Have you ever thought about the power that you have at your fingertips? Take just a second to consider it. Right this very minute, if you walk into any room in this building you can go up to a little plastic switch on the wall, flip it up, and viola! The room is filled with light! We take it so for granted that most of the timewe don’t even give it a second thought. But when you really stop and think about it, it’s pretty cool. We have light at our fingertips.
Just try to imagine how amazed the first people who populated this building would be if they could get a taste of your power. If you could bring those good people from 1865 into our sanctuary this morning and flip on a light switch, the fact isthey might well try to burn you at the stake as a witch. But be that as it may, one thing’s for sure, no matter whether they perceived you to be a good witch or a bad witch, they would most certainly think that you were one powerful individual. And when you consider the further fact that you can cook food in seconds, send pictures and messages to the other side of the globe, and heat or cool your entire home all with just the flip of a switch, you begin to understand just how powerful you really are.
But before we get too carried away with ourselves, let’s not forget that there are limits to the power that we possess. For instance, just try not paying your utility bill for a few months, andyou’ll quickly discover that there is at least one power in the universe that is greater than your button pushing, switch flipping finger.
But there is also, of course, still another power even greater than that possessed by Connecticut Light and Power, a power that is universal, endless, and unlimited. And that power is the power of God. While we might think that sending an E-mail or cooking a bag of microwave popcorn is pretty cool, the power of God is so great that in the book of Genesis we are told that at the dawn of creation, the power of God simply spoke the entire universe into existence. God’s version of flipping on a light switch was to simply say, “Let there be light”and the sun burst into flame bringing light to our entire solar system. Our power might be limited, but God’s most definitely is not.
And that is precisely the lesson that we learn in the extraordinary story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in the 11th chapter of John’s Gospel. When Jesus came to Bethany and raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, he proved once and for all that there is no power in the universe greater than the power ofGod’s love. And in reading the story this morning, we can catch at least a tiny glimpse of the infinite power of God.
When I was a kid, I remember the day that my 3rd grade teacher introduced me to the concept of infinity. She showed us a picture of the night sky and told us that if we were to get into a rocket ship and blast off into space heading “that a way” straight up into the sky, we could go on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and never reach the end of the universe, because the universe has no end. In my mind, I tried to imagine the universe as a shoebox. And outside of that shoebox was another and another and another larger shoebox always waiting outside of the one that I was examining. In my mind, there always had to be a larger shoebox outside, there always had to be a lid, a top, there had to be an end to everything. And so the concept of a shoebox that had no lid, the idea of an infinite and unending universe that went on forever and ever and ever caused my head to hurt, and my brain to collapse in upon itself. Have you ever given yourself a headache by trying to wrap your brain around the reality of an infinite universe?
Well, as painful as it might be, take just a moment now to think about that infinite, unending universe and then consider the fact that it was the power of God that created it. In that moment you will catch a tiny glimpse of the mind numbing scope of the power of God. As big, and bright, and vast, and unending as the universe is, God is bigger and brighter and even more vast. The universe is infinite, but God is infinity squared. And this morning’s scripture passage gives us one little example of what that power looks like when it shows up in our everyday lives.
As John tells us, Jesus was teaching somewhere in the region of the Jordan river when the news came to him that one of his very best friends, Lazarus of Bethany was seriously ill. After responding by staying where he was for 2 more days, showing us that God’s power defies human logic as well, Jesus headed over to Bethany to visit his friends Mary and Martha.
Upon Jesus’ arrival in Bethany, John tells us that Martha came to meet him and the two of them engaged in a conversation about life, death, and eternity. Beginning in verse 20 John tells us that, “Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,” he who is coming into the world."
Another clear memory from childhood is my Thursday night tradition of watching the television series Star Trek. At the beginning of the show, a vast star field would appear on the screen and as the Starship Enterprise swished across the screen, lead actor William Shatner would say in a dramatic voice over, “Space - the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.” Despite the opinion of Capt. James Tiberias Kirk, it is death, not space, thatstands before humankind as the final frontier. There is nothing we can imagine that could be more final than death.
However, despite the finality with which we might view death, for Jesus life and death were small potatoes in comparison to the infinite power of God and the vastness of eternal life. This is evidenced by his absolute lack of concern for his own life when his disciples tried to prevent him from going to Bethany by saying, "Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" And despite the threat to his own life, Jesus went anyway. The disciples were worried about mortality, but Jesus was dealing in immortality. Martha was looking for healing from an illness, but Jesus was preparing for a resurrection from the dead.
And so they went to the place where Lazarus was buried and Jesus stood outside the tomb of his best friend who had been dead 4 days. And against all odds, contrary to all wisdom, and beyond any power that anyone had ever witnessed to that point in history, Jesus called to his friend, “Lazarus come out.” And in that instant, all the rules concerning life and death were changed, the final frontier was crossed, and the world was turned upside down with the power of God. Just as God spoke the universe into existence and commanded the sun to bring light to the world at the beginning of time, Jesus called to Lazarus and the power that time holds over our lives was erased by the in-breaking of eternity. God in Christ spoke, and Lazarus came walking out of the tomb.
That same infinite and immeasurable power that raised Lazarus from the tomb is available to us here this morning. And not just in the future on that fateful day when we cross the river from this life to the next. The infinite power of God is here and now, in this place and at this time, the life restoring power of God is here for you today. When Lazarus walked out of the tombthat day, it served as evidence to you and me and every other man, woman and child on earth that God’s infinite power is available to all people on all days. Everything that had seemed hopeless became full of hope, everything that appeared dark suddenly shone as bright as the noonday sun. When Jesus called Lazarus to come out of that tomb he proved once and forever that the power of God is more vast than the number of stars in the night sky, the power of God is bright enough to erase the dark of even the darkest night, the power of God that can defeat even death, makes anything possible.
And so when you face life’s more difficult moments, when you feel that you’ve taken all you can take, when you feel powerless in the face of the challenges that life has presented you, when you feel lost in the dark, call on the infinite power of God and there will be light.
Amen |