Today is the fifth Sunday in Lent. The lectionary gives us the story of another biblical resurrection — that of Lazarus of Bethany.
This is also the text that is currently shaking up scholarship of the Gospel of John. Drawing from the findings of my friend, New Testament scholar Elizabeth Schrader, I preached on it at the Wild Goose Festival in July 2022.
To both my and Elizabeth’s surprise, the sermon went viral and has been listened to (as far as it is possible to tell) about 750,000 times by people around the globe.
When it comes to John 11, there’s not much more that I can say than I’ve already said. And so, I offer up once again my sermon on this passage and Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who may well be Mary Magdalene.
John 11:1-45
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 Jews 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.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews 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 Jews 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 Jews 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 Jews 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 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 upward 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.”
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
In July 2022, the lectionary text was actually from Luke 10, but I turned it into a sermon about John 11.
This is the recording of the original sermon from Wild Goose last summer. I listened to it again before posting it — and even though I preached it, the words and possibilities herein still surprise me and move my heart.
If you’ve heard it before, I hope you’ll enjoy it once more. And if you haven’t heard it, you are in for a wild ride through John 11.
Closed captioning is available when you click on YouTube.
You can also READ a lightly edited version of this sermon in a PDF format.
PLEASE REMEMBER: This is a sermon, preached from about a page and a half of notes, largely extemporaneous — shared within a particular context — and not a polished article or an academic paper. It is my sermon-crafting of Elizabeth Schrader’s very fine research.
For more information on Schrader’s academic work, see HER WEBSITE where her professional papers are linked. This is the direct link to her original article on the subject. She’s currently finishing her doctoral work at Duke, and next autumn, she will be a professor at Villanova University.
The Risen Lord is indeed risen. Present, intimate, creative, 'closer than your own heartbeat,' accessed through your vulnerability, your capacity for intimacy. The imaginal realm is real, and through it you will never be separated from any one or anything you have ever loved, for love is the ground in which you live and move and have your being. This is the message that Mary Magdalene has perennially to bring. This is the message we most need to hear.
― Cynthia Bourgeault
Can't we look to Mary Magdalene as simply an early church leader whose rightful place next to Christ should have been acknowledged? There are no Scriptures to place her anywhere but right next to Jesus.
― Susan Campbell
I had read this manuscript, but listening to you, and the passion with which you delivered. It brought me to tears. Thank you so much for breaking the rules.
I heard this sermon when you posted it last year; I have also watched an hour and a half webinar of Libbie presenting this material, and then The Cottage last week. I am so moved by what in the deepest parts of my being are certain this is accurate that I actually decided to preach it last Sunday to a rural SW PA congregation of about 18 people. I knew there would be 2 children (4th/6th grades) so the Children's Time was my 'set-up' having them read 2 sentences of the beginning of a biography being written 100 years from now: "Once upon a time there was a High School student named Norma who was very bad at math class. One day after a test she went into the girlls' restroom and screamed loudly.' But what if the biographer consulted my great-great grandson...and he didn't like it. So he edited (changed) it to read: (2nd printout but with words lined out and others handwritten in): 'Once upon a time there was a High School student named Norma who was an excellent musician. One day after a concert she fist-pumped, yelled 'Yes!' and went out to celebrate!
Obviously they understood the purpose of the changes. So I talked about other reasons we might change writings...and even went into Bible experts agreeing on what words and phrases mean sometimes, and times when there are some irregularities and they can't all agree as to what it should be. Those are the times we see what the ones who wrote the translation we're using puts what they think is right, BUT! add a footnote to tell you to look at the bottom of the page for what other people think it means. Through the years we have changed many words in the Bible because of new understandings, but it is still the Bible and still God's Word to us. Then we prayed our thanks for the guidance and presence of God we have from scripture.
By the time I did a bit of background on Libbie and her discovery and read vs. 1-5 that she presented last week (complete with 'Codex/Papyrus' attributions) those folks were on the edge of their pews. It was a time of real openness for their spirits, and the comments as they came through the line were the complete opposite of what I had feared. They were so appreciative of the message, of feeling like they were worthy of such an erudite conversation, even simply of sensing the truth in this premise themselves.
Thank you Libbie!!! Thank you Diana!!! I'm retired and do some pulpit supply preaching and I can assure you, many more congregations will hear this message in the coming years (I don't mind going off-lectionary if there's an important word to be shared!)