This post has been edited per very helpful comments. This is why I share. Thank you, all. And, yeah, it still needs a little tweaking.
Sermon: The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A 2008
The Community Church of Wilmette
March 9, 2008
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45
This is one of the truest things I can say about the church. It is founded upon the tears of Christ. It is upheld by the tears of the followers of Christ. And how often I forget this truth. I become distracted by other things…
Today’s passage from John is fraught with distractions for me. John has chosen to write it in such a way as to force us, to compel us to ask theological questions. He puts theology in the mouths of those around Jesus.
Martha says, “I know that [Lazarus] will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” This is a stoic confession of faith, a correct statement. It covers her grief and in this way it upholds her.
She also says, “I know that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
Martha is the bearer of the theological in our story. As usual, Jesus will make statements, faith claims if you will, about himself and the nature of his ministry. He is the messiah, the one sent by God to bring God’s light into the world. There is to be no doubt of Jesus’ self-understanding. And Martha too must speak this truth…if for no other reason than John wants us to know this truth about Jesus. She speaks truth in theological language.
Mary also has some theology of her own. She laments with Martha, “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.”
“Lord, if you had been here…” this is the Mary’s lament. Lament is a kind of theology. This is the same Mary who had poured oil on Jesus’ feet. She loves him deeply and completely. And she is lamenting his absence, his apparent unwillingness to act. She laments. She weeps. Martha weeps. So many wept that day.
And so too does Jesus. He weeps in response to the expressions of grief all around him. He is “disturbed.” He is undone. He cries.
Today’s passage from John is fraught with distractions. Doctrinal statement after doctrinal statement is offered to us as readers. There’s nothing wrong with doctrine in general. It has its place. I think that this is part of what John wants us to know in this passage this morning. Theology has its place.
The church of God is founded upon tears.
Tears are the context for the whole ministry of Jesus. Right in the middle of our story we have this verse: “Jesus began to weep.” The King James says it better. “Jesus wept.”
Jesus wept. God wept. The light bearer, the messiah, the one who brings hope into the world, the one who bears God’s own Love, weeps. The entire doctrinal position offered by John in the words of Christ’s followers like Martha (and Jesus himself) resides in the context of the tears of Jesus the Christ. The lament belongs in this context. The outrage and fear, the utter disappointment in God belongs in these tears.
The power of the church lies in the tears of Christ. This is the home of Christian compassion. This is what we have to offer the world. They are signs of great compassion, of a deep and abiding divine love for the whole world. It’s the deepest truth we possess. For from these tears spring action. From these tears spring resurrection, justice, and renewal.
Christian action brings an end to death. It stands upon compassion and brings life out of death. This is a way to know if God is at work in what we do. Such action is the fruit of our tears.
This is also a way to give context to our own passions, our own struggles and our own beliefs…Do they move human beings from death into life. Can they overcome darkness? Do they bring light?
Mary and Martha are sisters. As in the other story told of their relationship with Jesus, they offer expressions of deep faith…hand in hand, in need of one another, in love with one another. Both loved by God as witnessed in Jesus’ love for them.
There Marys and Marthas in our congregation. Do you know who you are? Do you know that God embraces you; that you are washed in the compassionate tears of Christ?
There are Marys and Marthas in our village. Do we know these people in our village, our neighborhoods, or on our cul de saqs? Do we know the Marys and Marthas? And is there something hopeful, life giving that we can share with them? Perhaps it’s our tears, our compassion for them, and our own vulnerability.
Tears are a gift of the Holy Spirit. They are a spiritual gift. Many in the history of the church have understood tears shed in compassion to be an echo of the waters of baptism…Tears are salvific. They bring life out of death. They move us to action. And that is resurrection. Resurrection, movement from death into life, is a choice we can make.
That choice is offered to us every day. Do we choose life or do we choose death? Do we choose compassion or isolation? Do we choose love of do we choose hatred? Do we choose to do what builds up? Or do we choose to do what tears down.
Do we even realize how distracted we’ve become?
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he too spells out what this choice means. He speaks in terms of spirit and flesh. Paul is describing the same tenuous existence that we all share, that discovery of what brings death and what brings life. He is urging the people in Rome to choose what brings life out of death, and not to get caught up in the things that are not life giving.
It’s a constant choice standing before us every day. It’s not a choice that we make once and hope that it sticks. Jesus’ ministry was a series of life-giving choices. The miracles that the people who followed him remember for us are all moments where life was chosen and death was abandoned.
