Sunday Morning LeftOvers: Sunday March 9th, 2014

This is a modern day icon painted by Athanasios Clark. He depicts Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave and it serves as a great reminder of Jesus' love and his care for his followers.

Sunday at Southbrook Church we dealt with the challenging topic of death. Honestly I would rather talk about the Book of Revelation or even ancient Jewish circumcision rituals, than talk about this subject.

Death is woven into the fabric of our culture. I think of Pixar's 'Up' and that opening four minute scene which depicts the life and love of the main characters Carl and Ellie. It truly is a powerful montage of their life, culminating in Ellie's death.

The story of Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life is recounted in the book of John, chapter 11. This lengthy account is filled with intrigue, a plot to kill Jesus, and the overwhelming grief of Lazarus' sisters.  Lazarus' death not only brought the city to tears, but literally drove Jesus to his knees as he wept and sobbed.

Looking into the story we find great hope and compassion displayed by Jesus.  Twice in this story (in v33 and v38) we are told that Jesus was 'deeply moved in spirit and troubled.' In the original language this phrase is just one word: embrimaomai. This word is used to describe the snort of an angry animal. The image that comes to mind is of a Saturday morning Cartoon bull that is about to charge. Can you see the steam and rage that emanates out of the bulls' nose? That is the image used to describe Jesus in this chapter.

Jesus being filled with anger is an unusual perspective on someone who is assumed to be meek and mild. We know that Jesus is not mad at the crowd for their crying -as he too starts to weep.  We also know that Jesus is not angry that his friend Lazarus has died -as he knows that Lazarus will soon be alive.

Jesus anger flows from his love for us.  Jesus feels our pain, weeps along with us, and personally felt the same hurt that we too experience. If there is any comfort that we can find when facing death it is this: we have a God who understands our hurt and who understands our deepest pain. And Jesus goes beyond identifying with our pain.  His anger over death and his love for us drove Jesus to die for us.

The good news with Jesus is that he not only identifies with us in our suffering; but he has the ability to replace our sorrow with peace and comfort.  The good news with Jesus is that when we face death, we approach it with the God of the universe walking alongside of us...