As I was working on that sermon text for this past Sunday, I got to thinking about waking up as recurring theme in literature and film.  Washington Irving wrote a short story about Rip Van Winkle. And who can forget the Grimm Brothers’ tale about Sleeping Beauty?  This past Friday I watched the film Passengers, starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence.  They and several thousand others people had signed up to board a space ship, be placed into a 120-year hibernation, and travel to start a new colony on a new planet.  Talk about adventure! (SPOILER ALERT) But something went wrong and they woke up 90 years too early.  At first it seemed that they were doomed to live and die alone as their fellow-travelers slept on.  But as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that only they were awake to save the ship from certain disaster that would have taken all their lives – as they slept.
 
It seems we human beings have a fear about not waking up until it’s too late. 
 
Rip Van Winkle, Sleeping Beauty, and James & Aurora are fictional characters.  But you and I are very real.  Those stories are fiction, ours is not.  A very real Savior wrote a very real letter to real people living in a real city named Sardis because he really loved them.  His concern? – that they wake up before it was too late.  If they didn’t – well, even people who no longer give a thought about hell will actually end up there, so sleeping is not a good option.
 
Read Jesus’ words in that letter again.  Now ask yourself some questions:

• How’s my worship life?  Have I gotten a bit sleepy about that in my schedule?
• What’s my plan for growing in the Word?  Have I gotten lazy about that, content with what I already know of the Word?
• Do I know more about my Christian faith from the Bible now than I did, say, a few years ago?
• Have I slipped into the idea that I can sleep my way to heaven, because I keep hearing some folks say that we all eventually end up there anyway?

 
I don’t know the answers to any of those questions for you.  But I know that those are important questions that have answers – whether we are comfortable with them or not.  Jesus’ purpose in this little letter is clear and there is urgency about it: shake us to wake us.  There is no waking up too early in our story, but there is a too late. 
 
So, a Prince actually has come to wake us up to a new life that stretches into eternal happiness.  And from our waking up to our going home, he walks with us (think Word and Sacrament) and he clothes us in the white robes of his righteousness, made white in the blood of the Lamb.  Feel that nudge in your heart right now? That’s Jesus.  He’s right on time.  Wake up.

If you’ve read American history at all, you probably know that the signers of the Declaration of Independence placed their lives on the line with their signatures.  In the eyes of the English king, that signature immediately made each them rebels, whose property and possessions could be seized by the crown.  If captured, they could have been executed.  It’s only from our vantage point of history that it seems that the success of that Declaration was inevitable.  On the fast-approaching Independence Day weekend, it would be good for us to consider the courage and commitment it took to sign that document.  They literally laid their lives on the line.
 
Less well known is another list of men whose signatures put them at odds with another emperor, men who’s signatures placed their lives and livelihoods in real jeopardy.  It was 500 years ago that the following 7 men and two free cities pledged themselves the truths set for in the Augsburg Confession.  They were:
            John, Duke of Saxony, Elector
            George, Margrave of Brandenburg
            Ernest, Duke of Lueneberg
            Philip, Landgrave of Hesse
            John Frederick, Duke of Saxony
            Francis, Duke of Lueneburg
            Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt,
            Senate and Magistracy of Nuremburg
            Senate of Reutlingen
 
The Augsburg Confession, largely written by Martin Luther’s coworker Philip Melanchthon, was read at the Diet of Augsburg, an imperial diet called by Emperor Charles V. 
 
Upon hearing it, Charles V rejected it gave the signers until 1531 to repudiate the Augsburg Confession.  Instead, they stood firm in their confession and formed the League of Schmalkalden.  The members of the league pledged to protect each other from any religiously motivated attack.  Charles V probably could have marshaled his forces against the League to make short work of their principled stand for the truth of the Gospel, but a large Ottoman army transformed the situation. Charles had already lost large parts of Hungary to them, and renewed attacks in the east prompted the Emperor to declare a religious truce with the Lutherans: the 'Peace of Nuremberg.' This cancelled certain legal cases and prevented any action being taken against the Lutherans until a general church council had met, but no date was given; the Lutherans could continue, and so would their military support. This set the tone for another fifteen years, as Ottoman - and later French - pressure forced Charles to call a series of truces, interspersed with declarations of heresy. The situation became one of intolerant theory, but tolerant practice. Without any unified or directed Catholic opposition, the Schmalkaldic League was able to grow in power.
 
In 1546, Charles took advantage of a truce with the Ottomans and gathered an army, drawing troops from across the Empire. The Pope also sent support, in the form of a force led by his grandson. While the League was quick to muster, there was little attempt to defeat any of the smaller units before they had combined under Charles. Indeed, historians often take this indecisive activity as evidence that the League had a weak and ineffectual leadership. Certainly, many members distrusted each other, and several cities argued about their troop commitments. The League's only real unity was Lutheran belief, but they even varied in this; additionally, the cities tended to favor simple defense, some princes wanted to attack.

