Today I want to talk to you about a Scripture that's usually reserved for funerals.  The raising of Lazarus has so much truth and content than just for sad times.  Easter is a time for joy and for renewal, no matter what may be happening in our lives or in the world.  Christ is risen!  If the pastors in Germany could preach the Easter Gospel while the bombs were dropping on their churches, then we can surely rejoice in the Easter Gospel no matter what our own personal crisis may be.

          And a personal crisis is what had come to the house of Martha and Mary.  Their brother Lazarus had died suddenly, leaving them to fend for themselves.  We don't know why he died, but it doesn't matter.  When the one you love and depend on dies, it's a crisis.  Lazarus wasn't just a beloved brother, he was also the breadwinner.  Two single women living alone at that time might have been doomed to poverty, unlike today where single people don't seem to need family the way they once did.  But the death of Lazarus was a crisis, so Mary and Martha sent for their friend, Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth, who often stayed with them while in the Jerusalem area.

          You know the story - both sisters greeted Him the same, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (John 11:21,32)   Strange Jesus hadn't come sooner.  When word came Lazarus was really sick, He waited two days.  He could have walked there in an hour, it was just 2 miles.  Or He could have spoken a word and healed him, but He didn't do either.  You see, if He'd gone right away, they'd have missed something great.  Jesus made them wait so they could see God's power at work.

          It's not easy to see the good in something bad.  When trouble comes, or illness or death, it takes great faith to believe God will show us something good.  Mary and Martha didn't doubt Jesus could do a miracle - they just thought He'd do it sooner.  By the time word finally got to Jesus, and Jesus finally got to Bethany, Lazarus was in the grave four days.  It was a shock to everyone.

          Last Tuesday Carol and I went to the Castle Rock Care Center for my usual Tuesday worship service there.  One of the characters we always looked forward to seeing was a fellow who looked like Mr. Magoo, bald and squinty-eyed.  His name was Robert Little - "Sarge" we called him because of his gruff voice and the fact that he was a sergeant in WWII.  Sarge wasn't at the service and hadn't come the week before either, so after the service I asked about him.  The news was not good;  Sarge had died and was already buried.  They said the last time he felt good was at my Tuesday service two weeks before.  That day after I'd left, they said he'd sat in his wheelchair by the piano, humming some of the hymns we'd sung.  Two days later he was dead and it was such a shock.  We'd grown attached to him and we'll miss him.  I can only hope some of my messages during the past two years had made any difference in his faith.

          Mary and Martha were still in shock when Jesus came.  It was going to take a serious miracle to raise him now.  Four days in the grave complicates things.  And it was going to take faith.  You see, faith doesn't retreat into self-pity - it looks for God.  Faith takes God at His Word.  Faith sees trouble and looks for the good in it.  Faith stares death in the face and knows God is greater.  Faith, real faith, expects a miracle, a healing, maybe even a resurrection.

          Martha had faith.  She knew something good would come of this.  She said, "Even now I know God will give you whatever You ask."  That's faith talking.  That's the kind of response Jesus hoped from her.  Faith opens the door to God.  It lets Him show what He can do.  If everything is great in life, who needs a miracle?  When all is going well, who needs God?  Faith says, "Go ahead, God, show us what you can do - show us a miracle."  And then faith is ready for what He's doing to do.

          Martha was ready for Jesus, and Jesus was ready for Martha.  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?"

          The people with her that day wouldn't have understood what Jesus could do, and even Martha didn't understand it completely.  She just knew Jesus could do something good, something only He could do.  Faith doesn't demand its own way.  It accepts God's way, whatever that way may be.  Faith says Father knows best, and accepts His solutions.  Thing is, will we have true faith in God or will we keep trying own solutions?  Faith knows His solutions are best.

          The Easter story is all about faith.  Whatever else you may think about Easter, remember:  without Jesus' resurrection, we'd have no resurrection.  If He'd never come to earth, never kept the law, never died for our sins, and never rose again, what right would we have to expect to be resurrected?  Would we even have such a word in our vocabulary?  What hope would we have for anything after this life?  That's why He said, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?"

          One of the neatest things about this story is that question - "Do you believe this?"  Well, do you?  Do you believe He is the source of your resurrection?  Do you believe He is the source of your true life?  Because if you do, you can't live the old way any more.  You can't treat God like an option and His commandments like a true-false quiz.  If you truly believe Jesus is the way to resurrection and eternal life, then you have to trust Him and follow His will.  If there's no trust, there's no faith.  And if you trust Him, you have to turn your back on things of Satan and this world.

          "Do you believe this?"  Remember the story of that fellow who lay by the Pool of Bethesda for 38 years?  The Bible says he tried to get into its healing waters, but always someone else got there first.  Jesus saw him one day and asked, "Do you want to be healed?" (John 5:6)

          It might seem like a dumb question - why wouldn't a man sick 38 years want healing?  But, you see, if he was healed, he'd have to change.  If he stayed sick, just kept the old ways, he wouldn't have to change.  But if He trusted Jesus, the old ways wouldn't work any more.  The Bible tells us that poor fellow began to give excuses:  "No one will help me.  It's too hard.  I can't do it myself."  Excuses are easy to make because they require no action, no effort.  But excuses solve absolutely nothing.  They're just a lot of hot air.

          So Jesus told him, "Get up and go home - you're healed!"  There came a rush of strength in his legs, so he got up and walked - first time in 38 years!  It took faith to just get up, to believe he could do it.  He could have stayed down there, doubting it was possible.  He could have said like we often do, "That's okay, Jesus, I'm just fine here, I'm hopeless, I'm incurable."  But that man's faith did its work and he did get up.

          Jesus is the resurrection and the life - do you believe it?  Then get up and get going.  Whatever mat you're laying down on, stand up.  Whatever grave you're in, walk out of it.  Whatever excuse you feel is valid, let it go.  Jesus is your resurrection and your life.  Whoever believes in Him has eternal life - and not a bad earthly life, either.

          I suppose I'm sounding like a cockeyed optimist, a Happy Easter boy - Isn't that what preachers are supposed to be?  But I've had my share of shocks in life.  I've stood by my share of smelly graves.  I've laid on my bed of self-pity while others bumped in line ahead of me.  I've invented my share of excuses.  But they've all been shoved aside by His question, "Do you believe this?"  And if I do, I'd better start living by faith.

          About this time of year I get spring fever.  I want to take a break, maybe go for a cruise, and next month we will.  But before and after, there's hope to be shared.  In Him we have hope.  Trust Him and we won't be sorry.  Let Him guide you and direct your every move, and you'll find His word is good.  He won't let you down, no matter how many times you let Him down.  He'll always be there when You need Him.  You just have to believe that He is the resurrection and the life.  "When the Lord takes your hand, He holds you tight;  and when He holds you tight, He leads you through life;  and when He leads you through life, He'll bring you safely home." (Casper Ten Boom)   Amen!

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.