I. Theme – The contributions of the saints
"Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."" – John 11:40-44
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9
Old Testament – Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm – Psalm 24 Page 613, BCP
Epistle – Revelation 21:1-6a
Gospel – John 11:32-44
Today’s readings acknowledge the life and witness of the saints of God, including you and all of St. Peter’s.
Isaiah imagines the final, celebratory feast that will be the reward of the faithful. The author of Wisdom affirms that the dead, though gone from our sight, are at peace with God. The author of Revelation similarly depicts the jubilant end of suffering and oppression, replaced with victory and feasting. The gospel reading—the raising of Lazarus—points forward to the final resurrection of all God’s people.
Part of the Church’s genius is its chorus of saints. From the drama of Thomas More saying, “A man can lose his head and still come to no harm!” to the humor of St. Teresa of Avila dancing and singing about the nuisance of fleas in a wool habit, it is a rich mixture. Add to that the variety of the uncanonized-but-nevertheless-still-surely-saints, and we have little excuse to say they are a distant company.
Perhaps they are one way God shows us the multiple faces of the divine. From unassuming parents, who secure and launch a child, to leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and César Chavez, who fought for human rights, these people inspire and challenge us. As one pastor said, “In some ways, the saints were so ordinary. And yet they made it. So maybe I can, too.”
If you read today’s readings as personally addressed to you, and if you read them often enough, you may rise to the expectation. And your smallest attempts will be part of that extraordinary effort to bring, little by little, more light and life to a dark world.
II. Summary
Old Testament – Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9
Today’s reading reveals for the first time in the Old Testament the affirmation of life after death (“immortality,” v. 4). In the second century BC when this book was written, Judaism did not have a very clear-cut notion of life after death. Most Jews believed that the soul somehow existed on in a realm below the ground (Hebrew, Sheol), but held that without a body there could hardly be genuine “life” after death.
Contrasting the different interpretations of the wise and foolish about the dead, the author asserts that the “souls” of the dead are at peace with God and do not simply vanish when they die. Their sufferings in life are not simply a source of punishment but rather an opportunity for education and a proof of their fidelity to God, who rewards this faithfulness with an abiding relationship that continues beyond death.
Old Testament – Isaiah 25:6-9
Today’s reading comes from a section (chaps. 24–27) that is often called Isaiah’s Apocalypse because of its vision of the last days. The vision is one of a messianic banquet that is not limited to the people of Israel, but to “all peoples” – a development that moves this prophet’s vision from one that is bounded by nationalism to a much broader perspective. The notion of the celestial banquet is common to both Israelite and Canaanite culture. One of the characteristics of this revelatory writing called “apocalyptic” is its combination of despair over the community’s present social situation with confident hope of God’s final intervention to judge and save.
Chapter 25 begins with a psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance. Isaiah imagines the end time, “that day” (v. 9) when the lord will come for final judgment and salvation. On Mount Zion (24:23) the lord will prepare a feast of rich abundance for all peoples. For Jews, all meals had religious significance. Here a feast provided by God becomes an anticipated element of the last days. Mourning will end, and death will be destroyed. Those who were preserved through God’s judgment, described in chapter 24, the remnant, will celebrate God’s faithfulness.
In a way, this oracle or hymn is a completion of the cycle begun in Genesis with the account of the Fall, for here the threat of sin and death and their consequences are vanquished. That the Christian Scriptures rely so much on Isaiah (both of them) is not surprising, for this note of universalism and salvation represents beginning steps to the theology found in the Gospels. If we were to plumb the depths of the Eucharistic Meal, its roots would be found in this very vision.
Psalm – Psalm 24 Page 613, BCP
This psalm is interesting in its question/answer format, which explores the beauty of the work of God’s hands.
This psalm is part of a processional liturgy. It begins with a brief hymn (vv. 1-2) to God as creator. The second verse, noting the foundation of the world “upon the seas” refers to the Canaanite (and Mesopotamian) beliefs about the primeval battle between the deity and the chaos of the sea. So in creation, God separates the land from the sea. Then we are transported to the temple, and the question as to who can rightfully ascend its heights. The question is answered with a series of qualifications that are represented in the people of God.
Then comes a teaching dialogue (vv. 3-6) on the conditions for entry into the sanctuary. These first two sections may have been sung by a choir inside the temple gates. The last section (vv. 7-10) then would be sung by a group outside the gates, likely carrying in procession the ark of the covenant, with which God’s presence was associated.