The Schmalkaldic War was fought between 1546-47. The League may have had more troops, but they were disorganized, and Maurice effectively split their forces when his invasion of Saxony drew John away. Ultimately, the League was beaten easily by Charles at the Battle of Mühlberg, where he crushed the Schmalkaldic army and captured many of its leaders. John and Philip of Hesse were imprisoned, the Emperor stripped 28 cities of their independent constitutions, and the League was finished.  But by the time the League of Schmalkalden was crushed, the Reformation had gained sufficient momentum and was so widespread that there was no way to stop it.  Truth is an unrelenting thing when it gets moving, and move it did. 
 
It still is.  In a time when it seems that true Christianity is torn apart by false teaching from within, faces increasing intolerance from an increasingly post-Christian culture, and in parts of the world is still viciously attacked by radical forces of Islam, it may seem to be in jeopardy.  It isn’t - not if those who know the gospel stand on it and stand by it and refuse to compromise on it.  Besides, Jesus has said that heaven and earth would pass away, but his Word would stand forever.  That means standing on the Word is the safest place to stand in the long run.  Where are you standing?

The spiritual thoughts I share with you this week leading up to Father’s Day weekend were written by a good friend and brother in Christ, Dan Nommensen.  Dan is a counselor on the staff of Christian Family Solutions, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  When I served at Salem Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Dan was a member of our congregation and was a valuable part of the lay leadership team in a number of different capacities.  This is an article he wrote back in June 2016 for print in Forward in Christ, a magazine produced in the fellowship of the Wisconsin Ev. Lutheran Synod.  It is my prayer that his words will turn your heart more confidently to your heavenly Father!  Happy Father’s Day!
 
A clothes pole and a new lawn mower set the scene for a lesson on forgiveness and love.
It’s Father’s Day! It’s that time of year where men everywhere get new ties and gift cards to their favorite local hardware store! Along with the time spent with family and special gifts, on Father’s Day, I can’t help but remember my own father who has now been in heaven for nearly 20 years.
An accident revisited
My father was a busy pastor of a large congregation in Milwaukee. As busy as he was, he always seemed to find time to take me fishing or watch my baseball games, and we always enjoyed cutting the lawn together. Each of us had a push mower, and we’d go back and forth for what felt like hours.
Then one day we got a riding lawn mower! When it arrived, my dad looked at me and said, “Well, Dan, go ahead.” I was the first to ride it! Me!
This was the greatest moment of my life up to that point. Off I went! Sure, Dad told me to start off in a low gear, but I was 11 years old! I had ridden go-karts at full speed. I could handle higher speeds. There was nothing but open grass all around me . . . and one clothes pole.
I literally moved that lawn mower 50 feet before hitting that clothes pole. I managed to avoid all the open grass and hit it straight on. The front end of the mower was cracked, the headlight was broken, and part of the metal cover was bent. I felt absolutely, positively horrible. I prepared myself for the biggest punishment I would ever see. What was Dad going to do?
God’s love reflected
Well, here’s what happened. He ran over and helped me turn off the tractor because it was still in gear and hitting the pole again and again. Then he said . . . nothing. Before I could even say a word, he knew that I felt absolutely horrible. He knew that what I didn’t need at that moment was a huge dose of the law with scolding and a permanent restriction from ever riding the lawn mower again.
I got off the tractor and announced my own punishment: “I’ll never ride this again—EVER! I promise.”
He responded, “That’s okay. We’ll just take the clothes pole down when we cut next time.” The damage to the mower was never repaired. My dad never mentioned it again.
I used that mower for nearly 25 years. The damage to the front served as a reminder to me about the use of the law and gospel. The unconditional forgiveness my dad showed me that day flowed from a heart that loved the Lord. It was a demonstration of the love shown by our heavenly Father through the sacrifice of his son Jesus. When I felt I needed to dole out my own punishment, Dad helped me see something different. He helped me realize mercy, grace, and forgiveness. I knew Dad’s love and forgiveness for me came from his heart as a reflection of God’s love for him.
I can recall this and other moments that help me recognize the opportunities I have to make a lasting impression in the lives of my own children. Because Jesus loves me, I want to make every day an opportunity to demonstrate that love in the lives of my children and others.
 

I look forward to this special day every year.  Mother’s Day?  Nope.  Memorial Day?  No, not that one either.  The Big Day is the day when I get my Harley out of storage for the first time of the season.  That Day is a sure sign that another Michigan Winter is history, and that we are deep enough into Spring that the threat of snow and ice are behind us.  That day was last Saturday.
 
Now that it’s back in my garage and ready for the road, I am inventorying the things I will need for the riding season:
 

•             leather riding jacket (the one my former congregation gave me)
•             leather chaps
•             leather riding gloves
•             helmet
•             rain gear

 
As I look those things over I remembered an incident that occurred back around the time of the Harley Davidson 100th anniversary.  My wife and I and two other couples had gone for a ride to have breakfast at a diner.  It was morning, and a bit cool, so we had jackets, chaps, bandanas, and gloves on.  As we followed the waitress to our table, a lady watched us, smiled at us and said in a cheery good-morning voice, “I like your outfits.”   We exchanged smiles and pleasantries as we waited for our order to come.  It was a nice little visit with a nice stranger who asked all the usual “biker” questions:  Where are you from?  Where are you going?  Do you all ride Harleys?  What kind is it?  What color is it? 
 
Later, as I was diving into my omelet and hashed browns, it occurred to me that that nice lady had the impression that we dressed that way as an “outfit,” that it was all a fashion thing.
 
