“I AM the Resurrection and the Life”
John 11:25

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fifth Sunday in Lent—March 29, 2020

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

We continue our Lenten Sunday sermon series on the great “I AM” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John.  These are some of the most familiar and beloved verses in the Bible:

“I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life”

“I AM the Door”

“I AM the Light of the World”

“I AM the True Vine”

“I AM the Bread of Life”

“I AM the Good Shepherd”

This morning we consider Jesus’ declaration in today’s Gospel Reading: “I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.”

Throughout history, humanity has searched for a way to cheat death and discover the secret to eternal life.  Archaeologists have deciphered the pyramids of ancient Egypt and concluded they were part of an elaborate scheme to supposedly convey the pharaohs into the afterlife.   The Vikings buried their kings in ships for the same reason.  Ponce de Leon searched in Florida for the mythical fountain of youth.  WE put our hope for at least postponing death in modern medical science. 

“I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.”  Jesus is telling you today the answer to this great quest of humanity throughout the ages.  Jesus is telling you how to cheat death and receive eternal life.

The answer is a PERSON: “I AM the Resurrection and the Life.”  And the answer is a PARADOX: “Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.”

Why is the secret to cheating death found in the PERSON of Jesus Christ?  Because HE took away the underlying, root CAUSE of death. 

Some of the causes of death listed in obituaries in the Miami County Republic recently included: “died tragically in an auto accident”; “died unexpectedly of a heart attack”; “died at home after a lengthy illness.”  But, can you imagine what a jolt it would be if an obituary actually gave the REAL cause of death: “died of sin”?

For, that IS the underlying, root cause of death which Scripture gives for us all.  Referring in Romans to Adam and Eve, Paul puts it this way: “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” 

The Lord told Adam and Eve, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die,” and after their fall into sin he declared, “Dust you are and to dust you will return.”  Whatever the particular, earthly cause of death may be, in every case Scripture declares that the underlying, root cause is always the same: sin.  As Paul says in Romans: “For the wages of sin is death.”

“But the gift God,” Paul continues, “is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  The secret to cheating death is found in the person of Jesus Christ because he took away SIN, the underlying, root CAUSE of death.  Peter says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross.”  Hebrews explains, “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.”  John writes, “He appeared to take away our sins.” 

Christianity doesn’t just treat the symptoms of your sin sickness.  It eliminates the underlying, root cause.  As Peter proclaims in Acts, “Whoever believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

So, the answer to the great quest of humanity is a PERSON: “I AM the Resurrection and the Life.”  And the answer is also a PARADOX: “Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.”

What does that mean: “Even though he dies, yet shall he live”?  The key to this paradox is understanding that Scripture distinguishes between two types of death.  The “first death” is physical death, which we do still experience.  The “second death” is spiritual, eternal death, damnation in hell, and Revelation promises that you and all who trust in Christ, “will not be hurt at all by the second death.”

Like Jesus himself, who died and yet lived, physical death is for you no longer the grim end.  Science fiction shows often have a portal to some other world.  That’s what death is now for you, not the fearful end, but the blessed portal you are only passing through to eternal life.  Psalm 23 says, “Even though I WALK THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”  Death is not your permanent destination.  You will only WALK THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death, on your way to eternal life.

Paul says in Philippians, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain . . . I desire to depart and be with Christ which is better by far.”  At the moment of death, the soul departs from the body, and the souls of all who trust in Jesus as their Savior go immediately to be with him.  Paul puts it this way in 2nd Corinthians, “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. . .  We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

Jesus promised the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  That is also Jesus’ promise to you.  At the moment of death, your soul will depart your body and be “at home with the Lord” in paradise.

Another comforting image Scripture uses for death is sleep, as Jesus says in today’s Gospel Reading, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”  Just as we do not lose our loves ones when they go to sleep for the night, so we do not lose them when they fall asleep in Jesus.  As Paul says in 1st Thessalonians, “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. . .  and so we shall be forever with the Lord.”  My great-great-grandmother in the front row of our cemetery, your loved ones filling row after row back through the years, are but asleep in Jesus, forever with the Lord.

The Christian hope of the resurrection is actually found in the word “cemetery.”  Because, before Christianity, the Latin word “cemetery” originally had nothing at all to do with death or burials.  For, “cemetery” is actually the Latin word for a place where large numbers of people SLEEP together, what we would call a “dormitory.”  It was the early Christians who first started calling their burials grounds “cemeteries,” literally, “dormitories,” a beautiful testimony to their faith that death is but a temporary sleep from which we will rise again.

On the last day, when Christ comes again, our bodies will be raised up, restored, revived, and reunited with our souls.  As Jesus promises, “Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. . . Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out.”

Job beautifully proclaims the resurrection of the body, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.”  So, it is the same bodies we have now that will be reunited with our souls, raised up, restored, revived, and transformed into glorious, heavenly bodies.

In 1st Corinthians, Paul explains the resurrection and glorification of our bodies by comparing them to seeds sown in the ground: “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” 

I don’t know about you, but it was extra depressing for me the first few days of the quarantine, because it was so cold and dreary.  But, spring has sprung, and I’m thankful that this week it’s supposed to be bright and sunny.  Like the dormant seeds sprouting in springtime bursting forth from the ground, when the last day comes your dead body will be revived and burst forth from the grave.  So, whenever we bury a loved one, we are really planting a seed, which will burst forth in the resurrection at the last day.  As the Lord promises in today’s Old Testament Reading from Ezekiel, “I am going to open up your graves and bring you up from them.”

Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “We will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”  And in Philippians Paul says, “The Lord Jesus Christ . . . will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”  Or as Paul says in the comforting words of 2nd Corinthians: “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” 

The “eternal house in heaven” Paul speaks of is our bodies, the same bodies we have now, but raised up, restored, revived and transformed into glorious, heavenly bodies.  No longer a temporary dwelling, flimsy and insubstantial like a tent, but transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ to be our permanent dwelling in eternal life, “an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

Paul sums up the hope of eternal life beautifully in today’s Epistle Reading: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”  As Revelation promises: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain.”

Jesus is telling you today the answer to the great quest of humanity throughout the ages.  How to cheat death and receive eternal life.  “I AM the Resurrection and the Life.  Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.”

Amen.