get a metaphor, in John, we get a literal resurrection and there are witnesses.
It matters that WOMEN were witnesses to this resurrection because later, women would once again be the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. It matters that Thomas is there because he was the one that didn’t believe in Jesus' resurrection at first even though he had seen it as a possibility. It matters.
But what matters right now is that this gives us a glimpse of what is to come. This scripture is a part of the Lenten readings because it is about resurrection and because it is a reminder of what happens after Good Friday. As the long weeks of Lent progress and we draw closer to that dark day, it is important to remember what happens after. It is important to remember that again and again God promises resurrection and renewal, and God delivers on that promise. We are reminded that renewal is coming, that resurrection is possible, and that if it’s possible for the Babylonian Exiles, for Lazarus, and for Jesus, then it is also possible for us.