Scripture

John 11:17-37

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" "Yes, Lord," she replied, "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept.

Then 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?"

Divinity Rises with us Throughout our Sacrifices and our Grief

by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts

Read the message below. Video premieres today at 8 pm EDT, click here to watch on YouTube with live text chat

We are so blessed to be able to be in community with each other despite the isolation of the pandemic. If you are in need or would like to connect, please don't hesitate to reach out! Be sure to also catch our Live YouTube Broadcast at 8 pm EDT with YouTube Chat. Today, let's open in prayer and supportive contemplation for those at the front lines, those who have sacrificed, and those that have lost their lives through this pandemic.

Oh God, we uplift to you and thank you deeply for our nurses, doctors, other medical professionals and sanitation workers, our police officers, military, and firefighters, all of our emergency workers and those that have suffered loss, have lost, or risk their lives every day and the safety of their family's to empower, protect, and heal others in the midst of this pandemic.

We grieve and pray for all those who have lost their lives due to Covid-19 or are suffering in its wake due to loss and sickness. Just as Christ entered Jerusalem as a Divine King upon palm leaves riding on a donkey toward his death and transformation of life, may those who have given up their earthly lives enter and be received in great fanfare into your heavenly abode, as we know they are. Empower our sacrificial living today so that through these difficult times we may find that you raise us, as a community, deeper into your embrace. Amen.

Today we reflect together on a world in the midst of something that seems straight from sci-fi: even New York City's streets are cleared and desolate, we're connecting technologically in ways we've only dabbled with before, and we're experiencing deep loss and grief due to something almost unimaginable, microscopic and deadly. Like in a post-apocalyptic storybook, people are amidst deep sacrifice: some have offered up their earthly lives and families have lost loved ones and are deeply aggrieved and mourning, something that, unfortunately, many of us know and will know first-hand.

Front line workers of all stripes, from medical to sanitation, are putting themselves, their sanity, and their families on the line to allow society and others to live and thrive, often paying a heavy price - from loss of life to loss of housing due to landlords' fears of having them near.

And although sometimes not equitable, many more of us are in sacrificial mode as well; giving up in-person connections that bolstered us, grounded us, and gladdened us. Changing lifestyles in drastic ways. Many of us have lost our jobs or are losing income in the face of mounting debt, expenses, and trials, leading to a type of famine and forced homelessness and deep anxiety and pain.

But like in many of those apocalyptic stories, amidst our grief and trials the divine heart of love and positive transformation still stands - pointing toward the sunrise and a bright wellspring of life, if we but embrace it, letting go of the structures that are not serving our world and humanity even when they are highly esteemed.

In ancient times, in the middle of what we're told was another year of deep transformation, someone many consider to be Divinity or God Incarnate - Jesus "the-Saving-One" (Christ when untranslated) - was confronted with the death of a good friend whose name was "whom-God-has-helped" (Lazarus when untranslated). It was then grumbled that this "Saving-One" could have surely saved this friend "whom-God-has-helped," given all that he had done in the past and his clearly immense knowledge, care and healing power. Something that many of us may reasonably feel toward God in this crisis or others, questioning, "How could Divinity let this happen?"

However, due to his deep love for Lazarus "whom-God-has-helped" and his sisters, Mary and Martha, God-in-the-flesh traveled to comfort the family during this loss, just as Divinity always seeks to approach us, seeking to comfort us and empower us toward greater awareness, peace, and love. Like many of us, Martha believes in the personality and Divinity of the Higher Power, and upon receiving him she laments, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." But in her higher awareness of God's power, she also says, "But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

I find this interesting and relevant today, because what we see next from Jesus embodies some of the different ways that we are empowered to hold grief and others in their loss. Jesus responds to Martha by affirming her wisdom, pointing to how those that follow his Divine ways will never die but will live eternally. Note that the meaning of both of Jesus' names point to God saving and being with us, and so to follow God transcends following just the literal "name of 'Jesus,'" but instead following the fuller, "meaning of the name of Jesus" (which is explored throughout scripture) - goodness, love, wisdom, life, consciousness, peace, compassion, mercy, openness, sacrifice, and all the higher archetypes that many of the world's traditions describe God as being. Indeed, every major religious tradition uses some of these words as part of the "names" of God.