Verse seven probably begins a separate work, in which the question posed wishes to identify whom it is that the pilgrims are ascending to worship. Some commentators think that this work actually was commenting on the return of the Ark of the Covenant from the field of battle (The Lord who is valiant in battle).
Epistle – Revelation 21:1-6a
John’s visions in the book of Revelation reveal our world as God sees it. In this final vision, John sees what our world will be like when finally God rules and all evil, together with its consequences of death, mourning, wailing and pain, will be no more (21:4).
He pictures the completion of God’s action in salvation history that began with the first creation of a world that became flawed by sin (Genesis 1–3) and needed redemption, and culminates in this new creation transformed completely by God’s holy presence and power.
Here he has a vision of a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth. That the “sea is no more” is a comment on the ancient myths regarding God’s victory over chaos, represented in the sea itself.
There is the new city (a heavenly Jerusalem) and a loud voice proclaiming new realities from the Throne of God. One of the canons at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City opined that the only proper way to read these proclamations, which appear elsewhere in the book, especially in the letters to the churches, was to shout them in a loud voice. The signs of the proclamation are a reflection of what the first Isaiah wrote in the first reading for the day. Again, it is a vision as if it had already had been completed. Thus the one seated on the throne (the Resurrected One) states emphatically, “It is done,” and then encapsulates all of it in his own existence as the “Alpha and the Omega.”
When “the old order has passed away” (21:4), John sees in its place a new order—a city prepared for our dwelling that comes down from God instead of being built up by human effort. Now God’s holy people (all the saints) can experience the fullness of God’s abiding presence (21:3, 22-27). John reminds us that God is the beginning and end of our lives and is always transforming us into saints—better members of God’s holy people.
Gospel – John 11:32-44
The lection is part of a longer story which begins with Jesus distant from Jerusalem. The Judeans were planning to arrest him, but he and the disciples went "across the Jordan," presumably to escape them.
While "across the Jordan", Jesus received word from the two sisters, Mary and Martha, that Lazarus was sick. The fourth gospel wants us to know that Jesus "loved" Lazarus (11:3) and that he also loved Mary and Martha (11:5). Yet, he stayed where he was for two additional days.
Then, Jesus announces that they are returning to Judea. The disciples are quick to remind him that Judea is dangerous for them. He tells them that Lazarus is "asleep" and he is going to wake him.
The disciples, no fools, says that if he’s merely sleeping, he’ll be all right. Jesus announces flatly, "Lazarus is dead," but also tells them he’s glad not to have been there so that they, the disciples, might believe. Thomas, not without reason, thinks they’re all going to die.
In Jesus last journey to Jerusalem we see previews of things to come, and the seventh (the number of perfection) sign. It is the raising of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha.
John combines a sign narrative and a teaching dialogue, making clear the meaning of this last and greatest of Jesus’ signs revealing “the glory of God” (v. 40), God’s presence in the person and acts of Jesus.
In this gospel the raising of Lazarus plays a role similar to that of the disruption of the temple business in the other gospels. It is the final pivotal event solidifying the hostility of the authorities against Jesus and marking the transition from ministry to passion.
The note that when Jesus arrived Lazarus had been dead for four days (burial customarily took place within 24 hours in their hot climate) establishes that he was truly dead, for popular belief held that the soul of a person remained near the body for three days. Jesus reacts to the situation with intense emotion.
The term “greatly disturbed” can either be translated as “anger”, “trembling”, or “intense emotion”. What is clear is that Jesus, as well as the sisters and on-lookers are facing the existential reality of death, and all react to it.
What follows is like a drama, complete with stage directions. Jesus seems to comment in a softer voice so that the emphasis of the action might be heard, seen, and understood. What is operating at a different level is the communication of the Father and the Son – knowing the mind of the other.
Then the tone shiftts. Jesus anger and agitation continues as he comes to the tomb."It was a cave."In mythological language, caves are places of spiritual mystery and are symbolic of the womb.Going into a cave upon death is symbolic of return to God as Mother.It is also a way of saying that new life can emerge only out of the death of the old.
Thus follows then, another “Loud Voice”, this time the voice of Jesus communicating to the dead Lazarus. The final comment of Jesus is almost ironic, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The major work of raising Lazarus is done, but the work is not completed until those who hear Jesus’ command "unbind" Lazarus and free him from the restraints imposed by death. It is a comment on the practical requirements of the situation, and a bit of Gospel proclamation intended for all the witnesses of this sign – a proclamation about their own freedom.
III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher:
Old Testament – Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm – Psalm 24
Epistle – Revelation 21:1-6a
Gospel – John 11:32-44