Not so!  Every piece of clothing I wear when I ride serves the same very important purpose:  protection.  Let’s start at the top and work our way down.  A good DOT approved helmet is essential safety equipment.  It’s called a “brain bucket” for a reason -it’s the best and only protection for the head.  Next comes my jacket.  It’s black because it doesn’t show road dirt and bugs that are a part of life on motorcycle.  It’s leather because, if worse comes to worse and I end up sliding along the asphalt, I would much rather that the skin that’s being left on the road is that of a dead bovine than my own.  Same deal with the chaps.  Good quality over-the-ankle boots give support for the ankles and provide some protection from the little bits of road debris that you never notice in a car but would be painfully obvious if it bounced off your flip-flop clad toes or bare ankle.
I always carry rain gear on the bike because riding a motorcycle in the rain is not any fun at all.  I NEVER do it on purpose, but if I get caught I need to have some protection.  Rain isn’t just wet, it’s also rather hard at 60 miles an hour.  In the end, it’s all about being as safe as I can be when I’m on the road.
 
Protection is not just important for the body; it’s important – way more important – for the soul. Paul, that first century road warrior for the gospel, calls on us in Ephesians 6 to put our gear on: “...put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. {14} Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, {15} and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. {16} In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  {17} Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
 
The Roman soldier knew a thing or two about protective equipment, too.  And like motorcyclists in a Michigan summer, they were everywhere.  Paul borrows the terminology of their equipment to describe the armor God gives us in his Word.  The belt of truth – the divinely inspired Word of God – puts everything within reach that we will need to stand against the Evil One.  Our hearts are protected by the righteousness of Jesus in which we trust.  That’s the righteousness he forged for us every day of his life in this world by keeping God’s Law perfectly for us.  It’s the righteousness we have, too, because he has washed us clean in his blood at Calvary.  Now we stand safely and securely before God himself.  Our readiness to stand and fight the good fight of faith and even advance against the enemy comes from the gospel that assures us that victory is already won in Christ.  The truths of the Christian faith arrayed in the Bible defelct and extinguish the lies and false teaching Satan flings against us.  The helmet? – We know that eternal life is ours.  We know the Good Shepherd and we know he knows us.  Through his Word, God gives us the knowledge of the Truth, the Way and the Life.  And into our hands the Holy Spirit has placed the Word of God, that living and powerful sword, by which we attack the Evil One and execute search and rescue missions for those held in his kingdom of darkness.
 
That armor of God – every piece of it – is not a fashion statement.  It all serves a practical purpose.  So when you throw your leg over another day, and head out onto the road of your Christian journey through life, put your road gear on.  Every time.  You’ll need it.

Biblical literacy in the United States is in trouble.  People who study such things cite ample evidence that it is so:

“The Bible in America is a massive industry ($2.5 billion) yet it is the best seller few read and fewer understand. The Bible has become a moving target. One can strip it down, twist it, misread it, add to it, supplement it, and even overrule it, and, unfortunately, 95 percent of the congregation will not realize it. Why? Because Americans no longer know the Bible. The evidence is overpowering that contemporary Christianity is Bible-ish, at best, and at worst, in some cases, Bible-less. The American Bible Society releases an annual State of the Bible report and their research is persuasive in understanding the declining influence of the Bible in America. Everyone has an opinion about the Bible. Politicians attempt to use the Bible, Grammy-award winners quote it and Hollywood has portrayed it on the big screen. Yet one problem remains: most are oblivious to the Bible’s basic content, meaning, and message. Across the pond, the results are even more dramatic: one-third of British parents thought Harry Potter was a thematic plotline derived from the Bible.” (Jeremiah J. Johnston, Fox News)

George Barna, a renowned researcher and compiler of statistics about the church, reports the following about the beliefs of churchgoing American Protestant denominational members:

·         Only 35% of mainline Protestant church members believe Jesus was sinless.

·         Only 34% believe the Bible is totally accurate.

·         Only 27% agree that works do not merit salvation, only faith does.

·         Only 20% believe that Satan is real.

Don’t assume it’s any better among Roman Catholics, either.  That denomination, too, is rife with people who will identify as Catholic but when pressed will admit they aren’t “practicing.”

Why bring this up during Holy Week?  Because I wonder if the average U.S. citizen has any working knowledge of what the expression “Holy Week” means, or what four important events in the life of Christ happened that week.  The events of Holy Week are the very heart of the Christian faith.  If a person does not know what happened on Good Friday and Easter that person simply cannot authentically claim to be a follower of Christ. 

I’m not going to suggest any sweeping new programs to change that national trend toward the spiritual oblivion of total Biblical illiteracy.  I am going to flat-out tell you that there is only way to avoid it on a personal level:  study the Bible, read the Bible, get familiar with what’s in the Bible.  That only happens if you make the personal commitment to be in the Word of God.  So here are some concrete steps that you can take to do that:

1.      Does your church respect the Bible as the Word of God, every word of it breathed into the Bible writers by God, and true in all that it says?  If it doesn’t, you need to move on to one that does. You aren’t going to get to know what’s in the Bible from someone who has already rejected it.

