The Uncertainty of Mortality
by Pastor Suzy Todd
March 30, 2025
Fourth Sunday in Lent
SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 15:35-44,
John 11:1-44
TRANSCRIPTION:
Welcome to worship with Dearborn First United Methodist church. I am Pastor Suzy Todd. This is the fourth Sunday in the church season known as Lent. Lent is the season of preparation for Easter. It begins with Ash Wednesday when we come and are marked with ashes and reminded of our own mortality. After all, you can’t really appreciate the full beauty of resurrection, if you don’t know the full grief of mortality.
I remember when it dawned on me that we were all going to die. As a kid, I remember lying awake in bed pondering the reality that I was going to die. After a few weeks of sleeplessness, I managed to compartmentalize that… until 9th grade. That’s when my friend Barbie died of cancer.
Death becomes very real when you lose a peer.
SCRIPTURE LESSON: The death of Jesus’ friend in John 11.
Verses 1-7 read:
A certain man, Lazarus, was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (2 This was the Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was ill.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one whom you love is ill.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This illness isn’t fatal. It’s for the glory of God so that God’s Son can be glorified through it.” 5 Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was. After two days, 7 he said to his disciples, “Let’s return to Judea again.”
The first thing I want to note is that Jesus loved these siblings.
You’ll hear that repeated in this story. I know sometimes we feel like God has abandoned us when we suffer.
Jesus quotes Psalm 22 when he cries out on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Suffering is part of the human condition, not a reflection of love or favor from God. We have suffered. AND we are loved.
Another thing I want you to note from this portion of the story:
When Jesus says, “it’s for the glory of God so that God’s Son can be glorified through it,” it doesn’t mean that this is intentionally inflicted to prove a point about God’s might. It means that God can use any circumstance, even this horrific one as an opportunity to show love through redemptive power.
That’s one of the tenets of Christianity – all things are redeemable. Even death is within God’s ability to redeem.
The story continues to teach us about death in verses 8-16:
8 The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish opposition wants to stone you, but you want to go back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? Whoever walks in the day doesn’t stumble because they see the light of the world. 10 But whoever walks in the night does stumble because the light isn’t in them.”
11 He continued, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going in order to wake him up.”
12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he’s sleeping, he will get well.” 13 They thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was in a deep sleep, but Jesus had spoken about Lazarus’ death.
14 Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 For your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there so that you can believe. Let’s go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other disciples, “Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus.”
There are a couple allusions to death here.
Jesus’ life is under threat of stoning. Jesus does not fear death. He is facing death. Both, his own own… and Lazarus’
Jesus refers to death as sleeping. Sleep is a stillness of our bodies, a removal from the circles of society. It’s regenerative and it’s temporary.
The disciples seem a little confused by Jesus’ reference to sleep – so Jesus speaks plainly - “Lazarus has died.”
As we began this segment of the story with an allusion to Jesus’ own death, we end it with a return to this theme. Thomas encourages the disciples to go with Jesus so that they may die with Jesus. If death is the only way out… it might as well be with Jesus!
Jesus arrives in Bethany and encounters Lazarus’ sister Martha. The story continues in verses 17-27
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was a little less than two miles from Jerusalem.19 Many Jews had come to comfort Martha and Mary after their brother’s death. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary remained in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever you ask God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, the one who is coming into the world.”
Four days in the tomb was important.
At the time, Jewish tradition held that a person's spirit would leave the body within three days, so the fact that Lazarus had been dead for four days emphasized the finality of his death and the impossibility of his return to life. Lazarus is fully and totally dead.
Here is something I find interesting. Did you notice that Jesus asks Martha a very specific question:
“Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
And she answers a slightly different question, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, the one who is coming into the world.”
I certainly do not blame Martha for her answer. She knows her brother has lived and believed in Jesus, and she has put him in a tomb. How can she say “yes,” to an understanding that no one who believes in Jesus will die?
I don’t think Martha is alone in her questioning of eternal life. People who lose a loved one, evaluate, reassess and sometimes redefine, their understanding of eternal life. There are lots of faithful people who don’t have a hard and fast expectation of what immortality is exactly like.
I’ve told you before, I didn’t come from a church family. Needless to say, my conversion was seen as a bit of an oddity in the family. I remember one of my brother asking me if I had converted to get into heaven. Did I think St. Peter stood at some pearly gates with my name on the guest list. The only answer I could give him was that the afterlife had nothing to do with my conversion. I converted because of how Christ had changed me in this life. I didn’t have any answers about life eternal.
My answer to my brother is not so different from Martha’s to Jesus.
Whatever eternity holds, my faith in Jesus as Savior is firm.
Mary, Lazarus’ other sister comes to meet Jesus in verses 28- 37.
28 After she (Martha) said this, she went and spoke privately to her sister Mary, “The teacher is here and he’s calling for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. 30 He hadn’t entered the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him.31 When the Jews who were comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and leave, they followed her. They assumed she was going to mourn at the tomb.
