Easter Blessings

Cross outside of St. Michael's Church, Wooster Square, New Haven, CT
For more Easter impressions click on Athens Daily Photo.

Unbound By Love

John 11: 1-45

Unbinding Words

by Jan Richardson

On the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, not the western slope where Jesus goes to pray lays the town of El-Azariyeh which is named after Lazarus.  It is this place, where it is believed, that Jesus raised him from the dead.  In the Bible it’s called Bethany.  El-Azariyeh is about two miles outside of the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem separated by the very steep and rocky Kidron Valley and the beloved Mount of Olives. 

It’s quite a walk and it’s one that Jesus will make on a donkey in just a few short days.  A walk in which there will be palms waving against the cerulean blue sky and children laying their cloaks on the dusty road.  But we are not there yet.  And certainly none of the people knew what the future was going to hold for them or for Jesus.  All they knew was that dear friend and brother, Lazarus was dead and buried.  And their hearts were heavy with grief.  And Jesus shuddered with sadness. 

The raising of Lazarus is a very long and large story.  It is a very complicated story of faith amidst the vicissitudes and obstacles of life, and it brings up fear of our human mortality.  There are so many portals of entry in this passage in which we could reflect but today we will concentrate on Lazarus.  First now, hear this story in its entirety from the Gospel of John the eleventh chapter.

Lazarus

by Vincent Van Gogh

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

 Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the [people] were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.’

After saying this, he told them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.’ Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow-disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’

Let’s take a quick break here.  Already Jesus is foretelling his disciples of what the future holds, but the disciples are slow to understand, but this is no surprise, is it?  It’s hard to believe that Jesus would dilly-dally just so he could demonstrate this miracle of resurrection, but he knows them all too well and wants to prepare them.  Once again love is at the core of what he dies.  Let’s continue….

 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the [people] had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The [people], who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the [people] who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the [people] said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’

 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

Lazarus, Come Forth

by Krishen Khanna

 Many of the [people] therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him…………Here ends our scripture.

“Lazarus, come out!”  Unbind him and let him go.”  And the first face that he saw after being dead was the face of Jesus, the face of love.  Not the face of the ever popular Hallmark card kind of romantic love but the love’s other faces of compassion, of justice, of strength, of healing. Lazarus, after being bound with strips of linen and laid to rest in a cold and dark stone tomb was given life once again.  And many people saw this great miracle of Jesus that day and believed.  For life had come to the dead.  And the bound were unbound.  Surely if Jesus could do that for Lazarus he could do that for them too.  Surely, if Jesus could do that for Lazarus he can do that for us too. 

For all of us, if we are truthful, have been bound tightly with strips of linen or a shroud one way or another. Strips that threaten to deny us breath.  Strips that hinder our vision.  Strips that ensnare us in addiction, depression or old habits.  Strips of linen that like to near kill us.  None of us are exempt because life is indeed difficult at times. But we are called out of our tombs because God so dearly loves us.    

It takes great faith to believe that once unbound you can come back to life; strip off grave’s apparel and begin to live again.  It takes faith to believe when you are shivering in the darkness of metaphorical death that you will ever breathe again.  And a thimble full of faith will do when you can’t conjure up the faith that you think you ‘should’ have.  And if you have no faith left I’m here to say that you will live a vital life again.   Because the voice calls, “Arise!”  “Come out!”  Come out wherever you are, in whatever condition you may be in. And that is Jesus.  And that is love.

In my work at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital I hear many of the vet’s wartime stories and the stories of their life after military service.  There are stories of heroism and defeat, survival and courage, strength and conviction, pain and life long suffering.   One vet who through her pain and her tears, through the ‘linen strips’ of  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and schizophrenia that bind her mightily at times, praises God, because, God is good she says, and she knows that God is her rock and her redemption, her deliverance from the illnesses that haunt her.  When she praises God she comes to life.  She hears the same voice of Jesus that Lazarus heard, “Arise, Come Out!”  To hear his voice is her blessing, her benediction, her resurrection to new life. 

We too are called out of our tomb because we are loved.  We too are unbound by that love so that we can be in the presence of Christ because in his presence we find forgiveness, mercy, grace and peace.   “I am the resurrection and life,” Jesus says “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

Arise, come out.  Be unbound by love.

Amen.

Psalm 14

God makes their dreams come true.

Bilious and bloated, they gas, "God is gone."
   Their words are poison gas,
      fouling the air; they poison
   Rivers and skies;
      thistles are their cash crop.

 God sticks his head out of heaven.
      He looks around.
   He's looking for someone not stupid—
      one man, even, God-expectant,
      just one God-ready woman.