2.      Don’t buy into the oft-repeated statement that the Bible is a dark book that is hard to understand and can be interpreted in lots of different ways.  God wasn’t playing games like that when he guided the Bible writers to write what they did.  He actually intended to communicate really important things to us in that book.  So there’s no need to try to imagine all kinds of fanciful hidden meanings.  Let it say what it says.

3.      Choose a good readable translation. For my money, you may want to watch this year for a new one coming out, the English Heritage Version.  New Testament and Psalms will be out this year some time.  The entire Bible will be ready next year.  If you want to know more about it and where to get it visit www.facebook.com/wartburgproject or www.wartburgproject.org.  Until then, a paperback New International Version or English Standard Version will do.

4.      Start with one of the gospels.  Mark is the shortest, so maybe start there.  When you’re done, read Matthew or Luke.  When you’re done there, move on to John.  That will give you a well-rounded grasp on the basic facts about the life of Jesus.  After that, email me and I’ll give you some suggestions.

5.      Jettison the idea that church is about an hour.  Make it a two-hour commitment:  an hour of worship and the Bible class that is typically offered either before or after.  Or maybe do the hour of worship on one day and take advantage of a midweek Bible class.  Where you do both is important. See #1 above.

6.      Stay with it.  Ask your questions.  Ask God to open our mind and heart, and ask him to send the Holy Spirit to work.  He will.

This is important for you and for your family.  If you are a parent, you are the most influential teacher your child is ever going to have.  Let them see you setting a personal and family culture that says that growing in the Word of God is important. 

I’m with the apostle Paul on this subject.  He wrote to the young pastor Timothy, “...God ...wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”  (1 Timothy 2:3)  There’s no better time than Holy Week to make the personal commitment to do what you have to do to get that knowledge.  If you want some help, that’s what we’re here for.

Pastor Dan Simons
Ascension Lutheran Church,
Macomb Township Michigan

17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

18Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.

21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?”

27“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

38Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39“Take away the stone,” he said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”

40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone.

Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”

45Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.  (John 11:17-27, 38-45)

It’s been said that every Sunday is a little Easter.  And that’s certainly true, isn’t it?  Every Sunday we talk about Jesus and to Jesus in the present tense, not the past tense.  Every Sunday, we gather in the name of and in the presence of Jesus who lives.  Every Sunday we hear about our sins atoned for and forgiven, and every Sunday we hear about our victory over death.  Every Sunday we affirm that’s always Easter when we confess the belief in the resurrection from the dead.  Even in the solemn Lenten season, the Sundays occur in lent, but they are not of it.  And this past Sunday was an especially clear celebration of life over death.

All of us have had our close brushes with death.  We may tell stories about how we cheated death:  a close call of a accident, a very serious illness from which we recovered, or a diagnosis that turned out to be less dire than we feared.  Each one a story about how death doesn’t always gain the upper hand until, of course, one day it does.

That’s what makes this account in John’s gospel such powerful comfort.  Here is the account of Jesus did not merely cheat death, he confronted in broad daylight, made a frontal assault on the grave, and came away with a powerfully clear and wonderfully comforting victory.  So let’s go to this funeral service in Bethany, just outside Jerusalem, and see Jesus:  Grave Robber in Broad Daylight!  

Jesus robbed the grave of Lazarus because he can.  Being a Christian does not make you immune to death, neither your own nor that of your loved ones.  Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, were Christians.  They were also close friends of Jesus.  He was a guest in their home on a number of occasions, and in this chapter of John we see Jesus weeping at the death of his friend, Lazarus.  When last we saw Martha (Luke 10) she was distracted by many things and complaining that she was doing all the work.  Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening.  Martha must have been listening, too, ever since because she is such a different mind and priority here!  Here she can’t wait for Jesus to come with his comforting presence, so she rushes out to meet him.  What a valuable thing she had learned! – when trouble comes, especially the trouble that is death, the best place to be is as close to Jesus as possible.  

Why?  Let Martha explain in the things that she says!

• “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” – Confidence in his compassion because she knew what Jesus’ position on death is:  “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  (John 10:10); “He who has the Son has life.” (1 John 5:12)

• “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”  - Confidence in his power because she knew who Jesus is:  “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

·         “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.” – Confessing her faith in the resurrection on the Last Day.  She knew that from the Old Testament promises God had given:  “My heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”  (Psalm 16:9-10)  David spoke those words of Jesus, and Martha had surely learned that from Jesus, but he had also taught her that Jesus was the first-fruit of all who believed in him:  “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)  She had learned it from Job, too:  “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me!”  (Job 19:25-27)

·         “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”  And yet she was rooted in the reality of what death meant in this fallen world.  Even as she knew that her dear brother lived on in heaven and would live again physically in the resurrection, she properly assessed that death stinks.  It is a wonderfully poignant scene we see a chapter later as John describes a dinner Mary and Martha gave in Jesus’ honor.  Martha was serving the one who had come to serve and to give his life as a ransom for sinners.  Mary broke open the seal on a jar of expensive perfume that had been saved for Jesus’ burial and anointed him with it.  As that scent filled the room, it was a powerful reminder not only that the sins of the world would be the reason for Jesus’ death, but that what he would accomplish in his death and resurrection would change the way that death smells.

