Breaking
Free
Keith
McFarren
November
17, 2024
John
11:32-44
   He had been in and out of trouble for
years.  That’s because John had a
drinking problem.  And when you have a
drinking problem no one can help you but yourself.  He never tried to help himself.  He never wanted to help himself.
    But then again, he didn’t need to.  His mother was always there for him.  She was a prominent woman in town and her
name and influence always seemed to work in his favor.
    I guess you could say she was always there
to bail him out so he never had to take responsibility for his actions.  But as it is in life, all good things come to
an end…and so it was for him…because his mother died and he no longer had
anyone to get him out of the messes that he’d get himself into.
    Once again, almost twenty years ago he had
too much to drink…and as usual he was out driving around in his car.  But this time he hit another car…a car with a
pregnant woman in it…and she and her unborn baby died in the crash.
    After almost two years of lawyers and
prosecutors haggling back and forth, he finally pleaded guilty to numerous
charges, including two felonies.  At his
place of employment, the rules read that anyone convicted of a felony while
employed there would be immediately terminated.
    Shortly after that John, his supervisor,
the union representative and the head of the Department of Human Resources, sat
down at a table…and John was fired.
Twenty -five years on the job, plus all his benefits, including health
insurance for his family, down the drain.
    They say that you needed to have been
there that day to hear how he pleaded for his job.  How he had been a faithful employee.  How knowledgeable he was about his job.  How he had known his supervisor for years and
how he knew both the head of Human Resources and her family for years…and how
his late mother was well known and looked up to in the community…and on and on
and on.
    When he finished pleading, he looked at
his union representative as if to say, “Get me out of this mess.”  All the union guy could say was, “My hands
are tied.  I can’t help you.”
    He turned to look at his supervisor as if he
could make everything go away.  “There is
nothing I can do either,” the supervisor said.
“It’s all cut and dried.  All
spelled out right there in front of you.”
    The woman from Human Resources said,
“There’s nothing you can do or I can do.
You’ve reached a dead end.”  And
it was all over.
    John finally got to the point that day,
where there was no hope and when we have no hope there is no future.  When we have reached a dead end and there is
no light at the end of the tunnel, life can look pretty bleak.  That’s how it was for the people of Israel
before the coming of Jesus.
    Prior to the coming of Jesus, people in
Old Testament times lived their lives with no hope.  That’s because they believed that when they
took their last breath here on earth – it was all over…there was no
tomorrow…there was no future…because there was no life after death.
    Yet as time went on, we begin to find
different people in the Old Testament who begin to see some type of a light at
the end of the tunnel…a light that provided hope…a light that provided a
future.  Deep into the Old Testament we
begin to find people who talk of a resurrection.  
“No wonder my heart is filled with joy,”
David writes, “and my mouth shouts his praises!  My body rests in safety.  For you will not leave my soul among the dead
or allow your godly one to rot in the grave” (Psalm 16:9-10).
    2,000 years before the coming of Christ, Job,
who is going through all sort of troubles writes:
    “…I know that my Redeemer lives, and that
he will stand upon the earth at last.  …I
will see God.  I will see him for
myself.  I will see him with my own eyes”
(Job 19:25-27).
    Both the Psalmist and Job are convinced
that God will never leave us – not in life…and not in death.
    The story of the raising of Lazarus, can
be looked at from a couple of different angles.

    First, it allows us to see what awaits all
of us somewhere down the road.  What
awaits all of us is death.  But at the
same time the story allows us to see who Jesus really is.
    Even though this is a story about death it
is also a story about life.  And nestled
in between is a story about hope.  It is
a story that shows us that death is not the end.  It is a story about hope.  It’s a story about a future.  It’s a story about a new life.  It is a story about what our lives can be
like if we place our trust and our faith in Jesus.
    As Jesus came into Bethany, he was met by
a rather irate Martha.  “Because you were
out messing around somewhere, you didn’t get here in time and my brother
died…so do something about it.  Fix it.”
    It’s at that point in the conversation
that Jesus tells her to calm down and that “Your brother will rise again” and
he hits her with what biblical scholar Gail O’Day calls the “biggest
eschatological announcement in John’s Gospel.”
