The Lutheran Hour
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"What Jesus Can Do"
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Text: John 11:37
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! A living Lord gives all who believe, all who live in loneliness and with loss, the assurance that they are never alone. A risen Savior is God’s promise that He is always by our side.
The woman was hurrying home from her doctor’s appointment. He had been running late–and now, so was she. She had to stop at the drugstore to fill her prescription; go to school to collect her kindergartner; get home and prepare supper so that she and her family might go to Lenten service. She pulled into the mini-mall parking lot where her pharmacy was located. She started to circle slowly, looking for a place to park. That was when the skies opened and a flood, only slightly less than that which floated Noah’s ark, began to fall. The lady started to pray. “Lord, you know what kind of a day this has been. You know I’ve got a lot to get done. It would be a great help if you could give me a parking spot without me having to circle around.” She had hardly finished when a car’s backup lights went on right in front of the pharmacy door. The lady tromped on the gas and pulled in.
Now those who doubt God’s ongoing involvement in our lives will quickly comment, “The availability of an empty parking spot cannot be used to prove the power of God or the potency of prayer. It is merely a propitious coincidence that a place became available just as the lady finished her prayer. You can’t expect anyone to believe that God, looking down from heaven, surveying a rain drenched pharmacy parking lot, and a mother who was running late, set into motion a string of incidents which gave her a first-rate spot to park her mini-van.”
Still, I know a fair number of Christians who would say, “That is what happened. God blesses His people by giving them what they want.”
So, did God show special favoritism to this lady who was running late by giving her a parking spot? Would your answer change if I told you there was, right behind this first lady’s mini-van, another lady? This one eight months pregnant, and very uncomfortable behind the wheel, had a 2-year-old (with the flu) strapped into the car seat. She didn’t want to get wet. She prayed that she wouldn’t have to drive around looking for a place to park. But this lady didn’t see a car backing out. She didn’t get a convenient spot by the door. She parked at the far end of the lot and walked, with her little one on her hip, through the downpour. Didn’t God hear her prayer? Didn’t God care about her? Is God there sometimes and sometimes not?
To answer that question, let’s go back to the time when Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior, walked this earth. During His life, Jesus saw crowds come and go; He heard people volunteer to follow Him, if they could do so on their own terms. His closest friends often misunderstood His words and misinterpreted His message of salvation. Still, Jesus could count on a few faithful friends. On this short list of friends were three individuals – a brother and two sisters who lived in the Jerusalem suburb of Bethany. It seems that Jesus could stop by with His disciples in tow, just about any time He wanted. He could come unannounced. He could stay as long as He wanted. No matter what the situation or circumstance, He was welcomed.
Although most of us have a herd of acquaintances and a multitude of connections and contacts, we can count ourselves blessed if we have one or two friends who are truly glad to see us come as we are; who are willing to listen to our gripes, aches, and pains; who are ready to stand by us no matter what. This, I believe, was the kind of relationship that Jesus shared with the trio of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary–siblings who had mastered the art of hospitality and had the wherewithal to share it with their Lord.
All seemed good; all seemed to be blessed until the day that Lazarus became seriously ill. I can’t tell you the nature of his illness. On that topic, Scripture is silent. Since Lazarus, with his sisters, seems to be rather well off financially, we can only guess that they, looking for a cure, quickly consulted a dizzying array of doctors and physicians. They searched in vain. Lazarus grew no better; indeed, each day, each precious day, saw him growing worse.
I have been with many such families during my years as parish pastor. First, for the family, there comes a time of denial. Although all of us know that death is inevitable, somehow, in the back of our minds, we always think of its arrival as being somewhere in the far distant future. When the reality and the seriousness of someone’s situation sets in, then we begin to scramble, don’t we? We search far and wide for a cure. If no cure is found and the end seems imminent, the word goes out to family and friends. “Your friend, your father, mother, sister, brother, beloved may be dying. It’s time to come home.” Then, with nothing more to be done, we wait as the passing procession of the loving and the helpless pass by to pay their respects, to say what might well be a final earthly farewell.