32 When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. 34 He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They replied, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus began to cry. 36 The Jews said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Jesus goes to Lazarus’ tomb: Verses 38-44
V0034881 Christ raises Lazarus from his tomb. Etching by G. Bogerts a
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Christ raises Lazarus from his tomb. Etching by G. Bogerts after H. Singleton. By: Henry Singletonafter: G. BogertsPublished: -
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
38 Jesus was deeply disturbed again when he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone covered the entrance. 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”
Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.”
40 Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?” 41 So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me.” 43 Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his feet bound and his hands tied, and his face covered with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”
And it goes on to say that some of the people who witnessed this came to believe in Jesus, others decided he was a big threat to the social order. But nothing more about Lazarus.
I want this to be known right now… If I had been there, I 100% would have asked Lazarus what dead was like.
Were there streets of gold? Is there a big giant house with many rooms? Does it look more like the Garden of Eden or a New Jerusalem? Is it a giant wedding feast? Did you want to come back or has Jesus just disrupted your stay in paradise? What is death like from the other side of the tomb?
Why did no one ask these questions?
Humans have developed lots of theories.
William P Young wrote a book called The Shack. Did anyone read that? It was published in 2007. There’s a powerful scene near the end of the book where deceased people are portrayed as light that is both communal and individual. And the living character’s interaction with that light is healing and reconciling.
Does anyone watch White Lotus? There was a scene on there this week where a character asks what death is like. The Buddhist monk replies with the analogy of water; when we are born, we are droplets splashing upward out of a wave. And when we die, we are the droplets falling back into the sea. Reunited with the whole of eternity and each other.
The Bible shows us people grappling with the question of immortal life.
In the OT, the prevailing view was that all people went to Sheol (SHEE-uhl) after death. It was neither a place of reward nor punishment. Just a land of the dead, similar to the Duat in Egyptian mythology or Hades from the earliest Greek mythology.
In the New Testament Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 says:
42 It’s the same with the resurrection of the dead: a rotting body is put into the ground, but what is raised won’t ever decay.
43 It’s degraded when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised in glory.
It’s weak when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised in power.
44 It’s a physical body when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised as a spiritual body.
In some translations of 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul refers to death as sleep, much like Jesus in today’s scripture.
On the cross, Jesus tells one of the others being crucified with him: “I assure you that today you will be with me in paradise.”
Paradise – Sheol – Sleep – Light – Sea – House – Promised Land – Feast
Which one is it? We want concrete answers – something we can sink our teeth into – plant a flag in - Can it be all of these? Could it be something else entirely?
We don’t know.
It’s an uncomfortable uncertainty, especially when someone we love is on the other side of that tomb.
Or when we’re facing that tomb for ourselves.
In the 24th verse of today’s Bible story, Jesus asks Martha:
26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“The specifics lack importance, when we have faith in the promise of eternal life. ”
The question is “do you believe?” – not “do you know?”
We do not have to have all the answers. Indeed, if we did have all the answers, there would be no room for belief or faith.
Do you believe – without knowledge – Do you believe?
1 John 2:25 says: 25 This is the promise that he himself gave us: eternal life.
Humans have painted beautiful pictures of what they believe eternal life will be. We have written beautiful poems about eternal life. Sung beautiful songs, dreamt beautiful dreams and crafted beautiful stories.
We simply do not know, but we believe like Martha did.
“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, the one who is coming into the world.”
And with that… We have the promise of eternal life.
The specifics lack importance, when we have faith in the promise of eternal life.
This week in our praying for strangers Lenten practice, I ask you to pray for strangers who grieve their own mortality or the death of a loved one.
o Take a moment of prayer in the parking lot of a funeral home
o Take a moment of prayer as you read through the obituaries
o Take a moment of prayer at the local hospice. Or volunteer there and put your prayers into action.
Please pray with me now:
Gracious God, deep in our minds we wonder what you have in store for our immortal souls. And deep in our hearts we hold faith and trust that life does not end with death.
o We trust that in this world, in the here and now, we are being raised to new life.
o We trust that in the mystery of what lies beyond physical death, we will be raised to new life.
o We trust that the whole world will be born anew, that your kingdom is coming.
Keep us from fearing death, but at times of doubt, help us put our faith in Jesus.
We pray for all who mourn the death of a loved one.
Comfort them in the knowledge that Jesus brings victory over death. Everyone who dies in Christ will have eternal life.
We pray for hospices and for people who work with the dying. Keep them strong,
and give them peace to do their difficult work with dignity and sensitivity.
We pray for your perfect healing for those who are ailing.
We pray for strength for those caring for each other in their frailties.
We celebrate the healing paths being charted in lives of still others.
As we move close to Easter,
help us to live as Easter people who face death in the certain hope of resurrection.
Remind us and comfort us every day with your promise of eternal life.
We offer our prayers in the words that Jesus taught, saying: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.
