Giving Joyfully and Generously

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, March 26, 2023
John 11:1-45

    I often share a portion of this gospel text at a particularly difficult funeral, and so when I hear it stories come to mind of a middle-aged man who took his own life, a young mother who died of cancer leaving her five-year-old behind, a young man in his twenties who died of an accidental overdose.  It’s a bittersweet gospel story, because it brings up some sad memories for me.  Death is never easy, even when we lose someone who has lived a good, long life.  I find the story of how people, including Jesus, respond to Lazarus’ death powerfully relatable.  Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters, are angry.  Thomas, one of the disciples, says something that doesn’t even really make sense, maybe just to say something as we want to say something at the news of a beloved person’s death.  Jesus, even as he assures the grieving that he is the resurrection and the life, weeps.  It is a comforting text to use at a funeral for this reason.
    Certainly, we can all think of times in our lives where we feel loss and even hopelessness like the disciples, Mary, and Martha are experiencing at the death of Lazarus.  Like Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones, we might feel like a sack of dry bones; that there’s nothing within us left to give, like our hope is lost.  I find it incredibly comforting that in these moments of our despair, Jesus as the Son of God who has power over death and life still weeps with us and understands the depths of our grief.  Death is difficult, even with the promise of resurrection.  Jesus doesn’t stay there in grief, though; Jesus does something about death.  Jesus doesn’t let death have the last word, and this is the incredible good news that we have to celebrate each and every Sunday!
    This morning we are wrapping up our Lenten focus on what it means to fulfill God’s purpose.  We’ve talked about the importance of building healthy relationships, witnessing for Jesus and living as Christ’s servants as aspects of living purposeful, faithful lives to the glory of God.  Today, we’re discussing a fourth priority:   giving joyfully and generously.  It might seem odd at first to reflect on a traditional funeral text in thinking about how we share generously of our time, talents and treasure, and with joy, no less!  But the story of Lazarus of course is not just about his death, but about new life.  It’s about pointing to Jesus’ own Easter resurrection as he proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and it’s a foretaste of the promise that we, too, will be raised along with him to eternal life.  We are only able to give joyfully and generously WHEN we recognize that God in Christ has given us more than we can ever imagine or repay; the gift of life itself, the gift of life eternal, God’s only Son our Lord, crucified and risen for us.  Jesus’ gift of being the resurrection and the life FOR US fills us with deep gratitude and joy so that we want to give something back in return.
    We live in a world that constantly tells us that what we have is not enough, and it can be difficult to be satisfied with what we have with that message always in front of us.  I think every one of us would like to have a bit more money.  Some of us would like better health.  We want more time – more time for ourselves and more time with our loved ones.  Most if not all of us can identify with Mary and Martha’s desire to have Lazarus, their beloved brother, with them a little while longer.  In times of grief and loss, we hyper-focus on what we do not have; on what we lack; on what is absent.  
Despite Mary and Martha’s confusion and anger about why Jesus didn’t come sooner and heal their brother before he died, they DO still have faith in God’s resurrection promise.  They express a glimmer of hope, and Jesus increases their hope.  Martha says to Jesus, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’  Jesus responds with a gift greater than they could have hoped for or imagined:  Lazarus comes out of the tomb, raised from the dead, is unbound and freed.  The sisters don’t just have to hope in the resurrection on the last day in the far-off future, they see resurrection taking place in front of them, and they will witness resurrection again when they see the risen Christ at Easter. Jesus takes our small imagination, our slivers of hope, our mustard seed-sized faith, and gives us abundantly more.  We are able to give of our time, our selves, and our possessions generously when we realize how much God has generously given to us.  We are able to give generously and joyfully when we think of the many people who are living in a valley of dry bones, who are grieving losses of all different kinds, who need to hear a message of hope that new life is possible, that beyond death IS life, that Jesus weeps alongside them and will never forsake them.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.