Sermon Tone Analysis

Let us pray.

May the study of your word bring us to a closer understanding of you Lord, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen

 

Every year around this time (leading up to the end of April) it is tax season

Every year roughly around this time is Lent – and from our readings today, you would be excused if you thought that our service today was a funeral service

            Each of the readings today draws us to consider the depths of life’s experiences

                        From Ezekiel we have the vision of the ‘dry bones’

                        Psalm 130, commonly chosen for funerals, begins with:

/“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord”(Psalm 130:1)/

            Then our passage from Romans we hear

/To set the mind on the flesh is death (Romans 8:6a)/

            And finally we have the story of Lazarus rising from the dead

After 4 days in the tomb, we have something right out of a 1930’s horror movie – with a Lazarus walking like the Mummy, /with his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth./

Benjamin Franklin famously once said /“Certainty?

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.”/

/            /Death and taxes… from a worldly perspective these are *the* certainties of life

                        But… but, from a Christian perspective there is a much greater certainty

                                    It is the Good News that our Lord Jesus Christ has to share with us

It is what Lent is preparing us for – what we are looking ahead to celebrate in great anticipation

It is the victory over death, the victory over all that represents death – it is the triumph of Easter

And in fact this day, Sunday, and every Sunday is a feast day and is not one of the 40 days of Lent – it is a mini celebration of Easter

And today in all our readings, although on one hand could be seen as material for a funeral service, each reading points us to a greater glory – THE great certainty of life

It is most clearly illustrated in the *glimpse* of the power of God in the resurrection of Lazarus – preparing us for the glory of the ultimate victory of Easter, soon to be upon us

 

This time of the year, it is definitely true that the road to Easter runs through a cemetery

            It does so with a light getting brighter and brighter from the tunnel that we are in

 

 

Charlie, our guest preacher from ‘Why Not City Missions” last week spoke of loving the small words, “and then…” “therefore”… “Yet”… “But”… “If”

And if a advertising person were to be put in charge of presenting the Bible - these small words would be transformed to be like flashing arrows drawing you into the important message that is about to be revealed - “then…” and “therefore”…

                       

However, this week one would be excused to ignore the small words because they are so greatly overshadowed by giant statements

Consider the following statements and the implications that they carry

Consider what they say about our Lord

            Consider what they say about the people’s faith in our Lord

Consider what they state about a *certainty* beyond the world of ‘death and taxes’

 

*  “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” (John 11:16b)

* “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

(John 11:21b-22)

* “I am the resurrection and the life.

Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die (John 11:25b-26a)

 

what they say about our Lord… about the people’s faith… and a *certainty* beyond the world…

 

* I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.

(John 11:27)

* /And the shortest verse in the whole Bible: /Jesus wept (John 11:35)

* “See how He loved him!” (John 11:36b)

 

What they say about our Lord… about the people’s faith… and a *certainty* beyond the world…

 

* “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37b)

* If you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40b)

* “Father, I thank you for having heard me.

42I 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.” (John 11:41b-42)

Each of these statements could provoke hours and hours of conversation – however let’s change gears for a moment – let me share with you a hypothetical situation

 

Imagine that you grew up right here in Brantford, and you are a hockey player and a good one, in fact the captain of the team, of the Brantford Blast.

Hockey fans would come out to watch you and the team play.

Over the years, the team had done well in the league but never made it to the play-offs.

It’s your final year and this year has been a great year, you have made it all the way.

The final playoff game is actually here in Brantford, in your home town and it seems like the entire city has come out to watch.

After a hard played game with double overtime… you lose.

Now after the game, who comes up to the dressing room to congratulate you and the team on a great year and hard fought game but Brantford’s favorite son, Wayne Gretzky,

In town visiting family and friends, there you are with the greatest hockey player that ever played - And what is the first thing that you say…

“You’re late!

If you had come a little earlier, we would have won!”

 

Now take your self back nearly 2000 years…

You are part of a family of some means; you have a strong reputation amongst your town and the neighboring capital city.

Friends will travel far to be with you and traveling means walking.

You live in a nice home capable of providing space for your friends to stay while they visit.

There is this great man, he is a prophet of some sort, many say he is has done miracles – turn water into wine at a wedding, healed a noble man son’s from a distant, feed 5000 people, even walked on water.

He speaks of God in way that reflects and intimate knowledge of God,

He has said some strange and yet compelling stories that he is the light of the world.

He speaks of everything in such gentle but assured way that you know he gifted by God in wisdom and with vision for the future.

And he is your close friend… in fact your brother is great friends with Him; your brother is one of his closest friends.

Then your brother gets sick, and the sickness comes over him quickly.

You call in the doctors but they can nothing for your brother.

You send for this prophet and friend, maybe he can do another miracle like before; maybe he can save your brother.

But *strangely* he is delayed in coming and your brother dies.

Fours days after your brother has dead, in the tomb, arrives this prophet, in fact he doesn’t even come to the house, he sets up just outside your village.

What is the first thing that you say when you see him /“Lord, *IF* you had been here, my brother would not have died.”/

We are taught in school the five ‘w’ and one ‘h’ – Who, what, why, where, when, and how.

In these words we have the tools to explore and find explanation to everything.

With these questions at the ready a good reporter can get to the bottom of the story.

But we Christians have an even greater question, we have a word that goes to the heart of it, and that word is “IF”!

– one of the small words that Charlie spoke about loving last week

            IF Jesus had been there in time, Lazarus would not have died.

With the word IF there is incredible weight.

There is the weight of Faith.

If – is often closely followed by the word ‘believe’ or a message or phrase that describes ‘believing’.

‘If’ also implies a sense of contract or covenant – ‘If you do your part I will do mine.’

Here in this single word we have a key principal of the bible.

In this single small word – we have a window to the greatest of life’s certainties

 

Beyond the implications of death, In today’s scriptures we have the theme of “IF” through-out.

In Ezekiel 37 - The story of the Valley of Dry Bones.

We have God speaking to the prophet Ezekiel, who is a prophet during one of the most desperate times for the people of Israel.

They have been ravaged through war first by the Assyrians then the Babylonians.

Their land is under occupation, and many have been brought into exile to Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar.

The once prosperous nation of Israel, ‘the people of God’ are but a mere remnant.

It is in this context that the ‘spirit of the Lord’ brings Ezekiel in the valley of the dry bones.

The Lord speaks to Ezekiel and instructs him to prophesize to the ‘very dry bones’.

What is at stake here is whether Ezekiel will do it and whether the Lord will do what He has said he will do –

IF and believe – it is by this *example* that God promises or covenants to *return the remnant* of Israel to their land.

In the psalm 130 today we have the question ‘If’ and the message of ‘believe’.

*/IF/*/ you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you… my soul waits for the Lord… O Israel, hope in the Lord!

For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.

It is he who will redeem Israel./