It would not have been much different for Mary and Martha. They sent someone to summon the Savior. Their message was a simple one: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” Their words sound like ours: “The doctors don’t hold out much hope. It’s time to come home.” That’s what we say. It’s what Mary and Martha said to Jesus. They were confident that He would come. Perhaps He would only come to offer His respects. But the sisters hoped for something more. They had heard, maybe they had seen, the miraculous things Jesus had done for others; how He had healed the blind, the lame, the deaf, those who had devils and diverse diseases. “Even though the doctors are helpless,” they thought to themselves, “Jesus can make a difference.”
But Jesus did not come–not right away. It’s not that He was so very far away; He could have covered the distance in a long day’s walk. But Jesus did not come. The Bible says He remained where He was for two more days. Then, and only then, did Jesus go to Lazarus’ bedside. Only by then, Jesus wasn’t going to a friend’s sickbed; He wasn’t even going to a deathbed. Jesus was going to the gravesite of His friend. His delayed arrival was announced in the death-darkened home of the sisters: “Jesus is coming.” Martha went to greet Him. Mary stayed where she was with her fellow mourners. Martha came to the Savior and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” And Jesus replied ….
I’m not going to tell you what Jesus replied. Not now. Instead I’m going to ask: “When did God most bless the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha? Was God closer when everyone was healthy, and far away when one of them was sick? Was He nearer when Jesus came to their home as a welcome Friend and farther away when He arrived too late for a healing? Did Jesus care for them more when everybody sat around the table, laughing and eating and there were no problems? Did He care for them less when the faces of all who knew this family were wet with tears?
Be honest. What do you believe? Deep down, most folks have this nagging, gnawing feeling that God is close to them during the good times, and He is far away in the bad. We may not thank Him when life is treating us well, but we get very angry at Him when difficulties come. We want to know, “God, why have you stopped caring?” Haven’t all of us heard what a patient says when he’s in the hospital suffering from a major illness? We’ve heard the comments of married couples whose vows of living “happily ever after” have turned to vinegar on their tongues. We’ve seen the pain of children, the loneliness of teens, the isolation of the elderly. So many of these people–people like us, people who are us–want to know, demand to know, “God, where are You? Why have You deserted me?”
We’ve all been in churches when the congregation says a prayer of thanks to God for having delivered people from surgery, accident, or illness. It is right that we give thanks to the Lord on such occasions. But what does that say to the families of those people who didn’t get well or died? Did God stop caring for those families? We’ve seen the evening news when a man whose home was the only one on an entire city block which was missed by a tornado. He says, “God was with me. My house still stands. My family is OK.” I have no doubt that God did take care of that individual and his possessions. But what does that say to those people whose homes were leveled, who lost a loved one? Was one blessed and the other cursed?
The idea of God being near us in times of blessing and distant in times of hurt and loss is nothing new. After Jesus had lived His life for us, knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane and shouldered our sins for us; after He had been tried, convicted, and crucified for us; after He had risen from the dead, shown to all the world that He had conquered sin, death, and the devil for us; after He had ascended into heaven, His disciples, by the power of the Holy Spirit, began to share the Savior’s story with lost humankind. One of them, Peter, was arrested for his preaching. The king who had the apostle jailed had every intention of putting Peter to death. By Divine intervention, through the assistance of a heaven-sent angel, Peter was released from prison and continued in His ministry. The people rejoiced at God’s great grace and guidance. The Lord was with Peter. But I wonder, years later when Peter was at Rome and condemned to die, and no angel came to provide a miraculous escape, did people wonder if God had somehow forgotten and forsaken them?
May no one ever believe such foolishness. We may act that way, but God does not! God is not a fair-weather friend. As proof of what I’m saying, let’s return to the Bethany home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. If you remember, by the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already died and been buried. The sisters were in mourning. When Jesus arrived, the sister who went out to meet Him said, “If you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have passed away.” But then with a great show of faith, she added, “Even now, I know God will give you what you ask.” Martha knew something we often forget: “God is with us no matter the situation, no matter the circumstance.”
