John 11:17-37

Since I started preaching every Sunday, I have discovered something profound. There are a lot of problems in this world and just when you think you’ve got one of them solved, it seems to create another one.

We are born into this world completely helpless. If our mother were alone and to die within the first five years of our life, we would die shortly thereafter. We spend much of these first formative years learning what we can do. We learn the basics like screaming at the top of our lungs seems to not only produce food, but it also produces clean undergarments. We learn that if we kick and flail as hard as we can, we can move not just ourselves around but things in our environment as well. Amazing! It doesn’t take us long to associate the use of our voices and limbs with manipulating not just inanimate objects but all the living things around us, too. For years, our survival requires the response of another creature similar to us to create and do the things we need and… the things we want.

We then spend the rest of our lives being told we need to unlearn our basic instinct to scream, yell, and use brutal force if necessary to get all the other creatures around us to serve us. Hopefully, we learn that just because we can do something does not mean we should do it. In order to learn to fit functionally into society, we have to learn that just because something is possible does not mean it is the right thing to do. We all learn this lesson to some degree, but few learn it to the right degree.

Many people spend their entire lives wondering why didn’t Jesus prevent Lazarus from dying? If he is so all powerful, why doesn’t he prevent bad things from happening in this world? Why did he allow that person to hurt me? Why did he let my loved one die? Why didn’t he stop it?

We like to blame others for things that happen in this world that we don’t like. It’s easy, fast, convenient. “If you had been here… If you hadn’t… Why didn’t you?” We love to judge others. Blame is, of course, judgment. It is a statement that I have decided the evidence points to your guilt. You are in the wrong. You could have done something that I think you should have done and did not. Granted, I only review the evidence I choose to look at as opposed to all the evidence presented. Why would I look at that stuff I don’t like that makes me feel bad about myself?

Because that’s what Lent is about! Not feeling bad about yourself but developing the ability to look at the things you do wrong in this life, the things you screwed up, the things you don’t like, and be able to say “I screwed that up” instead of “I’m a screw up.” The difference between right and wrong on this earth is not ours to judge. That’s done by God. What we do need to look at is whether we are moving closer to or further away from God because of our actions. Are we getting closer to our goal of salvation, perfection, or are we drifting in the other direction?

Without the ability to refrain from judging others and focus on our own role in the situation, and where we are at now. What is possible now given what has or has not happened?

It’s a good thing these Jews weren’t there with Ezekiel. They were upset Lazarus was dead for four days before he was resurrected. Imagine how angry they would be at the army lying dead so long their bodies had decomposed into nothing but dry bones before someone came along to resurrect them. Why didn’t you get here sooner? Why did the army have to die in the first place? If they had not died they would have won the battle!

And yet… however long they were dead for, whether it be 4 days or 40 years, if God decides it is to be so, he will send someone to resurrect them. The question is not whether or not they can be resurrected, but should they? The question isn’t whether they could have been saved or not, but should they? Anytime we hear this word should we need to think of one thing and one thing only “GOD.” The only being in this whole universe with the status to decide whether something should or should not be.

It doesn’t matter whether you or anyone else can do something, the question will stand “SHOULD THEY?” And, neither you nor I is qualified or capable of answering that. To do so is blasphemous, heretical, sinful, and dishonest. We cannot just go around screaming or complaining until others do what we want them to do, like a newborn child.

“If you had been here…” Do you know how many times I have heard people accuse someone else or themselves that if they could have or someone else would have been there a disaster wouldn’t have happened? If only I had acted differently my mother would not have died in that fire? You were ten! What on earth do you think you could have realistically done that would have changed that outcome?

Who do you think you are? If God decided something was going to happen, what difference could you possibly think it would make if you had been there? If you had been there it would mean you were supposed to have been there. If you were not there than God decided you were not supposed to be there. Your presence is a want not a need. It is a could have not a should have. If we’re going to wander around in the realm of near impossibility there are at least a million different implausible things that could have happened but did not.

I’m struggling right now. I’m being torn in a multitude of different directions. Where should I be right now? Should I be with this person who needs help, that person who needs help, dealing with this situation, writing that paper, organizing that service, spending time with my husband, my dog, organizing a trip home to see my grandmother before she dies, supporting my mother, grocery shopping, there are so many places I could be and every single one of them has a high likelihood of someone somewhere saying after the fact “You should have been here or you should have done that.”

Any of you in this boat too? Everyone else has their own opinion and judgment about where they think you should be somewhere different. Tending to something else, paying attention to something else? Or are you that person judging everyone else on where they should be or what they should be doing? Stop it!

Yes, I could be there. But you know where I should be? I should be wherever the only opinion I care about, the only one that matters thinks I should be. I will be wherever God decides I should be. At this point in my spiritual journey, I am almost certain I would wind up where I am supposed to be whether it’s where I intended to be or not. I am certain that whatever should happen will happen. I trust my God. All the coulda woulda shoulda in the world is not going to change reality.

I don’t know why what happens is what should have happened but I have faith and confidence that it will produce an outcome far beyond my understanding anyway. Lazarus had to die. The army that is now dry bones had to die. They had to remain dead for their respective time frames. Then they had to be resurrected. Whatever happened to this army Ezekiel resurrects anyway? Where are they? What did they do? Not for us to know, but I would bet it changed the course of history. Just as we never really know what happened to Lazarus, but if God raised him from the dead, I’m sure it was important. All things happen in God’s time for God’s purpose.

Why be angry it didn’t happen four days earlier or 20 years later? If God wills it to happen, it will. We are human. We are servants. We are born incapable of doing anything for ourselves, and the first thing we learn is how to manipulate other people into being and doing what we think they should be doing. We then have to spend the rest of our lives trying to figure out that just because we can do something does not mean we should do it. Instead of wasting our lives angry and resentful of how we think things should be, why not spend them enjoying what is?

Our faith tells us there will be a resurrection, although we don’t know when. All that we have lost that pains our hearts will one day be restored. All that we mourn for will one day be a rejoiceful reunion. One day all that has died will be reborn. A resurrection beyond a single being will occur when God deems it appropriate and not a moment sooner.

Trust in what is because you know what? Our God determines not only what should be but is also the God of all that could be.

May, the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace.