Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 3/26/2023, John 11:1-45
Sure, while many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus after he raised Lazarus, not everybody did!
I have a friend who always skips Church when this story comes up because the image of a 4-day-old dead body, simmering in the desert of a Middle Eastern Dutch oven, I mean tomb, then magically put back together and resuscitated, is just too much for him.
Even the main actors in this drama had believed that…
I almost read for you the King James version of our story so we could have heard those iconic two words, describing Lazarus in the tomb, "He stinketh!"
But my friend's struggle is not my own, I think that the writer wasn't trying to make a statement about biology and physiology in ancient Judean funereal practices as much as he was trying to say something about faith and hope to you and me right here, right now.
I think the church desperately needs this story because the one-word summation of this story, which some of us may have preferred over the 45 verses that you so patiently just stood through, is the word HOPE.
Does anybody need a shot of hope this morning?
After all, hope is the precursor to any significant accomplishment.
Hope sells lottery tickets, fuels justice rallies, and, though not in large doses, is present at every Detroit Lions game...
That this old world needs a serious infusion of hope, there is no doubt, as apathy, discouragement, criticism, negativity, and pessimism hold far too much sway in our civil discourse, political dialogues, and general outlook on the world.
We look around at our looming problems, racial injustice, gun violence, ever-present poverty, political division, wealth inequality, and violent crime, and we consider the existential threats of a third world war, another deadly pandemic, and the surge in artificial intelligence that could equip bad actors to do massively destructive things - and we know that Jesus has given us this story for this hour.
This is a story about hope - about the hope we must take into our hearts - and into the world - that it can be fixed.
The persistence of these widespread problems at the most prosperous time this world has ever known, is one of the most appalling features of modern civilization.
Millions of people, on a world scale, have found a way to strike it rich.
And the fact that so many more people, continue to suffer year in and year out, from the myriad of problems brought on by our inability to adequately address them is, and should be, unconscionable to us as moderns and especially us as Christians.
We know there is enough food in the world to feed everyone.
We know that the vast majority of people in the world do not want war, do not want to live in fear of gun violence, do not want an ever-widening wealth gap, do not want politics that alienates us from one another, and want racial division to be a thing of the past.
The reality is that millions of people are suffering under these things right now, and that you and I have become cooly accustomed to it - it does not seem to engender the kind of shock and disquiet that might be reasonable to expect given the enormity of these problems - which we meet by either cynicism, ’not a lot can be done about it’ - or complacent irresponsibility, ‘don’t blame me, it’s not a problem for which I am answerable.’
This is the world we live in - one that gives up on hope.
When hope us precisely what we need!
After all, any marked progress on these problems begins with hope.
And the hope of the Bible - of our faith - is not some pie in the sky optimism, that human ingenuity, courageousness, and the energy of youth can solve everything.
This is not to say those things aren’t fabulous, amazing, productive, and totally reliable much of the time.
It is to say that when we use hope, we are talking about a religious word that is rooted not in human activity, but divine action.
Hope is something we have because of something God said.
We have hope that things can get better, because we have a God who says it can.
This is how hope and faith are connected - we have faith that God is true to God’s word - this is the foundation upon which our hope rests.
So hope does not ask us to simply adopt a better outlook, a sunnier attitude, or an unrealistic vocabulary.
No, hope challenges us to believe that God is not yet finished.
Hope invites us to the possibility that things can change - because God wants things to change.
And yes, for the better.
Hope taps into the spiritual side of every human being, who's very essence is the goodness of God's touch in creation, and that seeks to align itself with God's will for the world, which is nothing less than the welcoming of the Kingdom Jesus spoke about, a kingdom of peace, respect, equality, healing, and reconciliation.
And so the point of this sermon is to encourage us to be more hopeful.
That’s it.
Have hope.
Trust God.
It’s simple - but not easy.
SO here are my 3-tips on building hope -
3 suggestions to help you grow in hope - to be a more hopeful person, and a person who can bring that hope into the world.
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Earlier this year my friend went to see the optometrist.
He was getting older and his eyes weren’t working like they used to - I’m sure no one here can relate…
And the doctor found that, yes, his vision was deteriorating, and prescribed him some glasses.
My friend bought a couple of pairs.
Then he got the bill.
Ouch.