To Martha’s confession Jesus replied, “Your brother will rise again.” This was not news to Martha, to any believer in the Savior. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, all who have, in repentance and by the Spirit’s power, been lead to call Him Savior, will rise again to life. Nothing in all creation, not even death, can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus. Martha knew that and agreed: “On the last day, on the last judgment, my brother will rise.” That’s what she said. Then Jesus gave a clear, concise proclamation of who He was. To those who think Jesus never said He was the Son of God, the Savior of the world, listen to Him as He says, “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?” (John 11:25-26) Jesus was asking if Martha believed that He was her Savior, her brother’s Savior, her sister’s Savior, the world’s Savior. He was asking if she believed that He in life and in death, in good times and in bad, in happy times and in sad remained Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. Martha humbly confessed, “Yes, Lord.” How I pray that every one of us, that every ear tuned to this broadcast today might echo Martha’s words and say, “Yes, Lord, I believe You are the Savior, the Resurrection and the Life.”
It didn’t take long before Jesus and Martha, now joined by Mary and a host of onlookers, ended up standing outside of Lazarus’ tomb. As Jesus stood crying before the grave, some people were touched, “See how He loved Lazarus,” they said. Others commented more callously, “Couldn’t this Fellow who gave sight to the blind, have stopped this man from dying?” Ahhh, there it is–that feeling that when bad times come, God can’t be found. That’s what I was talking about before; the feeling that if evil is present, God must be absent.
That was when Jesus had the stone removed from the front of the tomb; that was when Jesus called into the chamber of death, “Lazarus, come out.” Such a call from any other individual would have been disrespectful and discourteous, ludicrous and ridiculous. From Jesus, that call was a challenge to death; a challenge that death lost. A living Lazarus, still bound in his grave clothes, came shuffling to the mouth of the tomb. The dead had been restored to life; the family was reunited; the mourners were impressed; the religious leaders were scared. It had been a most amazing day. The Savior had shown His strength; the Lord had shown His love.
God was close to Martha, Mary, and Lazarus that day. The prayers of the sisters had been answered. The story might end: “And they lived happily ever after.” Or did they? After this miracle, the Jewish leaders began plotting to kill Jesus and Lazarus. They wanted to stuff this living, walking, talking, breathing proof of Jesus’ Messiahship back into his grave. I don’t know if they succeeded. If they didn’t, the day surely came when illness or accident or death returned to the home of the trio. Three times death came. At the passing of one, did the other two say, “Jesus has forgotten us”? When the second died, did the sole survivor curse and complain that Jesus didn’t care?
They did not. They had found out that which you must believe: God does not desert us; He does not abandon His people. God’s love was there when Lazarus was healthy; God’s love was there when Lazarus was ill. God’s love remained when Lazarus died. God’s love was there when lonely sisters went into mourning and God’s love was there when Jesus cried outside of His friend’s grave. God’s love was there when the stone was rolled away; and it was there when Lazarus rose. God’s love was there when Jesus was arrested, and it was certainly there on the cross when He died for you and me. It was there when the Savior rose from the dead, and it was there when one-by-one Mary, Martha, and Lazarus died; it was there when the disciples were martyred.
That love is still there for all who are led to faith in the Savior. God, with His grace, does not move. If this day He seems far away, it is not because He has taken a stroll; it is because you may not be able to see Him clearly, or your mind may not be able to grasp His presence. But He is there! The heavenly Father who sent His Son to die and rise to save you will not leave you. Jesus is there, wishing to assist, wanting to strengthen, calling you to cast your cares upon Him, because He cares for you. What I am sharing today is a truth that you can cling to; this is God’s life preserver for your soul. I do not know the wedge that life tries to drive between you and God. Possibly, this year you celebrate a marriage anniversary all alone. Jesus is with you. Maybe you’ve lost a job, a lifestyle, a livelihood. You did not lose a Savior, Jesus is with you. Maybe your little son or daughter made it to heaven before they made it to first grade. Jesus is with you. If you have reluctantly become an expert on an illness; if you lost a loved one to a tragedy, Jesus remains.
If you don’t know this Jesus who takes you through pain to peace; who substitutes heaven for hell, hope, for unhappiness, then call us at The Lutheran Hour. We would like to tell you more about this Jesus whose love is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Let us tell you about the Savior, the Christ your Lord.
