Listen here.

John 11:17-27, 38-53

¹⁷ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰ So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Grace, mercy, peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sure, you’re a decent person – not perfect, but decent. Yeah, you could try harder, but your intentions are good. A slight improvement here and a little more effort there, and just imagine how good you could be.

The only problem is that, eventually, you die. And when you die, your prospects for improvement and goodness decrease. Rapidly.

Jesus arrives at Lazarus’ house four days late. There stands Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life. He stands before the stone of His buddy’s tomb and says, “Roll away the stone.”

And Martha – practical, practical Martha – says, “You probably don’t want to do that. It’s been four days. My brother, God bless him, he stinks.” The KJV is quite a good translation, and here is one of the places I love it. In the KJV, Martha says, “Lord, He stinketh.”

When you stinketh, nothing – no matter how good or moral or upright you were – nothing about you matters. When you stinketh, the only thing that matters is what kind of God you have.

So, what kind of God do you have?

You see what kind here and in our Old Testament lesson (Ezk. 37:1-14). Ezekiel sees the valley full or bones. There were many, and they were dry. They weren’t full of love for God or love for their neighbor. They weren’t even able to muster up a stink – not any more.

God asks, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

Not wanting to give the wrong answer, Ezekiel defers, “O Lord God, you know.”

“Well,” God says, “Preach to the bones.” (There’s a suggestion for a new congregation’s name – Dry Bones Lutheran.) “Preach to the bones, Ezekiel. Say, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. You will live and you will know that I am Yahweh.’”

So, Ezekiel preaches to a congregation without ears. And through that preaching, both the preacher and the bones know who Yahweh is.

Who is this Yahweh? He is the Resurrection and the Life. When God says, “Live,” you do. You can be dead as Lazarus and stinketh, you can be dead as those dry bones, you can be as dead as Marley from “A Christmas Carol,” when the Lord and Giver of life says to the dead, “Get up! Come out!” you do.

That is the kind of God you have. At His word, you who are dead gain life – endless life.

You have the kind of God who comes with life-giving words. The kinds of God who simply speaks to stinky Lazarus, “Come out,” and he does.

Ezekiel preached a sermon to dry bones, and they lived. Jesus preached to stinky Lazarus, and he lived. So, here is your sermon:

You – yes, you sinner. You are dead in sin. You stinketh. Come out. Come out of your stinky-ness. Come Holy Spirit and breathe on these dry bones that they may live.

Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life has taken your death and killed it in His death on the cross. You will not stink. You will live. And by this, you will know that He is Yahweh.

Your God and your Lord is here today to put His resurrected Body and His resurrected Blood into you so that you will not stink. Instead, you will have the pleasant, fragrant aroma of Christ. Amen.[1]

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] I am thankful for a sermon by Rev. Dr. Stephen Paulson as inspiration for this sermon.