union avenue christian church |
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Parade of Characters: Two Sisters and a Brother John 11:1 – 45; Ezekiel 37:1 – 14 Johnny Wray is the Director and “face” of Week of Compassion – our (Disciples of Christ) emergency relief and disaster response fund. As director he is intimately involved in the aftermath of the disasters of the world and coordinates the Disciples’ response. On September 11, 2001, one of the few long distance phone calls that got through to my office (at Park Avenue Christian Church) was from Johnny Wray. He had been trying for hours to reach me. My response to hearing his voice was: “Johnny, when will you get to get to New York!” “Suzanne,” he said, “I am in Arizona.” “But, Johnny, we are in a disaster here…you have to be here!” “Suzanne, planes are not flying anywhere in the United States today. I cannot get to New York.” Of course it did not help for me to tell him once again that he had to be there, but by then the strength of my composure had collapsed. Just hearing his voice had driven me to tears, and I remember hearing a squeaky, tearful voice say “can’t you drive?” “Suzanne,” he said – even if I could get to New Jersey – the bridges are closed. Nothing is getting in to or out of Manhattan now.” Johnny Wray will be with us in May – and it probably would be a great ego-inflator to him if you told him I mistook him for Jesus a few years ago, but I was certainly reminded of that experience as I studied John’s Gospel story of the day. The family of Lazarus, Mary and Martha had a major crisis. Lazarus had died. The sisters, knowing their brother was extremely ill, had notified Jesus, but Jesus had chosen not to go to Bethany immediately. Tradition teaches that Jesus was very close to this family, and he seemed to be able to relax in their home – probably bringing his entourage of disciples with him many times. It is not a stretch to say that besides the disciples, Jesus’ best friends were Lazarus, Mary and Martha. So when Lazarus became ill the natural response would be to call their friend, Jesus, whom they knew had healing powers. When we are in the midst of a crisis, it is natural to long for those who will bring us comfort, assurance, and help us out of the crisis. Diagnosis of disease, death, disaster, accident — whatever sudden shift in the normalcy of life — in those moments most people need the familiarity of someone who will bring back some stability. In The Perfect Storm, the character – John Spillane – treats injured seamen AFTER he has assessed their degree of consciousness. “Alert and oriented times four” describes normal folks in everyday situations. “Alert and oriented times three” would describe someone who has had a blow to the head and has forgotten recent events. “Alert and oriented times zero” describes the reality when one knows of his/her existence but not much else. Absolute shock is another descriptor. ( p. 8 Eldredge, John. Waking the Dead. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 2003) Mary and Martha were alert and probably oriented not much more than zero. They had lost Lazarus — and their dear friend, Jesus, had chosen not to be with them at the time of his death. Although both sisters (according to John) had the same verbal response to Jesus — ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’ — there were differences between the meaning in those responses. Martha – the practical, hard working, home-maker, the sister who undoubtedly had made more meals, done more laundry, fixed more cots for Jesus and his friends than anyone else — was confident that Jesus could have prevented Lazarus’ death. Her confidence, however, was not in Jesus, himself, but that he would intercede with God to make something happen. Joan Chittister talks about God the Magician, in her book Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope. (p.15. 2003. Grand Rapids:Eerdmans.) When we make God into a magician, our job then becomes spiritual huckstering. We determine what we need or would like and then try to get God to give it to us. Much prayer is exactly what Chittister labels as huckstering. If we are really, really good (or just good at praying), we expect God to mold our circumstances — change red lights into green, or prevent death and/or suffering. We will do anything to bargain, convince, get others to help in the bargaining, believing all the time that if we try hard enough, we can move God to care for us and then change life’s circumstances. Failing that, we reconcile ourselves to the satisfaction of eternal life or life without suffering after death. Either way, God comes out as a diminished deity, and we are lowered to groveling. Martha was groveling. Mary, however, shows no confidence. Remember Mary is the one who loves to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to him, wrapped in an almost mesmerizing devotion. She was lost in her distress at this time – so knelt down and wept. Most of us react this way to crisis — as well as the groveling. In the face of adversity, we give up. Immobilized by whatever has hit, we truly are ‘alert and oriented times zero.’ Bereft, out to sea, living in the dark night of the soul, hope is not within touch. Jesus’ response to the two women was as different as their response to him. With Martha — he had a conversation — which took her to the highest level of faith. “I believe you are the Messiah…the Christ.” He didn’t promise her he would bring Lazarus back to life, nor did he bend to her request to get God to do just that. They didn’t even talk much about Lazarus. They talked about whom Jesus was — the one who could bring life, meaningful life, to all people. And in that moment, Martha understood her friend, Jesus, as the Christ…the Son of God. Jesus did not have a conversation with Mary. He didn’t try to move her to another level of faith. He didn’t need to teach her Christology. He wept with her. He represented the most human companionship possible in that moment – by sharing the deep emotional turmoil. One sister received the fullness of divinity, the other the totality of humanity — both within Jesus the Christ. If we are to believe John’s writings, the raising of Lazarus was not done for either Mary or Martha, but, rather, so the crowds would believe that, indeed, God had sent Jesus. The good news is that Lazarus was raised from the dead. The bad news is although there were believers because of this experience, some went to the Pharisees and the serious plots against Jesus’ life began (as well as those against Lazarus).
Martha was met where she needed to be met. She not only was pushed out of the groveling, bargaining position she had assumed, but was able to make that profound statement of faith in Jesus Christ who would make sense of and bring meaning to her life. That is a promise for every one of us as well. God is ready to meet us right there. Whether we are begging or bargaining, Jesus Christ will stand in front of us and assure us we can quit…that won’t help and it won’t work, but offer to us an understanding of life that can go far beyond using God to get our own way…to an understanding of life that endeavors to see what God’s way would be for us and to know the energy and power of God in working with us for that way of life. Mary was also met where she needed to be met. She couldn’t have handled a conversation. She didn’t ultimately need to make a “statement” of faith. She needed compassion and presence to affirm her desperation so that she could find her way out of it. That, too, is a promise for every one of us. Jesus lived among us, breathed, worked, sweat, cried among us … so that we would know assuredly that God is not some far away being who could care less for our suffering. In fact, God lives through every moment of our suffering with us, and the only way we get through it is because we are not alone in it. We have come a long way in this journey to Jerusalem and to Easter. The days are getting tougher now, however. We have met all the characters en route — the tempter, Nicodemus, the woman of Samaria, the blind man, the two sisters and a brother. We have seen ourselves in each one of them — faced with the same dilemmas and given the same opportunities. We have heard of their passions, their needs, their vulnerabilities and checked them against our own. May we be ready next week to experience the passion of Jesus Christ — even as we set that against our own suffering, distress, and consideration of the complexities of life. Let us be so prepared. • SW |
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