John 11:17-27, 38-45 - Jesus Takes on Death - March 26, 2023

This coming Friday marks an important date for millions of Americans. Do you know what it is? It marks the end of the continuous enrollment provision of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. Now, if you don’t happen to be a student of the federal budgetary process – it means that millions of Americans who enjoyed Medicaid coverage during the pandemic could lose their coverage if they don’t follow the steps to re-enroll. [1] We get why that’s important. The whole premise of health insurance is that if you do happen to get sick or break a bone or are diagnosed with cancer – you won’t have to cover the entire cost of treatment yourself. But there’s a big problem with health insurance – all versions and forms of it. A problem that can’t be fixed by legislation, a doctor’s skill or even Pfizer – that is the problem of death. Death doesn’t care if you have health insurance. Death doesn’t care how young, old, healthy or sick you are. Death can take anyone at any time. Health insurance claims to give you comfort and security in life – but what good does that do you when you’re dead? That’s why for true security in this life, we need something better than health insurance; we need, for lack of a better term: death insurance. And today, as Jesus takes on death, he invites us to enroll in this policy.

One of the keys to effective health care is getting the right help and getting it ASAP. That’s what Mary and Martha were searching for when their brother Lazarus became sick. They immediately called the best doctor they knew: Lord, the one you love is sick (11:3)! If we were in their place, we would have wanted and expected Jesus to set out immediately, right? But he didn’t. He waited. And waited. And waited. He waited until Lazarus died and only then did he set out for Bethany from the other side of the Jordan River (John 10:40). We get frustrated and impatient when we have to wait 20 minutes to get our child into urgent care, not to mention the anger we feel when we have to wait weeks or months for vital treatment or surgery. So we can feel Martha’s pain and anguish when 4 days later she rushes out to Jesus and says: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But she clung to a glimmer of hope: But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Yes, Jesus said, your brother will rise again. Now Martha knew God’s OT promises (i.e. Job 19:26; Daniel 12:2; Isaiah 26:19) and believed that God would raise all the dead on the Last Day. But Jesus wanted to sharpen her view of life and death – to lead her to see what was going on beyond her brother’s dead body in the grave.

Jesus wanted Martha to understand that Lazarus’ death went beyond the fact that his heart had stopped; he wanted Martha and he wants us to understand that it doesn’t matter if you are young and healthy or elderly and sick; by nature, we are all dead before God. I believe that at least in part this obsession with health insurance is simply another one of sinful man’s attempts to ignore and reject this truth. It’s as if we are saying: God, we don’t need you, we can stay healthy and alive all by ourselves – as long as we have access to health insurance and health care – which is idolatry. But the truth is that people die even in countries that have socialized medicine. They don’t die because they don’t have insurance or didn’t get enough exercise or live in poverty. No, they die for the same reason we will all die – because of sin (Romans 6:23). And no insurance policy covers the cure for that disease.

When God looks at the earth, he sees what Elisha saw when he walked into the room of the Shunammite woman, what Mary and Martha and the Jews saw when they looked at Lazarus’ tomb: death. Yes, 8 billion humans walk and talk and live on this earth, but in God’s eyes they are all spiritual zombies – the walking dead. That’s why the words of John 11 are not just for the deathbed or the graveside. We are born spiritually dead and the stench of death trails after us every day of our lives. When I was little, our school regularly went to nursing homes to sing to our elderly members there. I did not care for those trips. I think I subconsciously associated the uncomfortably warm thermostat setting and antiseptic odor with death. But you don’t have to stand in a nursing home or hospital or funeral home to smell the stench of death. Spiritual death stinks up our homes with petty arguments, power struggles, and bitter words between spouses, parents, and children. Its vile influence fills our mouths with venomous lies and betraying and hateful words. Spiritual death is a malignant cancer that wraps itself around our hearts and so thoroughly pollutes them that they are constantly spawning evil thoughts, words and actions (Genesis 6:5; 8:21). Jesus wanted Martha and he wants us to understand that physical death is only a symptom of the fact that we are born spiritually dead before God.

But Jesus came to defeat spiritual death, that’s why, as he looks on this world of spiritual zombies, he says plainly I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. The Word of Jesus nullifies spiritual death; it wipes away sin, and cleanses our diseased hearts. In fact, Paul says that we’ve already died – we died with Jesus through baptism and have been raised with him to live a new life (Romans 6:2-4). Do you feel filthy with sin? Look back to that font and remember that your sins have been washed way with water and the Word. Is guilt killing you? Hear the words of Absolution which works better than any cancer therapy to remove every last speck of guilt. Do you feel weak as you struggle against your sinful nature and spiritual death? Receive the body and blood of your Lord Jesus which energizes you to live for him. Unlike health insurance, this new life is so precious that you can’t afford it – even with government subsidies. It’s so exclusive that you won’t find it offered through your company or any federal exchange. So how do you get it? Jesus offers it free of charge with one simple question: Do you believe this? Martha did. Do you?

