"Lord, He Stinketh"

(John 11:1-45) (Lazarus Saturday)

Lazarus is not the first person called from the dead by our Lord. For example, He did so for Jairus’ daughter; and raised the son of the widow of Nain while his body was being carried to his funeral. What sets Lazarus apart from the others is that Lazarus had been dead for four days when he was restored to life.

Four days dead meant, among other things, that decay had begun. This is why Martha says, in a quote beloved by every seminarian, “He stinketh.” Perhaps Jairus’ daughter hadn’t actually died -- even though the truth was otherwise. Even at the time, they said that she was simply asleep. Perhaps the son of the widow of Nain wasn’t actually dead, but only in a coma – even though he was on his way to be buried. Some might have doubted these earlier miracles; but, with Lazarus, no such doubts were possible. There was no question but that he was truly dead; and, if dead, his body would be in an advancing state of decay at the time our Lord ordered the stone to be rolled away from the tomb.

Our Lord is preparing His disciples, and anyone else who mighty be paying attention, for His own death, and burial, and resurrection. Oh, there would be those who would repeat the lies: “He wasn’t really dead, but recovered, and some people claimed He was risen from the dead”; as if the scourging and beating hadn’t been enough to produce His death. If nothing else, the spear that pierced His side would have been fatal. The lies began with His resurrection, when the leaders of the Jews paid the Roman guards to say that His disciples had come and taken His body away, and were now claiming, falsely, that He was risen from the dead. No, there could be no doubt about His having raised Lazarus after four days in the tomb; and His disciples, remembering this when they heard the glorious news that our Lord had risen after three days in the tomb, knew He has the power to raise the dead, and so would be able to raise Himself as well.

So we have good reason to hope, for our Lord Jesus Christ, Who called Lazarus from death to life out of the tomb, Who has the power to raise Himself from the dead, has, as well, the power to raise us. We are like Lazarus, in that we are dead in our sins, and corruption and decay has affected us, so that we, in a way, stink, because of our many sins and our wickedness. Yet as He restored Lazarus, so, too, He is able to restore us. No matter how foul, no matter how corrupted, no matter how decayed we have become, He is able to raise us to new life in Himself. Death no longer binds us, when we have been joined to Him; as we have by our baptism, our burial with Him, and our being raised to new life through the waters of regeneration.

Brothers and sisters! Our Lord Jesus Christ has the power of life without end, and will bestow it upon us if we but seek Him. Let us pray, and fast, and give, and struggle, giving thanks to God for our hope in Him. Let us put our hope and trust in Christ, that we, like Lazarus, may be called from death and decay to life in Jesus Christ our Lord.