GRAMMA'S FUNERAL IN BELLE PLAINE

  

I remember the day when Larry and I attended our grandmother’s funeral in Belle Plaine, Iowa. We arrived in town early and stopped in a local diner for coffee, which was filled with people. We were wearing our best suits. Our license showed that we were from Omaha… and the entire café became awkwardly silent when we walked in. You could’ve heard a pin drop. Why? Because we didn’t “fit in” with the crowd we had joined, or at least they didn’t think so. Most of us hang out with people who are a lot like us. We know that differences exist in the world but we don't want them in our own lives. The North going Zax and the South going Zax don't talk much. They didn’t know one another and they didn’t even want to know one another. And that is a terrible thing because the “other” group is labeled, ostracized, and eventually despised.

 

The circles we draw can be airtight or permeable. They can let some people in and keep some people out…and in a surprisingly short period of time, people who are different from us...become people who are mean-spirited, old-fashioned, racist, anti-American, sinful, and even evil. And this was the way it was between the Jews and the Samaritans in Jesus' time. They despised each other and it had been that way for centuries.
     

The Bible says (John 4) that Jesus and his disciples journeyed through Samaria on the way to Galilee, and that they came to a town called "Sychar," which was the site of Jacob's well. According to John, while his disciples went to buy food, Jesus waited by the well... and a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Women drew the water in those days. They came early and they came as a group... because drawing water was an important time for socializing. But this was at noon... and the woman was alone. "Can I have a drink?" Jesus asked, and his question took the woman aback because it was improper. "How can you, a Jewish man, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" she replied. It was a good question, because Jesus had violated two social boundaries. In the first place, men didn't talk to women they didn't know and in the second place, Jews didn't talk to Samaritans. The woman was caught off guard, but Jesus noted that she would've asked him for living water if she knew who he was. Sir, the woman said, Give me the water you have so that I won't have to come to the well every day." Go and get your husband, Jesus said. Bring him to me... and the woman confessed that while she had five husbands in the past, the man she was living with was not her husband. But the Jewish rabbi and the Samaritan woman talked on, and their dialogue ended with the woman saying, (v. 25) "I know that God's Messiah will make all things clear when he comes"...  and Jesus answered with his first “I AM” statements, "Ego eimi, I am!" According to John, Jesus made 7 “I AM” statements- like I AM the bread of life, I AM the Good Shepherd- but here when the Samaritan woman mentioned God’s Messiah, Jesus said I AM. I am the Messiah, who will meet your needs... for water, love, and acceptance. She is the one whom he chose to speak to. She is the one whom he offered living water. So, she ran off to tell others in the village, and it's important to note that her sharing brought many people to Jesus!
     

But it’s been my experience that God’s word always calls for personal reflection and my reflection on this passage is my own circle! How big is my circle of love? How big is my circle of acceptance? How big is my circle of forgiveness? Whom do I avoid if I can? Whom do I rush to judge and whom do I grant a large measures of grace? If I am totally honest, are there any kinds of people whom I consider deplorable? Are there any Samaritans in my world? Are there any people whom I consider “unclean”? Are there people who make me “nervous” just because they seem to be part of a group that falls outside of my circles of love and familiarity? Are they of a different race? A different faith? Are they too poor, too rich, too loud? Are they tattooed, or gay, or abusive? Who are those whom I would not have touched, a dined with, or saved- even though Jesus did? How wide is my circle of grace? Who's in? Who's out? And why? Are my boundaries permeable? Or impenetrable?

 

Christ lived in a world that was filled with boundaries. Some people deserved respect and some were only around to serve a purpose. Jesus knew that. He knew that he wasn't supposed to welcome children, let Mary sit with his disciples, eat with sinners, heal a Roman Centurian's daughter, touch lepers, or converse with those who were leading unsavory lives. He knew all of these rules... and he loved the people anyway... because his circle of grace was really, really large! In fact, it included everyone who was willing to be included. God's love is like that. It's inclusive, welcoming, and non-judgmental. So, let us be careful with the circles we draw. (WWJD) what would Jesus do is surely the same as what-did-Jesus-do (WDJD). It challenges me because I know that I would avoid some of the people whom Jesus served, welcomed, and loved. O Lord, let me see that the people who surround me… are God’s people. All of them. All of the time! Not some of them, or some of the time. O Lord, give me enough love to love the unlovable! Just like you welcomed and made room for me. Amen!  