While Martha is confessing all of this, Mary is at home grieving with guests, but grieving with hope!  She knew and believed all of those things about Jesus, too. After all, she had long been sitting at his feet and hanging on his words.  She knew the truth about what Jesus had come to do to death.  So in the midst of all that mourning, there was hope that lived in her heart – light in the midst of that darkness.

Death is still dark and it still stinks, doesn’t it?  No matter who you are or how much you love your loved ones, it keeps coming.  In the space of five weeks it took both of my parents and a dear friend.  Whom have you lost, and the loss still hurts?   It is no respecter of age either.  I have conducted a funeral service for lady who had celebrated her 100th birthday, and I have ridden to the cemetery in a funeral home car with the casket of a baby riding in the backseat.  I have conducted funerals for people who passed quietly in their sleep, for people ravaged by illness and time, and even for a murder victim.  And it just keeps coming.  Each death reminds us of the ugliness of sin and the damage it has inflicted on the world – damage that we will live with until, as Paul reminded us today in our 2nd reading, the Last Day when all will be released from it.  Remember what he said? – “17Now if we are children, we are also heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, since we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him. 18For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed.”

Jesus felt that loss and the yearning for the final victory.  I’m sure Lazarus, in his last days, experienced both loss and hope, too.  Martha and Mary did, too.  So have I, and so have you.  The loss we feel – and the fear of death – is no different than what this little family in our text experienced.  Our comfort remains exactly the same as theirs, because the things we know about Jesus are exactly as Martha confessed.  Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior.  He can do anything, even exercising power over death itself.  Because of his victory, our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Jesus will rise again. 

But we would know none of those facts if Jesus had not both said them and showed them.  At Lazarus’ funeral Jesus was not just thinking about confirming Martha’s confession or healing her broken heart or restoring her brother to her.  He was thinking about everyone there and everyone here and everyone ever since and everyone always.  Jesus was about to rob the grave in broad daylight because he could, yes, but also because we need to know he has!

As we watch this incident unfold, there is so much about it that tells us Jesus was going do to something extraordinary to make a very important truth undeniably clear:  he has power over death.  Earlier in this chapter we hear about the sisters sending word to Jesus to come quickly, Lazarus was sick.  Here’s how Jesus responded:  “‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.’ 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.’

By the time he got to Bethany, Lazarus was dead – for four days.  By Martha’s own statement, we know that the natural processes of decomposition were already four days along.  In response to Martha’s confession of confidence in the resurrection on the Last Day, Jesus declared the truth that was at the very heart of what he was about to do:  “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.”  Let’s come back to that statement in moment, because there are some really important truths and promises packed into Jesus’ words.  But now, let’s move on to the miracle!

Can I point to you that when Jesus arrived at the tomb he was “deeply moved” again?  His enemy, death, the one he had come to destroy, had claimed his dear friend.  If Jesus was grieved by that, if Jesus shed tears over that - even though he was about to destroy death and bring immortality to light – should it surprise us that we grieve and shed tears?  What a beautiful thing it is that Jesus knows what that sense of loss and that grief are like!  Who better to turn to when we lose a love one?

But then he is there, standing outside the tomb.  And he does what he always did – he prays:  “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”  Apparently, Jesus had prayed to his Father to stand with him as he undid this death.  He was going to do this miracle not just Lazarus’ sake, and not just for the sake of Mary and Martha. He was going to do this miracle for the benefit of all those there that day and everyone ever since.  This was going to be a very clear, unmistakable, broad daylight, right-in-front-of-everyone miracle to demonstrate that Jesus is exactly who Martha confessed him to be:  “the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”  He was the Head Crusher promised to Adam and Eve, the Redeemer in whom Job put his hope, the Great Light that was to dawn on those walking in darkness and living in the land of the shadow of death- just as God had foretold through Isaiah.

And then he did it – in broad daylight – he robbed that grave of its victim.  He stepped up confidently to the tomb and told them to remove the stone.  “...he shouted with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, ‘Loose him and let him go.’”  Jesus called him to life because that’s what God can do.  With the same power that once breathed into lifeless clay the breath of life in Eden, he now calls for life again.  When God speaks, what he says happens.  Every time.  The last line of our text tells us that what Jesus wanted to happen that day happened:  “Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.”  He actually performed many resurrections that day, didn’t he?  One was physical – that’s Lazarus’.  But many were raised from the spiritual death of unbelief to living faith in Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”  Jesus so wanted that to happen because to trust in him as Savior brings eternal life and relegates physical death into nothing more than a gate through which the soul steps into garden of God’s glory, nothing more than a temporary sleep of the physical body.  Jesus wanted those people to have that.  It was his whole purpose in coming into the world – he said so:  “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  (John 10:10); “He who has the Son has life.” (1 John 5:12)  And there, outside Lazarus’ suddenly, wonderfully empty tomb, all those who came to faith in Jesus had Jesus and life and had it to the full!

Dare I say it? – those were the most important resurrections that day.  Once a person has been brought to faith in Jesus, death has been emptied of its sting and it has been handed a stinging defeat. This same divinely inspired author, John, recorded this in the last book he wrote, the last book of the Bible:  “This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection.  The second death [hell] has no power over them...” (Revelation 20:5-6)  That’s the resurrection Jesus has already given you.  It didn’t happen outside a tomb, but at the baptismal font or in the pages of Scripture.  You and I are here as walking, talking, “grave-clothes-off-let-him-go” followers of Jesus who follow him through life and one day will follow him from this life to that life that doesn’t end in heaven.

