Lazarus – A Preacher’s Ponderings

Life and death

Fifth Sunday in Lent; 26 March 20023; Lent 5A (RCL); Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45.

The story of the raising of Lazarus has always puzzled me, and continues to do so. I think that’s partly what John intended. There is no single meaning or interpretation of the story, but it is meant to pose unanswerable questions. At the heart of my puzzlement are the verbs used in v. 33. The NRSV translates, “he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” The Greek would be better translated “he was indignant in spirit and agitated,” when he sees the commotion around Lazarus’ tomb.

Reversal

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost; 25 September 2022; Proper 21C (RCL); Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31.

Finally, a glimmer of hope in Jeremiah. King Zedekiah has asked Jeremiah (in the verses we leave out) why he is prophesying that Jerusalem will fall and that Zedekiah will go into Exile. Jeremiah responds with God’s instructions to him to buy his cousin Hanamel’s field. The text doesn’t tell us why Hanamel wants to sell the property, but the fact of the Babylonian occupation of the land may have something to do with it.

If you had been here

Fifth Sunday of Lent; 29 March 2020; Lent 4A (RCL); Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45.

This is puzzling episode in John’s Gospel. Why does Jesus delay two days? Why does Thomas say, “Let us go die with him?” Is he speaking about Lazarus or Jesus? Why does Jesus grandstand for the crowd? There is so much misdirection in this passage, it will require digging to figure it out.