Ezekiel 37:1-14 & John 11:1-45
Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.
These words come from the lips of both Martha and Mary. In Martha’s case there’s a sense of resignation or acceptance. She follows it up with an acknowledgement – she knows that God will grant whatever Jesus asks.
In Mary’s case, however, there’s no softening what she says. It’s easy to imagine her grief and her anger. It sounds more like an accusation: if you had been here my brother would not have died.
In a scene where Jesus’ words and behaviour at times seem otherworldly and distant even, here we have real, raw human emotion pouring out.
And it would be easy to dismiss Martha and Mary as two people who don’t understand what Jesus plans to do, if it weren’t for the fact that he himself is moved to tears. He shares in this grief and is greatly disturbed by the loss of someone he loves. For him too this loss is real and it is profound but yet at the same time God’s glory will be revealed in it.
It makes no sense. Mary and Martha do not understand what is happening, nether do the bystanders, nor to the disciples. There is an enigma at the heart of this passage which we cannot rationalise away either.
It’s an enigma that we as Christians will come face to face with more and more often in the coming days. For many people, Martha and Mary’s words will soon feel very relevant. The loss will be real and the pain will be deep. And we cannot give a simple answer as to why this is happening. And neither should we, because as this morning’s Gospel makes abundantly clear, there isn’t one.
But what can we offer then? In a word. Hope.
Not only does Jesus return their dead brother to life, but he does so after he has lain in the tomb for several days, when he appears to beyond all hope. And then he does so with nothing more than a few words. When things are at their darkest, when there was no possibility of any further help – then – at that point – Martha comes face to face with nothing less than the Glory of God.
It’s an experience she shares with Ezekiel, who’s vision of the dry bones occurred in the dark captivity following the destruction of the Israelite kingdoms. The exiles too struggled with their anguish, that a nation favoured with God’s unending faithfulness could experience such annihilation. But yet here too is a promise of future salvation, that the Lord God would open their graves and bring them home.
As we face difficult days ahead, we too must trust that God’s glory, no matter how difficult it may be to discern, continues to work in and transform the darkest of situations.
We too must continue to hope in the promise that Jesus makes to all people: I am the resurrection and the life. Amen
Tomos Reed, Curate