Now let’s go back to the words Jesus spoke to Martha – those words that sit right at the heart of this event:  “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.”  Can we unpack to the truths in those words?  There is one sad truth there, surrounded by happy ones.  That sad truth is “he dies.”  We all will because that is still physical consequence of sin.  It has been since Adam and Eve brought sin and death into the world.  God told them and us it would be this way:  “”you must not eat form the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”  They did and so has everyone ever since for the same reason – sin.  Had not God intervened through his Son, that physical death – our physical death – would have been followed by an eternal dying and suffering in hell.  But Jesus has intervened.  He died that death – both of those deaths – for all of us.  And that’s why he can smother that sad phrase “he dies” with such comforting phrases.  Listen again! - “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.”  

·         “I am the resurrection and the life.”  In chapter 5 of this same gospel Jesus put it this way:  “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent he has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”  By God’s own work in you and me through the life-giving gospel, we have crossed over from death to life.  As John put it in his first letter:  “He who has the Son has life.” (1 John 5:12)  

• “Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies.”  That means what it says.  One day what happened to Lazarus will happen to you.  Jesus will return in glory on the Last Day and call our bodies from the grave and we will get them back, better than ever, free from sin and death, ready to live forever.  Jesus promised that, too, in John 5:  “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out...”

• “...whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.”  When the day of death comes in this life, Jesus wants you and me to know that that won’t be the end of us.  The part of us that truly us – that knows Jesus and hopes and trusts and loves – that part of us will live forever and not die. 

We don’t know what happened to Lazarus after that day at the tomb.  It’s safe to say that one day he died again – perhaps old and full of years – and went home to heaven and was with his beloved Jesus again.  In time his sisters joined him there.  And one day, we will, too.  That’s because our Savior is a wonderfully compassionate and gracious and powerful grave robber in the best possible sense.  Happy Easter – every Sunday – every day!

I got to re-reading the story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 37.  It will be one of the Scripture readings for this coming Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent.  Maybe it’s my age that makes me notice things that look and sound off.   It seem we get that way as we age.  It’s been called “crotchety,” but I prefer to think of it as sage perception – or just living long enough to learn some things.  Anyway, things jumped out at me again in that story that indicate no small amount of dysfunction in Joseph’s family.

Family dysfunction #1.  As the chapter opens, Joseph is the seventeen year-old son of Jacob.  Joseph’s grandpa was Isaac and his great-grandpa was Abraham.  Joseph’s mom was Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel.   Yes, who read that right.  Jacob had more than one.  Joseph had brothers born to three other women, too:  Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah.  All four of those women were in Jacob’s house at the same time. That means Jacob exceeded God’s plan for marriage by 3 wives.  Like that wasn’t going to be a problem.  It was.

Family dysfunction #2 was Jacob’s parenting.  Genesis 37:3 states matter-of-factly, “Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a fully ornamented robe for him.”  That favoritism was plainly evident to Joseph’s brothers.  I mean, how much more could Jacob advertise it than with an extra special robe just for the favorite son?  As you can imagine, that caused a good bit of resentment against Joseph – and against Jacob, too. Stay tuned for the problems that brought.

Family dysfunction #3 came about because Joseph had trouble keeping his mouth shut.  God had some extra special plans for Joseph that would involve his brothers.  He communicated that to Joseph in a series of dreams.  But rather than keep that between himself and God and wait for the plan to unfold, Joseph had to tell his brothers all about it.  Now they were really bent out of shape with Joseph.

Dysfunction #4 was the way they handled it.  No heart-to-heart with Dad about how hurtful the favoritism stuff was.  No conversation with Joseph about the need for a little humility and team spirit.  They first planned to murder him, thought better of it, and sold him to some slave traders heading to Egypt.  The cover-up would be to dip the fancy robe in lamb’s blood and tell Dad that a wild animal got Joseph.  It appears they both wanted Joseph permanently gone and they didn’t hesitate to break Dad’s heart in getting that done.

I suppose a person could read all of this and draw the conclusion that since God did not step in when these things were going on he must approve.  People make that mistake all the time – mistaking God’s patience for permission. Of course, God didn’t have to step in and lower the boom on this family for all that willful dysfunction – their very dysfunction was taking care of that at every turn.  The hurt and anger and brokenness of this family were the natural results of the hurt and anger and the family was inflicting on one another.  Sin is often like that.  It often carries its own built-in consequences in the here-and-now, not just in the hereafter.  If that’s where the story ended, it would be a really sad tale.

But it didn’t end there because God did have a plan – remember the dreams of Joseph?  As the story turns out, Joseph ended up in Egypt as a slave.  But through a series of events that God guided, he was elevated to second in command in Egypt, answerable only to Pharaoh himself.  He was put in charge of a disaster preparedness plan to position the nation well for a coming famine.  God blessed that plan so well that not only did Egypt have plenty of food for all for the lean years, but they could even offer assistance to people around them.  Some of the people who came to Egypt to buy grain were – you guessed it – Joseph’s own brothers.  At first they didn’t recognize him.  When they did realize who it was, they were terrified...for obvious reasons.  Joseph’s answer, however, reveals that he finally understood what God had been up to:  “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come.’” (Genesis 45:4-11)

Do you see?  Even though Dad Jacob and Joseph’s brothers and Joseph himself had messed up, God was able to overcome that and even hammer that junk into something useful for his plan.  That’s not to minimize their sin, but it does magnify God’s wisdom and grace.

