Sometimes when I use an illustration, I realize I really am dating myself.  Oh, I wish I could be more up-to-date but I largely stopped watching most television programs years ago.  All that to say, I’m sure there is a more recent analogue show but I’m just not aware of it.  The show I remember that works is one called, “Three’s Company” and it was an early 80s era sitcom about three roommates.  Two were women, one was a guy and that set up lots of hilarious situations.  The typical show revolved around a familiar plot line.  Someone would get just “half the story” and then do so lunatic things until the whole story was revealed, generally to their embarrassment.  For example, one of the roommates would see the other one with a new man.  They’d assume that it was a boyfriend.  Turns out, it was their brother.  But that only would get revealed after some hilarity ensued from the misunderstanding.

  Half the story can sure get us into trouble sometimes.  I recollect going off half-cocked on a clerk one time when I didn’t understand the whole story.  Gosh, I’d like to have those moments back.  I’m sure you’ve experienced something similar.  When you only get half the story, you’re bound to miss out.

  I begin there very deliberately because it seems like when it comes to Jesus Christ, many of us only get half the picture, half the story so to speak.  And here, in John 11, we have one of the most quoted verses of scripture.  But I think we only hear half of it.  Only get half of the story.  In John 11:25-26, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”  I think we get the resurrection part.  Who here doesn’t enjoy knowing that even though we die, yet shall we live?  There is something about the knowledge of eternal life that makes this life more bearable.  We can handle the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, we can handle the loss of loved ones, illnesses even with a firm resolve knowing that death isn’t the final word for us.  That we live on beyond our graves in and through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

  As I prepared this week’s sermon, I was struck by the fact that two of the readings we hear most frequently at funerals appear in the lectionary in the weeks approaching Easter.  Last week, we read Psalm 23.  This week, we heard the raising of Lazarus. Within this passage, we hear a verse most often read at funerals.  Obviously, this verse is read at funerals because it offers profound comfort in times of loss. Standing in the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus’ words provide spiritual balm for wounds inflicted by the death of a loved one.

  And while these words do offer us an amazing future hope, that’s only half the story.  On one-level, Lazarus’ resurrection speaks to an eternal life to be enjoyed after our physical death.  But look closer and you’ll see this story more powerfully speaks to us here and now.  Looking at what happens to Lazarus, we see there’s another hope, a far more immediate one.  So just like Sheila did last week, I invite you to hear these familiar verses in a new context.  Hear it speak to you and your life in the present tense.  Read the passage! 

  Our reading begins with Martha hurrying out to meet Jesus.  She’s half in grief, half in anger.  You see, Jesus is coming to Bethany.  Now, He’s four days late by Martha’s reckoning.  But she still holds out hope.  After all, Martha knows Jesus is capable of doing amazing things.  And so, Martha rushes out to encounter Him filled with a teary-eyed hope.  She says “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.”  Her hope is palpable in her words, even if what she wants seems a little far-fetched by this point.  Lazarus, as we know, has been dead four days.  Now to us, dead is dead, the number of days is irrelevant.  However, in Jewish belief at the time, four days was significant.  You see, Jews of the era believed the soul tarried about the body for three days.  Within that three-day window, there was the possibility of a restored life through a miracle.  A dim, faint hope at best, but hope nonetheless.  On the fourth day though, that slim optimism evaporated.  The soul was gone and with it any possibility of life restored.  Jesus responds plainly to Martha’s half-uttered hope for the return of Lazarus.  “Your brother will rise again” Jesus says.  Yes, yes, she responds as though condescended to.  Martha knows the future.  Someday, in the sweet by and by we’ll all rise from the grave.  And in a way, that knowledge offers her some comfort.  But not the kind of immediate relief she’s looking for.  Someday seems awfully far away after all.  Martha wants him NOW. Jesus responds with what are some of the greatest words we’ll ever hear. “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”  Martha has only got half the picture.  Yes, Jesus affirms, He is the resurrection, the long- awaited hope for an eternal existence.  But that’s only HALF of what Jesus says.

  Think about it, if that’s all Jesus wanted us to reveal to us He would’ve said something like this – yes Martha, I am the resurrection, those who believe in Me even though they die will live forever.  But that isn’t what He says, thanks be to God.  “I am the life” He adds into the mix. “Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”  And what He reveals is that an amazing, abundant, eternal life is possible here and now.

  You see, Jesus is offering us more than a future hope.  He’s offering the possibility of life in all its fullness right now, right here in our present.  I think in a lot of ways it’s interesting to note how much like Martha we are when it comes to what we believe about life in Christ.  Just like Martha, we believe our faith in Jesus makes eternal life possible.  We profess that somehow, someway, we will live after our physical demise.  And more often than not, that’s where we leave it.  Resurrection is entirely a future hope.