He tells her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  But he goes beyond that.  He tells her that, “Those who believe in me,
even though they die yet shall they live, and anyone who lives and believes in
me will never die.”
    What Jesus is saying is that he has
complete control over the life of anyone who believes in him – not only control
over the here and now…but control over the future as well.  
    For those who believe in him, people like
you and me, our future is not determined by our death.  Instead, our hope for the future is simply
determined by our faith in Jesus.
    This proclamation that Jesus controls the
present and the future lives of anyone who believes in him sets the stage for
the miracle that is about to happen.  And
with that, Jesus revealed the glory of God with his command, “Lazarus, come out!”
    “In her commentary Gail O’Day describes
what happens next. “Lazarus arose still dressed in the clothes of death,
totally dependent upon the voice of Jesus to achieve his freedom from death.”
Lazarus rose up and left
the tomb, and Jesus proved to the world that he is indeed the resurrection and
the life.
    But when Lazarus came out of that tomb, he
also proved something else to us.  He
proved that all we need to do to gain our freedom from death, all we need to do
to have life after death, all we need to do to have a future, is to listen for
Jesus to call us.
    We have one story this morning that
creates two different, life changing pictures for us.  First, we see Jesus’ proclamation that he is
the resurrection and the life.  We see
that Jesus truly is the Messiah, the Son of God.
    Secondly, if we step back and look at the
big picture, we not only see a man who has been dead for four days being
brought back to life by Jesus, the Son of God…proof in itself that Jesus is the
resurrection and the life…but we also have to opportunity to take a good look
at our own resurrection as well.
    For those who trust in Jesus, there is an opportunity
to take part in our own resurrection even while we are still alive.  It’s all based on a promise that says we are
continually surrounded by the unconditional love of God and the grace of God and
constant care of God not only after we die a physical death, but also before we
die…while we are still alive here on earth.
    Our hope is not only about eternal life
after we die, but our hope is also about the hope we can have before our death
as well.
    If we could paraphrase Jesus’ words in
modern day language it might sound something like this: “Even if people are
dead in sin, even if, through their sins, they have lost all that makes life
worth living, I can make them alive again.”
You see it is possible
to be living, to be alive and breathing, and yet be spiritually dead.  
    We all face spiritual death.  That’s because it’s always waiting for us
just around the corner.  
    We are all face difficult times.  Dark times…times of illness, times of defeat
or maybe times of rejection.
    We are all subject to sadness, depression,
or loneliness.
    We all give in to anger, to frustration,
to bitterness and we find ourselves caring only about ourselves and not others.  
    There are times when we’re physically
alive…but we’re spiritually dead. Times when we become distant from God.  Times when we become separated from God
because of what’s going on in our life.  

    Times when maybe we think God doesn’t want
us anymore…because of something we’ve said or something we’ve done.
    There are times when we all feel like the
guy I talked about earlier – times when we feel like we’ve reached a dead end
in life…where there seems to be no help, where there seems to be no hope, no
future, no light at the end of the tunnel.
    There are times when we feel as if we are
wrapped in a burial shroud, and placed in a cave, separated from the rest of
the world, separated from family and friends, totally cut off from the world
around us.
    If this happens…or better yet…when this
happens, and it will happen to all of us, we have two choices.  We can give up.  We can attempt to go it alone with no hope
and with no future…and feel as if we’re bound up and live in a shroud of
darkness – just like the burial shroud that Lazarus wore.  
    Or we can turn to Jesus, who calls for us
to take off our burial clothes and come out of the tomb.  Who calls for us to free ourselves.  Who calls for us to have hope.  Who calls for us to look forward to the future.  
    Jesus, through his death and through his resurrection
gives us life in him.  New life for
today…and new life for tomorrow.  
    Jesus’ self-revelation as the resurrection
and the life, marks a beginning of God’s new age here on earth, the age in
which God’s hope for the world becomes a reality. God’s hope for the world is
now available to all of us through Jesus Christ who comes to each of us to
defeat spiritual death and to defeat physical death.  
    He comes to give us life…life for today
and life in the future.  Through Jesus,
the act of God defeating death and restoring life is no longer just a promise.  The act of God defeating death and restoring
life has become a reality.