 He comes up empty. A string
      of zeros. Useless, unshepherded
   Sheep, taking turns pretending
      to be Shepherd.
   The ninety and nine
      follow their fellow.

 Don't they know anything,
      all these impostors?
   Don't they know
      they can't get away with this—
   Treating people like a fast-food meal
      over which they're too busy to pray?

  Night is coming for them, and nightmares,
      for God takes the side of victims.
   Do you think you can mess
      with the dreams of the poor?
   You can't, for God
      makes their dreams come true.

 Is there anyone around to save Israel?
      Yes. God is around; God turns life around.
   Turned-around Jacob skips rope,
      turned-around Israel sings laughter.

This version Psalm 14 is from Eugene Peterson's 'The Message'.  For other photo interpretations of Psalm 14 just head over to City Daily Athens by clicking here.

Psalm 13

How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
   How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
   and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
   How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
   Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
   and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
   my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the LORD’s praise,
   for he has been good to me.

You can have a look at more Psalm Challenge entries by visiting City Daily Athens.

Psalm 11

In the LORD I take refuge.
   How then can you say to me:
   “Flee like a bird to your mountain.
For look, the wicked bend their bows;
   they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
   at the upright in heart.
When the foundations are being destroyed,
   what can the righteous do?”

The LORD is in his holy temple;
   the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes everyone on earth;
   his eyes examine them.
The LORD examines the righteous,
   but the wicked, those who love violence,
   he hates with a passion.

On the wicked he will rain
   fiery coals and burning sulfur;
   a scorching wind will be their lot.

 For the LORD is righteous,
   he loves justice;
   the upright will see his face.

The above photo was taken in Bethlehem in 2007, the year I lived in Jerusalem.  This beautiful sunset has captivated me ever since.  I see God's face in the natural formation of the clouds and the rays of the sun piercing the oncoming darkness.  I keep this photo in my kitchen and on my desk and gaze at it when I need refuge.   For more posts to Psalm Challenge go to City Athens Daily Photo.

Psalm 10

Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the oppressed.

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
   Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
² In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
   let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

³ For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
   those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
⁴ In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, ‘God will not seek it out’;
   all their thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’

⁵ Their ways prosper at all times;
   your judgements are on high, out of their sight;
   as for their foes, they scoff at them.
⁶ They think in their heart, ‘We shall not be moved;
   throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.’

⁷ Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
   under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
⁸ They sit in ambush in the villages;
   in hiding-places they murder the innocent.

Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
⁹   they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert;
they lurk that they may seize the poor;
   they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.

¹⁰ They stoop, they crouch,
   and the helpless fall by their might.
¹¹ They think in their heart, ‘God has forgotten,
   he has hidden his face, he will never see it.’

¹² Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
   do not forget the oppressed.
¹³ Why do the wicked renounce God,
   and say in their hearts, ‘You will not call us to account’?

¹⁴ But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
   that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
   you have been the helper of the orphan.

¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;
   seek out their wickedness until you find none.
¹⁶ The Lord is king for ever and ever;
   the nations shall perish from his land.

¹⁷ O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
   you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
¹⁸ to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
   so that those from earth may strike terror no more.^*


I've just joined City Athens Daily Photo Psalm Challenge.  Today's Psalm for reflection is Psalm 10.  Each Sunday there will be a posting for the next Psalm.  For other thoughtful reflections on Psalm 10 click the link above.

"Where No One Has Been"

Matthew 6: 24-34

Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee

Our text from Matthew this morning will be a familiar one when you hear it.  Imagine Jesus in the upper Galilee where sunflowers bend over to reveal their dark brown centers and golden petals.  They are silhouetted against a brilliant turquoise, sort of a ‘virgin Mary’ blue sky.  There are hundreds of wildflowers in bloom also, as is the case in that part of the Middle East.   Imagine he and his disciples and hundreds of other people sitting on a grassy mountainside overlooking the Sea of Galilee; a calm not stormy sea, with a fishing boat or two out in the middle. 

And he begins to talk.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. (Matt 5:3)  Jesus has begun his sermon up there on the mountain side.  He continues his discourse interpreting and reinterpreting Judaic law.  He makes it plain and simple for folk.  “You are the salt of the earth”, (Matt 5:13), “You are the light of the world.” (Matt 5:14), “Give to everyone who begs from you”, (Matt 5:42), “Love your enemies”, (Matt 5:44), “Pray like this…Our Father in Heaven”, (Matt 6:9).  That’s an awful lot of responsibility that he’s heaped on people.  He lets them know in no uncertain terms what it will be like, what it will take to be Christ-followers.

Then he says, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and wealth or mammon as the King James Version says”, (Matt 6:24).  You can just imagine how that might have landed on these poor, peasant people, right?  But then again if you are rich you worry about your investments, and if you are poor you worry about where your next dime will come from so anyone can get caught up in the struggle choosing between God and wealth.  Anyone can become a slave to the almighty shekel!  Then Jesus says, “THEREFORE” and you know you are in for something when he says, ‘therefore’.

Here now the words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew, the 6^th chapter….

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.


‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

I dabble in botanical watercolor.  What I love about it is that you have to really ‘get intimate’ with your floral
specimen.  If I were water coloring a lily I would have to ‘consider’, to look closely at the flower and all of
its parts.  How do the sepals, those pre blossom leaves and the petals relate?  How long are the stamens in
relation to the carpel?  Where is my light source and how does it interplay with the glorious color of the lily? 

Then, after the plant parts are identified and drawn I examine the color.  A petal is just never, red, or orange or magenta.  Oh no!  There are varying shades of pink all in one petal and sometimes you find a spring green running through one of its veins.  And don’t be surprised if you find a reddish brown or rust color tipping the edges of the leaves or sliding down the stem.  Lilies and all flowers are nothing short of a grand and glorious miracle of God.  When God created, God done good here! 

But you have to be a very quick painter if you want to use your specimen while it’s fresh.  And quick painting just doesn’t happen with watercolor.  You layer wash upon wash of color letting it dray in between and each day the flower wilts just a little.  The flower head droops and the light is not hitting it at the same angle.  So a botanical watercolorist must photograph her flower so she can see exactly what she saw the very first day otherwise the painting will be compromised.  Flowers wilt, petals drop, and eventually it dies altogether.

But that day on the mountain Jesus looked around.  He saw and perhaps picked a wildflower or a lily that was growing.  He admires the vast beauty of the lily, and the way in which God created and cares so deeply for a lily that will live only for a few days.  He tells the people around him not to worry.  Do not fret.  Don’t sweat!  Chillax.  Take a chill pill and relax.

If God can make sure that those little sparrows are fed, and that which grows so naturally in the field is as beautifully clothed as the lilies, or sunflowers, then don’t you think that your God in heaven knows what you need to live your life? 

Of course God knows what we need.  God created us, remember? 

But God also knows that there is plenty that we worry about, even to the point of excess. And rightly so!  For who among us today can honestly say that there isn’t a worry on our mind?  Or that there isn’t something that is taking up way to much residence in your heart, or that there isn’t some serious concern that keeps you awake at night or anxiety that wakes you up in the morning?   We all, especially in today’s economy and world disasters have been given much to worry about.

Jesus does not turn a blind eye to his followers concerns and worries.  He embraces them, that’s what we see in his life and in his work and his ministry.    He works with hungry people, the street people and people who are in dire need of healing.  He has compassion for the well-to-do who have much to lose.  He knows all too well the human condition and the capacity for excessive worry. 

He understands that worry to the extreme can render you completely helpless.  He also knows that when worry is your life then you are relying and living out of fear more than trust in God.  For the opposite of worry is trust.

I understand that your congregation is at a crossroads.  For some it might be a relief, and for some it might be bittersweet, and for others it might be sad or scary.  I don’t know details, nor do I want to.  But as past interim pastor I’ve learned that there is anxiety and worry, concern and even fear about this interim period and what the future will bring for a congregation. 

When you begin to see anxiety seep into the crevices of the sanctuary, remember the final verse of today’s scripture.  “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”  There is plenty to deal with today without bringing into play the anxieties of tomorrow.  If we let our anxieties about tomorrow invade our moments of today we will be missing out on so much goodness and grace.

I once heard it said, ‘Tomorrow is a place where no one has been’.  How true is that?  Not me, not you, nor anyone around us, not the psychic, or the soothsayer or ‘Great Aunt Ella’ who has premonitions, nor economic indicators or weather forecasters have yet stepped foot into tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a place where no one has been. And that’s a real good thing.  Because then we begin anew to write a different page in the diary of life.   Each day is a new beginning not rooted in fear, but based upon resurrection. 

Living into the resurrection made so abundantly clear through Jesus Christ enables us to figure out today first before going to this place where no one has been.  Resurrection brings hope for tomorrow because God cares.  God cares deeply.  God cares about the migratory birds that fly over Israel and the flowers that dot the hillside.  God will guide you and calm your fears and set before you a path to traverse.  But that’s tomorrow.  Let’s enjoy this day.

Amen.     

Rev. Suzanne Wagner