That’s a good reason to take some time in this Lenten season and think about our own sins.  What have we learned from the guilt and consequences of them on ourselves and on others?  How has God used the heartbreak and school-of-hard-knocks lessons from them to shape us to be a better instrument for his glory?  What have we learned about God’s amazing grace? – that he has so patiently born with us in our dysfunction and so fully and freely forgiven us for Jesus’ sake? 

God has a plan for you.  Ultimately, it is to bring you safely home to heaven by grace alone through faith in Christ Jesus.  But between this day and that one, keep your eyes and your heart open for how God will put you in the right place at the right time to share his wonderful deliverance in Christ with someone else who may be caught up in the dysfunction that is so much a part of this broken world.

March came and Dad went.  On March 3rd my Dad, Cliff, slipped away in his sleep and opened his eyes in heaven.  He was a remarkable yet ordinary man.  He was ordinary in that his work resume looks quite ordinary:  farmer turned farmer/factory worker turned factory worker.  There was nothing particularly flashy about the way he lived his life, either.  He simply worked hard, raised his children, loved his wife, served his community and his church, had the respect of his friends and neighbors, and never had a scrape with the law (even so much as a traffic ticket, to my knowledge).  He was the picture of ordinary.

But even in that “ordinariness” he was remarkable.  His father passed away from cancer when Dad was just 14 years old.  That meant that his mom became a single-mom with a farm to run, and Dad, his brother and his sister were going to be heavily involved in making that happen.  Can you imagine yourself helping to run a farm at 14?  I can’t either.   But Dad did it and did it well. And he played in the high school band.  And he played high school football.  And he graduated.  World War II came and his brother went and served his country.  Dad farmed on as the only son left at home to run the farm.  His brother came home at war’s end and moved on to other things.  His sister got married.  Dad farmed on.

And he was remarkable at it.  Before I was of school age, he was named Outstanding Young Farmer.  Before the sunset on his farming career he would be inducted into the Michigan Farmer’s Hall of Fame and the family farm would be designated a Centennial Farm.  Along the way he served on the Farm Bureau and on the local school board, and just about anything else he was asked to do.  His father didn’t live to see any of that, but he would have been very proud.  I am. 

And then there are the over-and-above things he did in my life.  When I first got the idea that maybe I’d like to be a pastor, he said not a word about wanting me to take over the farm after him.  Instead he encouraged me and sacrificed so that I could go to parochial high school, college, and Seminary.  When, as a high school kid, I got my first part-time job off the farm, he bought a little motorbike for me to use so I could get into town without tying up the family car.  A life-time of motorcycling grew from that little 50cc scooter.  In college, he fronted me the money to buy a set of drums for a band a few of us guys started to earn some extra money at school.  That set is long gone, but I’ve been drumming ever since. 

Mom, the love of his life, passed away just 5 weeks before he did.  Those last five weeks of his life were the most challenging he’d ever faced. His health, very precarious for the last four years, took that loss hard.  As I shared with someone the other day, Jesus and Mom were the two people in his life he loved most, so it just made sense that he’d rather be in heaven than here.

Yes, Dad was a remarkable man.  He still is.  All that’s changed is that he is now that remarkable man in heaven.  And if you could ask him how he accomplished all that he did in life and persevered through all the challenges he faced, he would point you to the One sitting on the throne and say, “He did that.”  I know that’s what he’d say because he made no bones about that the fact that he had been truly blessed to know his Savior.  In fact, that is the most important thing about him.  When all is said and done, that is the most important thing he imparted to me.  His whole life and example said, “Know Jesus and serve him, because he is worthy of it.”

Dad left me with quite a legacy.  I don’t know that he ever said these things out loud, but his example taught them very clearly:  “Don’t embarrass yourself or your family.”  “If you’ve got a job to do, do it right and do it until it’s done.”  “If you shake hands on something, you’d better mean it.”  “You can till and plant and fertilize and pray, but it’s God whose going to make those crops grow, so do your work and trust him to bless it.”  Those things have served me very well in my 36 years of pastoral ministry.  But the most important thing he and Mom ever gave me is the introduction to Jesus they arranged at my baptismal font, a relationship they nurtured by making sure I was in His house and learning about him. 

When we laid him to rest this week, there was no sadness in my heart.  Lots of gratitude, but no sadness.  So whoever you are who’s reading this, take away the most important thing Cliff had to share:  “Know Jesus and serve him, because he is worthy of it.”  There’s no better time than lent to understand why.  There at the cross Jesus reconciled us to our Father for time and eternity.  There he washed away all that would have kept us out of heaven.  And there he gave all the reason we’ll ever need to worship him and serve him.  And there he gave us the message that is the most powerful and blessing-packed seed you can plant.  Cliff knew that.  Be like Cliff.