 

FULLY HUMAN- FULLY GOD

  

FULLY HUMAN-FULLY GOD

As Jesus walked in the temple some Jews asked him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” “I and the Father are one,” Jesus said it directly and the Jews picked up stones to stone him. Well, Jesus and his disciples left town and stayed away until he received word that his friend, Lazarus, had fallen ill. Jesus loved all three of them. He dined with them. Martha welcomed him and also served him as Mary listened to His teaching. He knew them personally and because He loved them, He stayed away for another two days. Then he told his disciples that Lazarus had died and they needed to go to back to Judea. It was a risky idea, but Thomas the Twin, spoke up: “Let us go and die with him.” Let us follow him wherever he leads us because our faith demands it.

So they returned to Bethany… and Martha met Jesus on the road. “If you had been here,” she said, “my brother would not have died.” I suspect many of us can relate to her in moments like this. If you had been with us, Lord, my brothers, Larry and Randy, would not have died. If you had been here my spouse would not have died, or my mother. My child would not have died if you had been here, Lord. I was praying and hoping for a miracle, but I can accept that your will… will be done! Back in our passage, we hear Jesus saying, your brother will rise again, and Martha answered, “I know that he will rise on the last day.” Someday, in some way, shape, or form, my brother, will rise again, but Jesus answered, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die- do you believe this… Martha? Everyone who lives in me will never die! Do you believe in this… Linda? Judy? Jack, Barbara, Ken? Do you believe that everyone who lives- black and white, Presbyterian and Pentecostal, rich and poor, loveable and not so loveable- will never die if they trust in Christ Jesus?

Then Mary encountered Jesus with tears in her eyes, and in a verse that tells me all that I need to know about Jesus being fully God and fully human, Jesus asked, “where have you laid him?”… and according to John, Jesus became greatly disturbed in Spirit and visibly moved. And he sobbed! He knew that he was about to raise Lazarus, but when he stood with Martha and Mary- and when he stands with us when we are empty, when we’re clinging to faith, when grief is all we know- he broke down himself. Out of compassion, love, and empathy, the Son of Man was deeply moved. Our Savior is with us in the darkest and deepest of valleys. He is with us when we can scarcely speak. He participates in our struggles because He is fully human and fully God. Amen!

He asked Mary to take him to Lazarus’ tomb, which was closed with a large stone (just as Jesus’ own tomb would be closed). Then he said a prayer and in a loud voice, he cried “LAZARUS. COME OUT!” and Lazarus came out from his grave. But he was alive, but his hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial linen, and a burial cloth was around his face. And Jesus gave those who were gathered something to do. He said, “Unbind him… and let him go.” And so, we are told that we have a Savior who meets us in our grief, who joins us in our tears, who knows that saying goodbye breaks our hearts and tests our faith. We have a Savior who doesn’t write poems about being brave in the face of emptiness and loss, but confronts them face-to-face. It’s been 35 years and well more than a hundred funerals ago now, but I remember them all. I remember that last time my brother, Larry, and I listened to “Me and Bobby McGee” together when he was dying in Baylor Hospital. I remember sitting with Jeff and Kelly when they were facing death. Jeff was as gracious and gentle as any man could be and he loved His Lord, but on the night I am talking about, Jeff was looking for a sign from God. I remember Connie and the tears that mother Mary cried at her grave. She was strong, but when we all stood to leave, she sobbed and needed a helping hand. Oh, let’s praise God because our Savior is fully God- powerful enough to raise the dead and our Savior is fully human—tender enough to weep beside a grave.

Martha held grief and belief together and Jesus responded with one of the most powerful declarations in all of Scripture: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” Well, the raising of Lazarus was impressive and the word spread rapidly. People were excited about a man who could share their tears and also give them new life. Jesus was becoming more popular and the Pharisees were concerned. They didn’t know what to do… until the High Priest, Caiaphas, spoke up and said, “It is better that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.' In Caiaphas’s view, it was obvious and Jesus’ fate was sealed. Amen.