Reflection by Jeff Koch

Ezekiel 37:12-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45

 Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless.  From the deceitful and cunning rescue me, for you, O God, are my strength.

               How do we know we can trust God?  Are there days when you wonder if or when he will take care of a situation or problem you have encountered? Do you hunger and thirst for justice? In our readings and prayers for this coming Sunday, there is a consistent thought that runs through them all.  Trust!

               In our entrance prayer, we are asking God for justice, to make things right, in this Psalm 43, the nation seemed to be more faithless and deceitful rather than having faith in God and His abilities to care for the helpless and weak.  So, we cry out to God for justice and asking him to be our strength.  The key to being able to live in trust is to understand the role that the reality of resurrection plays in trust.  Our reading in Ezekial is set in the story of the dry bones.  At the time of this vision, the people of Israel were captives in exile, suffering the consequences o their sin that had polluted the land with idolatry and rebellion and brought dishonor to God’s name.  Feeling hopeless and cut off from their land, king and temple; God promised them a miraculous revival and restoration.  In the vision God asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekial answers, “O Lord God, only you know.”  As we read, we see the vision play our before our eyes; bones connect, tendons and muscles form on them and skin covers these lifeless bodies and God has Ezekial prophecy to the dead and breathe comes into them and they are raised.  They are alive!  God says, “I will open the graves, and they will be raised and come back to the land of Israel . . . Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open the graves and have you rise from them. O my people. . . I have promised and I will do it!” And he did, he brought Israel out of captivity and planted them back in the land just as he said he would.  He is letting the world and Israel know that if he can restore Israel and bring them back from the death of captivity, He truly is God, and he can be trusted!  Even when we are not quite sure what is going on.

               We fast forward; in that restored land, Lazarus has died.  Jesus heads to Bethany to ‘awaken’ Lazarus.  He knows what he is going to do.  But the disciples, nor Mary and Martha, know the plan.  When he gets to Bethany, Martha meets him and says, “if you would have been here our brother would not have died.”  But I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you.”  To this Jesus says, “your brother will rise!”  Martha realizes that he will rise in “the resurrection on the last day.”  Still not fully understanding the plan of Jesus. Jesus tells her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?  She says, yes, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”  Wonderful, but I still not sure she was expecting what Jesus was about to do.  Because later we hear Martha trying to discourage Jesus because he has been in the tomb for 4 days and there would be a stench.

               Then Jesus speaks loudly to all gathered in their questioning, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.  “Lazarus, come out!” and he does!  Risen from the dead.  So, in this very wonderful picture, a precursor of his own resurrection that would come a short time later, in which Jesus would enter into death and by His death conquers death, so that we who were subject to the fear of death, can now be free from the slavery in our lives caused by death. (Hebrews 2:14-18)

               In Romans, Paul says, “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.”  Can these bones live? Yes! Can justice once again come to earth and our world and our lives? YES! Can the dead live again?  YES! Can I trust God to take care of these issues in my life? YES!

               Maybe our trouble is not trust, but timing.  Let me remind you, no one knew what Jesus was going to do, until he did it.  I believe that God is at work, doing all he has promised he would do.  But like Martha, we may not perceive, nor see it.

               So, in our struggles, in our fears, in our worries; we can trust him and pray this prayer from Psalm 130; I trust in the LORD, my soul trusts in his word (Jesus). My soul looks for the Lord, let (me) hope in the LORD, For with the LORD is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. Trust in God, for Jesus is alive!!

By your help, we beseech you, Lord God, may we walk eagerly in that same charity with which, out of love for the world, your Son, handed himself over to death.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen!