Morning Prayer 27th March

John 11:17-27 (Click here for reading)

This passage is the middle third of a triptych of meaning. Yesterday's reading provides the overall understanding of what is happening - God is revealing his glory in situations filled with loss and doubt. Tomorrow's reading will describe the event. This middle panel provides the temporal context for the sign.

Martha provides this temporal understanding. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And then she adds the future - "the one who is to come". The resurrection of Lazarus is a sign - a sign of the coming judgement. Lazarus - a righteous man - will be raised and judged as such and Jesus is the one to do the judging. This hope of the future resurrection not only applies to that future time but also shapes the present.

Without Jesus, judgement is to be feared. There is a rejection of this concept in our current culture. The idea that we could be judged is almost seen as ridiculous and even unfair. The accusation is thrown back at God that if He is all loving then there is nothing to fear - no matter what. There is the hope that even the darkest deeds - unrepented wickedness, evil without remorse - can be wiped away without recourse to God or His work in Christ. It's almost a right to be forgiven as opposed to a responsibility to live well.

But even a momentary consideration can see the childishness of this attitude. The way a world view and moral framework are being constructed around a self-centredness that even a young child would be ashamed of.

So what is this saying? Are we to live in fear? Are we to tremble before a wrathful and angry God? Well, yes and no. We are to live with an awareness of the precarious nature of our situation and how prone we are to reject any accountability for our actions. And from this position to reject God and live selfish lives. Yet we can see in Jesus the offer of a lifeline as we tread this tightrope. The offer of support and forgiveness in response to a genuine orientation of the self towards God and the certainty that on that Day when our hearts are laid bare - we shall be known in Christ. This is life now and life in the resurrection - before and after the inevitable event of death and the inevitable event of judgement.

It is to this end that Lazarus becomes a tangible sign of the future and Jesus is revealed again as the true once and future King.