Such moments were deemed miraculous. And the miraculous still exists. Perhaps we have forgotten what to look for. Perhaps we have become distracted by other things, and other concerns. We have confused surviving with life bringing. We have cut ourselves off from compassion somehow with busy-ness or things, achievements.
Do we want our names up in lights?
Do we want to be popular?
Bigger. Better. Best.
These are the questions we skate around here at Community Church as we seek to renew ourselves. We struggle with the right language. How do we convey what it means to grow into Christ? How do we convey our anxiety about our numerical smallness as we articulate our desire to grow?
Maybe there is a lesson for us in this scripture this morning.
Maybe the questions we need to ask ourselves can shift a little bit now.
How can we bring light into one another’s lives?
How can we bring life out of what brings death here in Wilmette?
We are called to give voice to what brings life here in Wilmette.
We are called to give voice to God.
We are called to uphold Wilmette and all our communities with compassion.
If you weep…
The church of God is founded upon tears.
If you step outside these walls and weep with the world, then God will be made known. Life will be revealed. Death will be no more.
This is resurrection life.
This is a life of the Spirit.
We can offer no greater gift.
Thanks be to God.
Showoff.
Posted by: Susie at March 8, 2008 09:08 AMI wonder whether any of your listeners will question whether weeping is an active enough choice.
Weeping shows compassion, but it doesn't change any of the injustice that one is weeping about.
Posted by: Megan at March 8, 2008 10:59 AMLove it. Preach it.
One nitpicky thing. Martha and Mary BOTH say "Lord, if you had been here...", not just Mary.
Not that it detracts from the sermon at all, because it doesn't. Just...if you are trying to set up a clear contrast between the two, this little detail might get in the way. My two cents.
Posted by: semfem at March 8, 2008 11:57 AMI was inspired by this, Tripp. Such GOOD questions. Thanks for sharing it.
Posted by: revdrkate at March 8, 2008 05:08 PMSemfem, you are right...and I was wondering if that might be sticky. I'll play around in the manuscript. Thank you!
Megan, here's a paragraph that might help get to your point: "The power of the church lies in the tears of Christ. This is the home of Christian compassion. This is what we have to offer the world. They are signs of great compassion, of a deep and abiding divine love for the whole world. It’s the deepest truth we possess. For from these tears springs action."
Though I don't list specific actions, I spek from there on mostly about actions, activities, behavior. So, I think I'm addressing what you suggest.
Posted by: Tripp at March 8, 2008 05:51 PMI only read the text once, quickly, so I can see how the section you point out might seem to you to address that. For me, rereading, what follows that text doesn't emphasize action.
But, as we have often contemplated before -- I am not your ideal congregant! :-)
Posted by: Megan at March 8, 2008 06:36 PMI liked this a lot, but was going to say the same as semfem. Martha and Mary say the same thing....
preach it tomorrow!
as for the weeping not being enough, remember that Jesus weeps, and then raises the dead. If that's not speaking to injustice....
Posted by: Diane at March 8, 2008 10:12 PMhmmm, just commented and it didn't take.
I was going to say the same as semfem.
also, as for weeping not being enough, Jesus wept and then raised the dead. somehow, I think that is a commentary on dealing with injustice.
Posted by: diane roth at March 8, 2008 10:13 PMMegan, Diane pretty much said it for me. But I appreciate your point believe it or not. The sermon is not specifically about action. My congregation does action really, really well. It's the other foundational stuff (theology, scripture etc) that we sometimes leave behind in our efforts to do good. So, my sermons often focus on these other things.
Diane, yeah...I am up early tweaking the language a little bit. Mary and Martha make the same claim. I need to work that out somewhere.
Posted by: Tripp at March 9, 2008 06:28 AMThat's good to know about your congregation. Most congregations are terrible about action, so it's helpful for me to know that that's not a concern for you.
Diane, I don't understand -- unless you're suggesting that regular human beings also raise the dead. Which is not what I think you're getting at.
Posted by: Megan at March 10, 2008 11:15 AMOne of the most influential books I read in seminary was "Theology is for Proclamation" by Gerhard Forde. Your sermon made me think of classes with him and smile (he's since died of Parkinson's Disease).
The tears of Christ are theology made flesh - "for God so loved the world" in a way we can see. I'm glad I didn't read this until this morning; it would have unduly influenced my own sermon! :-)
Posted by: Scott at March 10, 2008 01:19 PM