This past Christmas I had the opportunity to watch my twin 6-month-old grandchildren. There were times when one or the other or, heaven help us, both would wake up crying. Kirsten, our daughter would go in, sometimes her husband Jeff would join her. They held the crier, and they whispered, “It’s OK. Mommy is here. Daddy is here. It’s OK.” And then calm would come. The baby would lean in and relax and be at peace. Now, I don’t know what caused the crying in the first place, and I don’t know what is the pain upon your heart. But I do know this – God’s love is holding you. God gathers you and surrounds you with His care. God says, “It’s OK. I’m here.” And God will bring peace to you in the midst of your tears. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for March 13, 2005
Topic: The Making of a New Hymnal (Part 2)ANNOUNCER: It’s time now for Lutheran Hour questions and answers. I’m Mark Eischer. With me here in the studio is Dr. Paul Grime, who is the executive director of the Commission on Worship for The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. For several years now, he and his committees have been working on putting together a new hymnal for the Lutheran church. Let’s focus on the hymns right now. You said there are about 600 hymns in Lutheran Service Book. How are they chosen?
GRIME: Our first task was to look at the hymns that we currently have, and that would include in all the hymnals and supplements that are part of our Church body, and we identified the hymns we felt were simply hymns that had to be included. Then we also went through other collections of hymns that are out there, and there are hundreds and hundreds of collections, meaning thousands and thousands of hymns that have been written in recent years. And then in addition, one other thing we did was look at hymns that have been submitted to us; from congregations across the LCMS, individuals who have been writing hymns, perhaps pastors who have been writing hymns. Those were also submitted and we received probably several thousand submissions, so those also had to be examined to see if there were any that we felt would be useful for the whole church.
ANNOUNCER: Of that category, hymns that are newly composed but not previously published, how big a stack of paper was that?
GRIME: It’s about three or four feet tall. If you just put them on the ground and raise it up.
ANNOUNCER: Three or four feet of individual pages. Where do you start in trying to evaluate that, where you’ve got a new hymn that’s been maybe sung by one person or one congregation, and on the other hand you would have other hymns that have been sung by perhaps millions of Christians over the centuries?
GRIME: Certainly that was probably the most difficult task for the committee was to say, there are so many, and yet we can only choose 600 or so. But the committee wanted to give, obviously, careful consideration to that wide body of hymnody that has simply become standard among Christians – not just even Lutherans, but Christians. And those would be hymns such as Holy, Holy, Holy or Silent Night, Abide With Me. Everybody can start listing those kinds of hymns that everyone just knows. But in addition to that, we certainly wanted to be sure to give special emphasis to the Lutheran tradition, to make sure that those received a special place of attention for our consideration.
ANNOUNCER: I’ve been told that there are a number of hymns that have come to us from Christians in South America and in Africa, places outside of Europe and North America. Could you comment on those sources?
GRIME: Again, with this explosion of hymn writing in English-speaking countries, there has also been an explosion of what sometimes is referred to as “global song” or “world music.” Churches have been rising up in those places, and slowly but surely, they begin to develop their own religious song. So, now the opportunity for them to ship that back to us is taking place. Translations are being made available of some of these hymns, and we’re having the chance to sing hymns that have been written in other parts of the world.
ANNOUNCER: So, really, the challenge is to make sure that all of those songs are getting a chance to be heard, and not being drowned out by the louder and more well known songs of the present time.
GRIME: That is the great privilege of being able to work on the hymnal is to try to find that broad representation and provide that in the hymnal so that congregations can sing from the wealth of Christian songs throughout the centuries.
ANNOUNCER: What is the effect of having a standardized hymnal for a church body like The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod when there are so many resources available in the world of Christian music, Christian worship material today?
GRIME: The value of a hymnal is that one has sort of a standard starting point, I think, for the congregations. And it can serve as an example of the unity that we share in the Gospel. It doesn’t mean that everyone has to worship in exactly the same way, using the exact same pages and hymns each week. There is tremendous opportunity for variety from congregation to congregation, and local need will dictate some variance from time to time. But there is a value being able to walk from one congregation to another, perhaps while on a vacation, and walk into a parish and seeing the same book; I know this book, and there’s a sense of unity that is important. It’s not what binds us together, it’s not that unity, but it is one in practice that does give strength to our confession.
ANNOUNCER: We’ve been talking with Dr. Paul Grime, executive director of the Commission on Worship for The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.