Fifth Sunday in Lent

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Fifth Sunday in Lent (A)

March 22, 2026

Text: John 11:1-45

            “Jesus wept” (John 11:35; ESV).  Isn’t that beautiful?  Jesus wept, not because He didn’t know what He was about to do.  He wept, not because there was nothing He could do in the face of death, as we weep in our helplessness and uncertainty.  Jesus wept because death was never how it was supposed to be for us.  God did not create us to die.  He created us to live!  And so, He wept because of the brokenness of His creation, and the devastation death visits on the people He loves.  He wept because death has brought that devastation to His dear friend, Lazarus.  And now the grief and tears of these two dear sisters.  And those who had come to console the women, weeping and wailing.  Jesus was deeply moved in His spirit.  Greatly troubled with and for the mourners.  You know, that is true for you, too.   When you are weeping.  When death touches you.  Your sadness and tears are joined to those of Jesus.  And they are precious to God.  As king David prays, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Ps. 56:8).  Jesus is not just sympathetic and compassionate in your pain.  He is with you in it.

“Jesus wept.”  Remember that.  Especially when it seems like He is not with you in your pain.  Like He is far away.  Like He does not hear.  As when He heard from Mary and Martha, “Lord, he whom you love is ill” (John 11:3), and did not immediately come to the rescue.  In fact, our Gospel says that because Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was (vv. 5-6).  That is almost incomprehensible.  Only faith formed by the cross can even begin to grasp that sometimes… oftentimes… Jesus delays His help… brings us to the brink, and even over the brink… so that He can rescue us when we are beyond rescue.  That is, after all, what He does for all of us, ultimately.  Beyond rescue in our sins, but He rescues us.  Beyond rescue as we rot in the grave, but He rescues us.  Beyond rescue in the devil’s grasp, but He rescues us.  And it brings glory to God, and the Son of God is glorified in it, isn’t He?  Because there is no question that He alone is our Helper.  We didn’t help ourselves.  We couldn’t.  And no one, and nothing, else could have helped us.  This salvation is from Christ alone.  And so we put our whole faith in Him.  Remember that.  Remember. 

“Jesus wept.”  Remember that, even as you lament that, if He had been here, the thing wouldn’t have happened in the first place.  Both the sisters do this, right?  “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (vv. 21, 32).  “Lord, if You had been here, I wouldn’t be in this financial mess.”  “Lord, if You had been here, the cancer would not have recurred.”  “Lord, if You had been here, my marriage would not have failed.”  “Lord, if You had been here…”  We’ve prayed that one, too.  Where is He in it?  Oh, beloved…  Not abandoning you.  Don’t think that.  Never think that.  Where is He?  Loving you… even in spite of all appearances (our sight and our knowledge are so limited!)… and doing all things for your good, in His perfect time, and in His perfect way, that God be glorified, and you be driven to Him as your only Savior, your only help in time of need.

“Jesus wept.”  But He is the Resurrection and the Life (“I AM,” He says [v. 25], another of the great “I AM” sayings in John’s Gospel).  He is the Resurrection and the Life, and He has come to do mortal battle with death.  And so, what does He do in our reading, but come right up to the tomb, get right in death’s face.  “Take away the stone” (v. 39), He says.  Lord, You don’t want to do that.  He’s been dead four days!  Now, that is important.  After four days, the body has begun to decompose.  There is a stench.  And a mess.  But that is the point.  Decomposing bodies are no match for the One who is the Resurrection and the Life.  So they roll the stone away. 

And now, Jesus speaks.  First, a Word to impart faith.  “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (v. 40).  And then a prayer: “Father, I thank you that you have heard me” (v. 41).  Note this: It is a prayer of thanksgiving, even before delivery of the gift.  Now, that is instructive.  You can thank God even before you perceive His answer to your prayer.  Even when He delays.  Even as you pray one of those, “Lord, if You had been here” prayers.  In any case, Jesus prays it out loud for the sake of those standing around Him, and for us, who hear it in His Scripture, that we may know the Father sent Jesus for this very purpose.  And then, the command: “Lazarus, come out” (v. 43). 

What happens?  Immediately?  The dead man came out!  Still bound in the linen strips.  He came out!  Because Jesus told him to.  Because God in human flesh told him to.  Because He who is the Resurrection and the Life told Him to.  When He speaks, so it is.  His Word does what it says.  This is what He does for you when He speaks you to life in Holy Baptism, and in His lifegiving Word.  And then, another command, this time to the bystanders: “Unbind him, and let him go” (v. 44).  This is what He does for you when he commands His called and ordained servants to unbind you from sin and death in the preaching of the Gospel and the Holy Absolution.

And what is the result of all of this?  Faith!  Many of the Jews who were with Mary and Martha believed in Him (v. 45).  And joy!  Of course, joy!  And yet, don’t misunderstand.  As great as this miracle may be, it is only a foreshadowing of what is to come.  And, in fact, for Lazarus, it is only temporary.  In some ways, if you can speak of it this way, it was disservice to him.  Because Lazarus would have to die again.  I suppose, at least, we can say he could face it the second time without any fear. 

But it foreshadowed the great things of our salvation.  This miracle would lead directly to our Lord’s own death on the cross for our sins.  This raising of Lazarus really outraged the Jewish powers that be, the Chief Priests and Pharisees and members of the Sanhedrin.  We can’t have Jesus going around raising dead people, because then people will believe He is the Christ.  And if that happens, we’ll lose our power, and our comfortable position.  So, “from that day on they made plans to put him to death” (v. 53). 

But can you kill the Resurrection and the Life?  You can, if He lets you, as shown by His submission to crucifixion.  But you can’t keep Him dead.  What does the raising of Lazarus ultimately foreshadow?  Our Lord’s resurrection from the dead on the Third Day!  And that one is permanent.  Eternal.  And so is the resurrection life that spreads as a result.  What will happen for Lazarus, and his sisters, and us on the Last Day?  Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life, who died, but who is risen from the dead, will speak once again.  He will come right up to our tombs… get right in death’s face.  And He will call each one of us by name, as He commands us to come out!  And, immediately, we will come out!  Because death will have no more power over us.  And so we will be forever with the Lord.

“Jesus wept.”  Even though He knew that is what He would do… what He will do for Lazarus, and every one of us, in the End.  Because life is how it should be for us.  Eternal life and communion with the Son of God, who became flesh for us, and so with the Father, and the Holy Spirit. 

By the way, you know why He had to call Lazarus by name when He commanded the dead man to come out?  (I love this, and I wish I could remember who I got it from.  I have several suspects from my Grand Rapids days.)  You know why?  Because if He hadn’t specified, every dead body in the whole cemetery would have come rolling out, bone joined to bone, dust reassembling, and it would have been utter chaos!  Just like the confused saints who thought it was Resurrection Day on Good Friday, and came out of the tombs appearing to everybody (Matt. 27:52-53).  Rest a little longer, guys.  Soon.  Soon.  The Day is coming soon. 

On that Day, Jesus will say it to all of us.  And give eternal life to us, and all believers in Christ.  What a Day that will be.  In the meantime, yes, there is weeping.  Jesus weeps with you.  He does not forsake you in sadness.  But there is also hope.  Hope that does not disappoint us.  The resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  It’s coming!  It’s coming.  Come, Lord Jesus.  Come soon.  He will.  And He does.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.