With Mary, Jesus at first gives her and the others in the household space - staying where he met Martha, away from the home. Something that we're also often called to do for others amidst grief: to give space, to hold space, and to stay available - giving them room to lament, breathe, reflect, mourn, and as we'll see, perhaps eventually reach out. Knowing that Christ is there and available, Mary and the others who were comforting her come out and find him. Falling to her feet, Mary also laments that if he had been there, her brother would not have died.

Here, Jesus responds in another way we are empowered to respond, by empathizing and inquiring about her brother, then weeping due to his love for him and their family and his deep sadness for their pain. Seeing this, some point to Christ's deep love, others more cynically point again to how Jesus could have done more and saved this man who he could have helped. Indeed, helping someone who even carries the name, "whom-God-has-helped!"

As most of us know, the story ends with Jesus, God, raising Lazarus from the dead. Helping him and embodying the fact that he is "the resurrection and the life," and perhaps shutting down his critics (although unlikely, as we find out).

But is this a vastly greater blessing than usual from Divinity, or is it a parable (perhaps one that literally happened) that speaks towards a higher truth for all of us? Jesus doesn't say that he is the resurrection and the life for just Lazarus, but for all people that walk in their own finite way on his Divine path.

Yes, Divinity may not seem to often console us so physically as Christ does in this story, and yes, God doesn't typically show up days after the loss of a loved one and resurrect their physical bodies. However, we're told that all consolation, all comfort and care, are sourced and given by Divinity, and that we can find more remembering the God that was so beautifully expressed by our loved ones or that which we have lost. We're also told that we are indeed resurrected into a spiritual and a continuation of life almost immediately after death by the Christian scriptures, as well as in Hebraic, Hindu, Muslim, and others. In fact, these traditions are similar in that most of them emphasize that if we are willing to follow in the path of the Godhead, we will be resurrected into a realm that is described as a heavenly abode (yes, even the Hindu scriptures say this!). So yes, we are called to mourn, to grieve, to give comfort and to be comforted, but also to be conscious of the reality of eternal life and that Divinity will and does come through in ways unimaginable to us today.

This is a time of deep sacrifice, but God is called the "God of Sacrifice" for a deep reason. We sacrifice, give up things, lose others, and offer ourselves all into the hands of the Creator, because all things are in her care and all good things are from her. Indeed, we're told that acknowledging this idea continuously, meditatively, in our hearts is a key spiritual practice to finding lasting peace day-to-day and to receive clear vision. It's easy to lay our losses at God's feet, but instead, for our own health I believe we are tasked with seeing the Divine sunrise that is always available to us and the deep, comforting reality of God with us at the center of our higher self. This, even as we are also tasked with following further in the footsteps of Christ and sacrifice for social and economic justice, healing, and greater empowerment for the oppressed and hurting.

Later in the Gospel story, entering Jerusalem and heading to his preeminent death, God rejoiced and perhaps grieved with his people on a day that we remember as Palm Sunday, having already prophesied his own death around the corner and the persecution of his followers. It's an image that is often hard to fathom; why not run away from certain destruction? Because there was work to be done, the destruction was not a full one, and a Divine expression of love and truth had to be shared. God is with us in our losses and sacrifices. God is with the ones who seem gone forever but are actually "whom-God-helps." And God points to the healing truth of carrying this awareness, this devotion, in all moments. He is "the resurrection and the life," "the-Saving-One," Jesus "Jeh(ovah)-with-us," and he's here to heal, grieve with, and care for us, using even the toughest moments for deep transformation and renewal.

Strangely enough like sci-fi or a parable, the toughest times in our lives - when we have to sacrifice and are put under immense pressure and understandable anxiety and grief - also can serve as heady and heartfelt reminders to center on the love of community and Divinity, the One who's with us through the pain. This Covid-19 pandemic is one such time for many of us. And God isn't only with us in our hearts, consoling and teaching, but is also seeking to be embodied in our living and in our society as an earthly embodiment of heaven, releasing the systems that oppress, increase scarcity, and hurt. As the prayer says, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." May we allow Divinity to rise with us and raise us up, in this life and the next, through our grieving and our joy.

To end, I invite you to pray the Lord's prayer, meditate, or turn in devotional, contemplative awareness of the Divinity in all things, seeking to uplift us through our sacrifices and grief.

Blessings,

Rev. Cory