But he paid it.
Then a few months later he was wearing his glasses at work when the human resources director noticed they were new.
My friend said, “Ya” he had just gotten them a few months ago.
The HR director said she hadn’t seen a bill for them.
My friend asked “Why?” and the HR director said it’s because he has vision insurance, and he doesn’t have to pay for them - his employer does.
Oh. He had insurance.
He paid for something that he didn’t have to pay for.
How excited my friend was to get a refund - which came to him because he hadn’t known what he had.
My friend had not taken the time to review his benefits.
And friends, we do the same thing.
We forget to review the benefits!
Which is tip number 1 toward building hope:
Know God’s promises.
Have God’s word, top of mind.
Pause and reflect on what it is we have.
So that’s tip #1 - Build hope by pausing and reflecting on what we have in Christ!
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One of the things I thank you all for during these last few years of building renovations is your generosity in helping us fix that doggone flat roof over the education wing.
Do you remember seeing buckets set up in the hallways after a big rain or dramatic thaw?
Ya, lots of fun wasn’t it?
The kids could do Noah’s Ark races in the hallways…
But my parents had a flat roof.
Same thing. Drip. Drip. Drip.
I lived in Battle Creek and had a flat roof.
Same thing.
Moral of the story -
No matter what the salesman tells you -
No matter what kind of roofing materials they show you -
No matter how you lay them, fuse them, or install them -
Some how, some way - the water wins.
You get wet.
It gets in.
Same is true when it comes to faith.
Make no mistake about it - the influences we choose to put around us will seep in.
Raise your child around swear words, he’ll cuss.
Grow up in the south, you’ll have an accent.
We are what we read, watch, listen to, admire, and swim in.
So the second tip toward building hope is to limit our bad influences.
Evaluate what’s around us that keeps us from marinating in the hope of the Gospel.
And build up that bedrock of faith, by limiting the bad influences that are trying to seep in.
Tip #1 - Pause and reflect.
Tip #2 - Limit the bad influences.
And Tip #3…
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Here’s a quiz for you young people - who here remembers what a rolodex is?
Who here used one at work?
Who still owns one?
A rolodex, of course, is a way to organize contact information for people with whom you want to keep in touch.
When my friend Steve was starting off in the financial services world he would keep a rolodex that was devoted to current and potential clients.
And when he’d identify a person and fill out that rolodex card, he’d not only include the contact information, but also a dollar-amount - of how much that person was worth - so he could gauge how lucrative a client that person might be or become.
And so Steve would then try to build a relationship with that person based on what they were worth.
It didn’t matter if they were nice, mean, dastardly, or altruistic, he was out to build his business, and the only way Steve could do this was by getting as many high-net-worth individuals to let him manage as much of their portfolio as possible.
I think we need to do something similar with the hopeful people around us.
We need to build our lives around hopeful people.
And maybe not a physical rolodex, but a mental one - of all the hopeful people we know - so that we can become as close to them as we can - not so that we can get some of their portfolio, but so we can get some of their hope.
After all, hope is contagious.
Like COVID and too many of those mindless advertising jingles are contagious (save big money at Menards!) - hope is also contagious….
Somebody’s hopefulness can rub off on us.
This is why church is so important.
A lot of us come here to be - and to become - more like Christ.
I look around at all the generous, kind, thoughtful, and yes, hopeful, people there are here at St. David’s - and rest assured, you will become more like the people with whom you hang out.
So we can build hope by:
Tip #1 - Pause and reflect - let us take time to remember what God says about us and the world. Let us grow in hope by being more familiar with God’s hopeful words in the Bible.
Tip #2 - Limit the bad influences - we will mirror our environments. We will adapt and adopt to what’s around us.
Tip #3 - Hang around hopeful people - we will become more like the people we befriend and spend time with.
Finally, friends, take a look at your bulletin covers - it’s a picture of Jesus calling Lazarus to come out of his tomb - to stand up - to receive his resuscitation.
Now, put them down, and take a look at the stained glass window about half-way down the West Wall - and surprise!
Yes, Hope is built into our very building.
Our forefathers and mothers saw this story as literally foundational to our church - and have bequeathed its message to you and me this morning, in living color:
Hope is something we have - because of something God said.
May it become our foundation and our strength.
Amen.