“The Miracles of Lent: The
Resurrection of Lazarus”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen. The sermon series this year for our Lenten Vespers services is “The
Miracles of Lent,” focusing on miracles that are part of the Lenten story of our
Savior’s suffering and death. We began last week on Ash Wednesday with the
miraculous darkness that enshrouded the earth for three hours while Christ hung
upon the cross. This evening we go back to just before Palm Sunday and the
beginning of Holy Week, to the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, as
reported in the Gospel of John: “Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of
Mary and her sister Martha. . . So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the
one you love is sick.” . . . On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had
already been in the tomb for four days. . . ‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus,
‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that
even now God will give you whatever you ask.” . . . Jesus said to her, ‘I am the
Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet
shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you
believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she told him, ‘I believe that you are the
Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.’ . . . ‘Where have you
laid him?’ Jesus asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. . . Jesus, once more
deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the
entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ he said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha . . .
‘by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.’ Then
Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of
God?’ So they took away the stone. . . Then Jesus called in a loud voice,
‘Lazarus, come out!’ And the dead man came out.” Have you ever set up dominos in a row and then started the first one
and watched as each continued knocking the next one down? The resurrection
of Lazarus is one of the “Miracles of Lent” because this mighty miracle was the
event that started it all, the beginning of the domino effect that eventually
led to Calvary and Christ’s crucifixion and death upon the cross. For,
right after this miracle John’s Gospel continues: “Therefore many of the Jews
who . . . had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. . . Then the
chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we
accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.’ . . . So from that
day on they plotted to take his life.” The next chapter of John says that on the Saturday which was the day
before Holy Week began on Palm Sunday, Jesus attended a dinner at the house of
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus: “A large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there
and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised
from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting
their faith in him.” And the next day on Palm Sunday, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, “Now the
crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from
the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard
that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. So the
Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the
whole world has gone after him!’” So, the resurrection of Lazarus was the beginning of the domino effect
that eventually led to Calvary. Because this mighty miracle led so many to
believe in Jesus as the Messiah that out of jealously and fear of losing their
own status the leaders of the Hebrew people plotted to kill him. The resurrection of Lazarus also has for us a deep symbolic
significance. Paul says in Ephesians, “As for you, you were dead in your
trespasses and sins.” Like Lazarus, all of us were by nature spiritually
dead. Just as Lazarus’ body was rotting away for four days in the tomb,
because of our trespasses and sins we all deserve to rot away for eternity in
hell. But, Paul continues in Ephesians with the Good News: “Because of his
great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even
when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God
raised us up with Christ.” Just as Jesus miraculously raised Lazarus from
the dead, he has spiritually given you new life, by forgiving all your sins, and
even though you die yet you shall live, for just as he raised Lazarus he will
raise you up from the dead to eternal life. Martin Luther puts it this way in his explanation of the Apostles’
Creed in the Small Catechism: “[He] has redeemed me, a lost and condemned
person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death . . . On the Last
Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all
believers in Christ. . . that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom
and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as
He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most
certainly true.” “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in me, even
though he dies, yet shall he live.” The raising of Lazarus from the dead
was Jesus’ last, greatest miracle before his own suffering, death, and
resurrection. In fact, this mighty miracle was the event that started it
all, the beginning of the domino effect that eventually led to Calvary and
Christ’s crucifixion and death upon the cross. This miracle means Jesus is more than just a great teacher, he is more
than just an amazing miracle worker, he is more than just a remarkable MAN.
As Martha testifies, this miracle means that he is “the Christ, the Son of God,
who was to come into the world,” the promised Messiah, your Savior. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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