The last word

“…he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus come out!’ “  Matthew 11:43b

The whole Gospel reading for this Sunday is Matthew 11:1-45.  It is an extremely rich and powerful text, and I encourage you to read the entire reading if you are able.  As I looked at this text, dozens of sermon ideas came to mind, and I have preached many sermons on this text, both within the church year, and at funerals. Today let’s focus on this part near to the end.

Lazarus was very ill, and his sisters called for Jesus to come. They had, no doubt, seen Jesus heal the sick, and trusted that they could help them with their brother.  They had certain expectations for how this could go. Jesus, we read, delayed his travel intentionally because he had a different  understanding of what was to happen with Lazarus.  By the time Jesus gets there, Lazarus has been dead for several days. In that time and place, people were known to wake from comas, etc. even a couple of days after they were thought to have died.  Three days dead was considered really dead. Lazarus was beyond that. He was really, truly dead at four days, and besides, the stench of death was already there. Lazarus was beyond the healing Mary and Martha had seen from Jesus.  They were distraught, angry and yet still trusted Jesus when he asked what they believed. 

How many of us and our loved ones have had certain expectations of how our illness should go?  How many of us have prayed or perhaps heard people tell us that they are praying for us to be healed? What would that really look like in our lives now? 

The truth for many with chronic illness is that we don’t know what healing looks like or what form it might take.  We may hear Jesus call us by name to “come out!” and find that our bodies are healed, or we may find we are given new purpose, new hope and a new way to live our life with bodies that are still broken. Our expectation of what may happen to us are based upon the past…upon what we used to know.  Jesus’ expectations of us are based upon the future…what he knows and sees is possible for us, for us to live as children of God and for the glory of God.

Death took Lazarus. That is clear.  Jesus, however, saw that death wasn’t the final word. 

For some of us here, we will not see the physical healing of our bodies on this side of life. And for all of us, at some time death will take us. That is clear.  But it is not the final word. With Jesus, death is never the ultimate word.  It is the penultimate word—the next to the last word. The final word, the ultimate word belongs to Jesus who brought Lazarus back to life and who conquered death by his own death on the cross. 

After death, on that ‘great-getting-up-day-in-the-morning” , as my friend Brother Rudolph says, the final word for you and me will be “come out!”  Death will no longer hold us.  The final word is Life. 

Lord Jesus, Risen Lord, as you called Lazarus to come out of the grave, call us to come out of the things that bind us now so we may live our lives to your glory each day. And when we do face death, be with us, and remind us, that death is not the final word—not by a long shot—but that we will again hear you call us by name—finally to live with you eternally.  Amen.