Dr Zulunungsang Lemtur, Berkeley, California
There is a botanical garden in the city where I live in Berkeley, California. Among others, this garden is famous for roses which grow in abundance. During the blooming season, if anyone visits the rose garden, the sweet aroma of roses that had clung to you will remain with you and fill the entire surroundings. Smells are powerful and essential for the human experience. It can change one’s life instantly, maybe from one of our best moments to our worst moments. Imagine sitting next to a person on a journey who has a smelly sock or foul body odor. I believe that journey will be an unforgettable one. Today, our text is a story about the three siblings at Bethany- Mary, Martha and Lazarus who were considered as Jesus’ close friends. In the story, we are told that Jesus was with his disciples outside of Bethany when he heard the news of Lazarus’ sickness. Mary and Martha waited for Jesus, but Jesus did not come. Jesus instead told his disciples that he would wait for another two days. Unfortunately, Lazarus died. When Jesus and the disciple finally arrived on the scene in Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. The Jews believed that the soul hung around the body for three days, but after that, you were as dead as death could possibly be.
When Jesus reached Mary and Martha’s house, Martha said, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died” Has anyone ever said something like that to you? “If you had just been here, or if you had just cared, orif you had just done your job this bad thing wouldn’t have happened!We would think that Jesus would jump and rush to help His friend.Jesus changed water to wine. He healed the blind, the lame, the sick. He fed the 5000 hungry people, so we would think Jesus would rush to Lazarus’ bedside, or maybe, like the official’s son, just heal him from a distance with a word. But Jesus did nothing. He waited two extra days. Lazarus became a lesson for all. “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (vs 4).
So when Mary heard that Jesus had come, she went to meet Jesus. When Jesus saw Mary, he cried with her and Jesus assured, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Maybe what she meant was, we needed your help a few days ago but you weren’t there. So do not tell me about the future resurrection that will take place at the end of days. But Jesus responded, I am the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in me will not die. So Jesus was assuring Martha that she needed to believe in him and that he would make Lazarus’ life whole again. When they reached the tomb, Jesus asked them to move the stone that was covering the entrance to the tomb. But Martha objected by saying that, her brother had been dead for four days and by now his body would stench. But Jesus insisted them to remove the stone. So they rolled the stone away and then Jesus said, “Lazarus, come out!” On Jesus’ command, Lazarus who was dead and wrapped in his burial clothes came out from the tomb to the astonishment of the people who were around, and they believed in Jesus.
Here the narrative elements that set up Lazarus coming out of the tomb are significant. Jesus had a reason for staying back and in the process it might have brought despair, pain, and suffering to Mary, Marth and perhaps his disciples. But Jesus’ purpose was to glory God and reveal God’s saving grace andprove that he is the Messiah. The people who came to the tomb were more concerned about the stench than Jesus’ word which offers the fragrance of life which is greater than the stench of death. What Jesus is saying is that,the dead has no power but God has the power over dead and that Jesus is asking us to release our life which is wrapped in dead. Jesus commanded, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Lazarus rose from his dead and dead was defeated. By God’s grace we are given the opportunity to transform and change our lives and unbind ourselves from the dead of sin.
Renowned theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg says: “if you believe resurrection happened, you have to change how you live.” This means we can’t accept new life in Christ until we allow our old, sinful lives to end. We need to let go off our sins so that we can come out of our tomb. What binds us to death and prevents us from living abundantly, entirely, as a new creation? We need to retrospect and see what is holding us back and what keeps us wrapped in the dark cave of pride, hatred, lust, greed, deceit, or whatever stinks in our lives. What stench are we caring that makes us impossible to come near to Jesus? What do we need to let die to experience new life in Christ? What binds us so tightly that we can’t move forward? What keeps us from seeing the neighbors around us? What prevents us from experiencing resurrection? Even though we fall at times, Jesus calls us, “Come out and Get unbound!” Jesus reminds us that he is right there, waiting for us and unwrapping us and taking us into his loving arms.
When we hear Jesus’ call “Come out,” do we fall back or do we step out into the unknown? Jesus assures us that we won’t be alone. When Lazarus came out from the tomb, there were friends to welcome, support, and love him and that’s what community of faith is for: to help each of us get unbound. So, today, let us pause for a moment in the story. Let us enter more deeply into what is happening. Wherever we are on that long journey, Jesus has come to be with us. Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, even now, amid our sorrow, filling our present days with His love.Let us listen to Jesus calling our name. He is calling us out of the death of our sins. He is calling us to life. Let us open our eyes and follow the light and experience life in Jesus.
God is calling us to be faithful about how our fragrance flows as believers of God. God does not want us to be hypocrites or dilute our lives with sinful aroma. But God wants us to be sincere and be truthful in our actions, speaking, and in our lives. So, the question lingers what kind our fragrance do we produce in our daily lives, in school, in our workplace, with our friends or others? Do our actions shadow the smell of Christ? As children of God we need to be like Christ and be in His likeness. We are supposed to carry the smell of Jesus. There is no need to dispel our weakness with perfume and cover up how we smell. Let us not mixthe fragrance of Christ with worldly fragrance. Every day we are called to make right life affirming choices and have right influence so that the fragrance of God’ love would be felt and smelled by those who witness our calling.A rotten breath can hurt romance, and a rotten soul will hurt our relationship with God. Jesus Christ is God’s only remedy for the foul breath of the sinful soul. If wetrustJesus,we can come out of this foul world smelling like a rose.Through our life, actions, and words we should let the beauty and the aroma of Christ flow from us. No matter what situations we might come across, or no matter what others might say, we need to be firmly rooted in Christ. For Christ is our refuge, our rock, and our redeemer. Sometimes, in order to appease others or not to make them offended, we fail to be prophetic and fail to speak out about Christ and his message of love and life.
Today’s gospel is a testament of how God’s glory needs to be radiated from us so that others can see the beauty, power and the love of God and what God has done for us and also the assurance of eternal life through resurrected Jesus. When we demonstrate love to others, a love that is not discriminating, but is demonstrated in action for enemies and friends alike, a love that sacrifices and is concerned for the other, then we smell like Jesus. As New Year unfolds, let us retrospect our lives and attitudes and be mindful to remove the sins, vices and weaknesses we carry, which stench, which wrapped our lives and held us in bondage to sin, and allow the fragrance of Christ to radiate from us. Let’s put to the armor of God as found in Ephesians 6 and the aroma of Christ flow through us.This New Year,let the fragrance that flows from our life be the blessings, the joy, righteousness, and hope that Christ gave us and which is expected of us to carry on. Let the light, love, peace, hope, and the beauty of Christ be with us all. Amen.
Happy New Year
Dr Zulunungsang Lemtur, Berkeley, California