14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  (Matt. 5:14-16)

Doesn’t it seem that light always seems brighter in an otherwise dark place?  Try it some time.  Light a little birthday candle and go outside in full sunlight.  Can’t hardly see the flame, and it certainly doesn’t add anything to the ambient light.  Now take that same candle into a small room in your house, say that half-bath that has no outside windows.  Leave the lights off and shut the door.  That little candle really lights up the room, doesn’t it?

That’s the point Jesus was making in this wonderful little section of his sermon on the mount, and recently I saw an excellent example of this.  My mother recently died.  She and Dad had known each other for 70 years, and had been married for all but 3 of them.  He was just past his 19th birthday when they met and he is nearly 89 now.  He can barely remember what life was like without her in it.  How do you handle that?  Dad handled it by holding on the comfort of the gospel.  He knows that his dearly loved wife is in heaven and is happy.  He’s glad about that, even as he is sad that they can’t be together for now.  During the visitation at the funeral home, Dad sat on one of their breakfast bar stool we had brought for home.  He sat right next to Mom’s casket so that he could greet people as they came to offer their sympathy and pay their last respects. A long line of friends, neighbors and family made their way to him throughout the evening.  Over and over again, they would offer their sympathy and over and over again he would speak of his comfort in knowing that she was home with her Savior in heaven, forever beyond the reach of pain and weakness.  The lamp of faith that God had created in him many, many years ago and that God had fueled with Word and Sacrament ever since not only comforted him, but also comforted those with whom he shared it. 

In what would have been a very dark place in his life, there was light shining.  He was coping with this extraordinarily painful loss because of the promises of his God, and people knew it.  They could see it.  He has not lost her; he knows exactly where she is.  He kept saying so.  God was getting the glory for both his faith and comfort and Mom’s deliverance from pain and death.  In the somber setting of a funeral home, under circumstances anyone would admit were dark, his light was shining – just as Jesus said it would.

But it wasn’t just there.  The next day was her funeral service.  The pastor delivered a wonderful sermon based on the sure promise that eternal life is found in Jesus.  Anyone there saw that light that he held aloft for them to see. We sang hymns of a Savior whose grace is so big that we sinners can come before him with no other plea than Jesus’ blood.  We sang hymns of praise.  We sang an Easter hymn about the resurrection Jesus had and Mom will have.  A church full of human candles – and every one of them shining out the faith God had planted in them.

Then it was out to little Nelson Cemetery, just a few miles from the family farm.  I acted as one of Mom’s pallbearers that day.  As we carried her casket to the gravesite, all was still and quiet, crisply cold.  The only sound was that of our feet crunching on the newly fallen snow.  I looked around at those gathered there – family, friends, and farmers who had tilled the soil in nearby farms.  Now Mom’s mortal remains would be laid in that soil to await Jesus’ return in glory.  Tears flowed, but so did hope and comfort in the Scriptures read at her grave.  Light was shining there, too.

All that light shining, and none of it was for show.  None of it was about impressing anyone else with shows of personal piety.  Those Christians were just doing what came natural to those who follow Jesus.  They were standing as close to him and to his Word as they could get so that he could hold them up, dry their tears, and help them see correctly what was happening.  This wasn’t about loss, but rather gain.  This wasn’t a knuckling under to death, but a victory in the face of death.  People saw the light of faith that each held on to, and that light drew them all closer to the Savior and to each other. 

Jesus described perfectly what I saw over those few days:  “People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 1 In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Is your world dark right now?  Stand closer to someone who knows Jesus well – that’s what they are there for.

2017 is going to be a pretty big deal for Lutherans.  This coming October 31st will mark the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg.  But you don’t have to wait until October to begin learning and celebrating the impact of the movement that was sparked by those hammer blows.  In fact, there are events and resources available all year.  Consider this excerpt from a new book on the subject:

“The Reformation—the word still conjures up images and excitement whenever we hear it. We picture that determined German monk nailing his ninety-five theses to the Wittenberg church door and later on taking his stand before the emperor and church representatives at Worms. What he said and did back there in the 1500s quite literally changed the history of the church and the world. Heady stuff.

But the Reformation didn’t start with Martin Luther, nor did it end with him. Rather, what happened was this: From the beginning the church faced a host of challenges which threatened to destroy the teaching it had received from its Lord. To these challenges, which more and more became crises, the church responded. Challenge and response, the structure of world history which Arnold Toynbee detected, is clearly obvious in the specific matter of the history of the Christian church.

Even before Luther’s time, the church’s response to the challenges it faced had become so insistent that response had turned into reformation. With Luther this response reached its high point, and since Luther the church has continued to face even more challenges to which it must respond. Response, then, still leads to reformation, to re-forming in line with God’s truth. Ecclesia semper reformanda—the church is always in the process of being reformed.

Though any person may observe challenges and responses, deformation and reformation, in the church, only the person of faith will see the hand of God in the whole process. For God is always watching over his church and his truth.”

(Excerpt from Martin Luther and the Long Reformation by James Kiecker, used with permission of Northwestern Publishing House.) 

Find more helpful resources at https://wels.net/reformation500.  Ascension Lutheran Church will be here to help you celebrate one of the great events of the church’s history – an event that continues to shape our church today!