Now, if there’s one thing we all know about insurance policies: they mean nothing if you can’t trust the insurer to follow through. Jesus wanted Martha to know that he wasn’t just selling her a bill of goods or false comfort – like the empty, comfortless words that are offered at so many funerals – he would not only talk the talk, he would make the dead walk. He went to Lazarus’ tomb and unceremoniously ordered the stone be removed. Martha cringed at the thought of seeing and smelling the decaying remains of her four-day-dead brother, but Jesus assured her: Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?

Being able to see the glory of God behind the ugliness and finality of death is the reason that there is often a stark difference in mood between the funeral of a believer and the funeral of an unbeliever. It’s a fact that funerals in our world are sad affairs. Black suits, black dresses, and black sunglasses seem to be the unofficial uniform. The sight and scent of fresh flowers only heightens the reality that like those flowers, life is a precious and fragile thing. Red-rimmed eyes tell the story of loss and grief that words can’t describe. Even humorous stories can only lighten the mood temporarily. But I think the most telling element of funerals is the deathly quiet, the silent weeping and subdued whispers. Apart from Jesus, silence at funerals is fitting. Death has silenced another life. Ended yet another time of grace.

But Jesus shatters death’s silence. Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Sinful humans shudder at the power of death. But death shudders in the presence of LIFE itself. Jesus is the reason why believers can (and should) joyfully sing and even laugh at funerals. The very thing that has eluded the grasp of mankind since the fall into sin – the ability to reverse death – was performed by Jesus with just a word. Lazarus walks out, Jesus reminds the shocked crowd to help him out of his grave clothes – and the story ends. Isn’t that striking? No details about Mary and Martha’s joy at being reunited with their brother. No answers from Lazarus about what it's like to die or what lies on the other side. The simplicity of the ending brings out in even greater clarity the point of this miracle: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and he has the power that no insurance company has – he has the power to reverse death.

John didn’t just record these words to be read at funerals – these words are not for the benefit of the dead but for the living, for you and for me. So why should you remember that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead this coming week? I can think of at least three reasons. 1) It reminds us not to place our trust in the things of this world; be it wealth, insurance, a healthy lifestyle, or a doctor’s skill. None of those things mattered to Mary and Martha when they lost their brother. None of those things forgave Lazarus’ sins or brought him out of the tomb – and none of those things will matter when you are holding the hand of a loved one who is dying or as you are dying yourself. 2) When you do find yourself blinking away tears as the body of a loved one is lowered into the earth – remember that Jesus allows for death in his plan: he doesn’t prevent it, rather, the forgiveness he purchased with his blood nullifies its eternal effects and one day his almighty power will reverse it (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Your loved one who fell asleep in the Lord is not dead, is not even really sleeping, but is enjoying the glory of heaven in the presence of Jesus in the same moment that tears are streaming down your face.

And 3) the story of Lazarus gives us confidence to live this life to its fullest. One of the propaganda tools used to push this obsession with having access to health insurance is fear. Fear that if you don’t have it you might get hurt; fear that if you don’t have it you might get sick; fear that you might go without care or go bankrupt; fear that if you don’t have it you might…die. I hate to break it to you… but you might get hurt, sick, go without care or go bankrupt and, you certainly will die whether you have insurance or not. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not against health insurance; I know that health insurance is important, but don’t let fear of sickness or death rule your life. Go, travel, explore, work, love, live in God’s wonderful creation. Live confident that death cannot rule you because Jesus rules death. Fear is Satan’s tool to control and enslave you. Fear of death is a symptom of sin. But Jesus’ Word nullifies the power of sin and His power will reverse the effect of death on the Last Day. Don’t live in fear. Live in the confidence that your best friend, your Lord and Savior is the resurrection and the life. Jesus took on death for you and he won. The only thing that matters now is the question, will you enroll in this death insurance policy? Or, as Jesus put it do you believe this? By God’s grace we can all answer with Martha, “Yes, Lord, I do believe.” Amen. 

[1] https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/10-things-to-know-about-the-unwinding-of-the-medicaid-continuous-enrollment-provision/