Lazarus and the Dry Bones

29 March 2020 – Fifth Sunday in Lent

“Let us go to Judea again,” Jesus says, knowing full well the risks. Not because he wants us to suffer. Not because he wants us to die for a good cause. But because he wants us to be part of what God is doing in the world. He wants us to be there, when he comes to Bethany, and says, “Take away the stone.” — Christopher Grundy

John 11:1-45

This passage describes the event that John counts as the occasion for the final plot against Jesus. The event is a sign pointing to a reality beyond itself, and as with the other signs in John, it produces either offense or faith in those who witness it. . . . 

There are several questions about this story. Why does Jesus delay his departure to the home of Lazarus? Why does he wait at Bethany? Why is he angry at the reaction of Mary and the Judean people (vv 33 and 38)? The notion that he delays his departure in order that Lazarus may die (for the sake of a greater miracle) is not supported by the text. By virtue of his superhuman knowledge, Jesus knows that Lazarus is already dead (see v 14) at a point in time before he could have reached him (about one day’s journey). It may be that both delays express Jesus’ autonomy as he moves toward his self-chosen death. . . 

Several times in this chapter, the truth is spoken unwittingly. This device expresses the ineluctable power of the “unconcealment” ultimately identified with the one who draws all persons to himself. . . Lazarus will recover, as the disciples say, but in a way they could not imagine. Moreover, that recovery is itself only a sign of true salvation from death. To be a disciple will be to follow Jesus in death but in a very different sense than that inappropriately supposed by Thomas. . . . 

Perhaps it is not too much to hope, on the basis of such instances, that Christian interpreters and preachers may also be enabled at times to speak greater truth than they know, even as they retell this story from John 11. — Christopher Grundy 

Ezekiel 37:1-14

These words are directed to the exiles in Babylon. Their situation is one of deep doom. The protective glory (kabod) has left the temple in Jerusalem (11:22f.) and the situation of the people reflects the judgment of the Lord. Israel is utterly dead. The prospect of a return to Israel could seem only miraculous to the people, as miraculous as the restoration to life of dried out bones, the resurrection of the utterly dead. — Christopher Grundy 

Romans 8:6–11

He who has the spirit that comes from Christ (v 9) has the Spirit of God, who raised Christ Jesus from the dead and will quicken the mortal bodies of believers too, through the Spirit (v 11). The life that is given is the result of being made righteous before God (v 10). This “being made righteous” is the result of an active power of God, which puts Christ into the believer (v 10). — Christopher Grundy 

Christopher Grundy, an ordained UCC minister, singer/songwriter and liturgical composer, is associate professor of preaching and worship and associate dean of chapel at Eden Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. 
Homily Service 38, no. 4 (2005): 13-21.