John 5:24-29

03/15/09
John 5:24-29
Hudson UMC

We continue on this week where we got to two weeks ago, when Jesus was speaking with the Jewish leaders to teach them. If you recall, the reason that this meeting is happening in the first place is not because Jesus has done anything evil. He has not been beating people, nor has He been calling the Jewish leaders names, nor has He been telling people to completely disregard the ways of God. The only thing He had done is work the mighty miracle of healing a man who had not been able to walk for thirty-eight years. Jesus took every opportunity that He could to explain the truths of God, to encourage everyone to respond in faith.

There are many related themes in this passage. Indeed, we could say that they are themes, not only in this passage but in the gospel of John, and indeed, even themes of the entire New Testament. The first of these is death. Nobody really likes to talk about death. We have completely tied the reality of death with grief and sorrow. The idea that death could ever be a fundamentally good thing in and of itself is not something that we Americans like to consider. Indeed, when we read in both the Old and New Testaments, we find that the Bible consistently refers to death as a bad thing, as an enemy of humanity, not some intrinsically noble event that we should rejoice in as just another aspect of life.

In recent weeks, I have been continually impressed by the fact that the Bible does not sugar coat our existence. The Biblical writers, prophets and apostles, did not hold back for fear that they would offend someone by addressing some unmentionable topic. The word of God consistently portrays the underside of life, calling a spade a spade and being so candid about the sinfulness that dwells deep inside each of our hearts that we are often made very uncomfortable.

So, while the Bible is very willing to look straight at death without romanticizing it, in the context of our passage, the idea of death is only present in connection with another theme, that of resurrection. Here we are, smack dab in the middle of the season of Lent; what better time to ponder the biblical themes of death and resurrection?

I mentioned that the Bible never talks about death in romantic terms like many poets and other writers and thinkers have done. The Bible acknowledges two facts: The first is that death is, at its very core, something bad, not something to rejoice in. The second is that everyone dies. If we were to only see that the Bible says that and we do not look to see what else the Scriptures tell us, we would quickly become depressed and lose all our hope. However, the Biblical witness teaches us one more fact that is somewhat less obvious to humanity apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ. This last fact is that, despite the sad reality of death and the universality of death, death is by no means the final word. There will be a resurrection and death will be defeated and completely overcome by this resurrection. We see a foretaste of resurrection in the resurrection of Christ, but it is a resurrection that we will also participate in.

The resurrection is a central theme of the Christian faith; without it, all of Christianity falls to the ground. The resurrection teaches us several things. First, it teaches us that our God is indeed more powerful than anything else in the universe. Not even death can contain our Lord. Though even the greatest men and women have been conquered by death, and when you and I try to fight death, we will eventually lose, our Lord has not only resisted death, but has fundamentally conquered it, setting us free from bondage. Because our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead that Sunday morning, we need not fear the grave. We can approach it with audacious hope, a fearless conviction that, though we go into the ground, we will someday be raised to newness of life and in resurrected glory.

Another thing that the Christian belief in the resurrection teaches us is that humanity in its fullest expression is not what we see around us and we encounter from day to day. We might think that this is what full humanity is since there is so much of it, but there is so much sin and brokenness around, we can be sure that this is not God’s full and final plan for you and me. Sometimes, we like to think of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden as the perfect expression of what humanity is all about. Though this is probably a bit closer, the resurrection of Christ leads us to believe that it is not sufficient. I believe that, though we have lived all our lives in broken and weak humanity, though we will continue to live in it, though indwelt by the Spirit of God, it is not God’s final plan for us. God’s final plan for humanity, for people like you and me is resurrection, just like the very Son of God. Jesus, after He was raised from the dead, was kind of similar to the rest of humanity, but there were some very clear differences.

To return to our text, we notice that Jesus speaks of two resurrections. Actually, there are two sets of two resurrections. The two resurrections that are clearly mentioned are a spiritual resurrection and a physical resurrection. Within the physical resurrection, there are two subcategories. Jesus refers to these as the resurrection of life and the resurrection of condemnation. Now, nobody likes to talk about judgment, and indeed, this sermon is not about judgment, so you can breathe easily. However, nobody in the Bible talks about judgment more than Jesus. It is an important theme and cannot be ignored. There might come a time later in the gospel of John where we will have to come face to face with judgment, but I want to draw attention primarily to the resurrection to life and how it is connected with Jesus Christ.

We read the words of Christ, “For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” Jesus makes a strong point to the fact that the only person who has life in himself is God. The Father has life in Himself, the Son also has life in Himself. However, you and I do not have life in ourselves, that is, we are not the source of our own life. When Jesus and His apostles talk about the resurrection to life, they are not saying that we deserve to be raised up to newness of life simply because we are human beings and the creation of God. No, when we are raised up in the resurrection of life, the life is not our own; it is Christ’s life. If we participate in the life of Christ, it is then that we are truly alive. If we refuse to participate in Christ’s life, if we say to God, “No thanks, I would much rather remain dead in my grave. If I cannot have my own life, I want no life at all,” that we are excluded from the resurrection to life and have chosen to participate instead in the resurrection to condemnation.

That is enough about that unpleasant, though very important subject. The more critical point that I want to make, the one that is meant to encourage us in the midst of trials and tribulations is the idea of spiritual resurrection. Now, we in the Western world tend to like to detach body from soul, to draw sharp distinctions between what happens to our bodies and what happens to our spirits. This is simply not the case. We are indeed spirits who are embodied. What impacts one is sure to impact the other. What I mean by this is that, though I am not going to speak much about the physical resurrection anymore, the spiritual resurrection is intimately related to it. Jesus refers to the resurrection of believers by saying, “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” The resurrection of our bodies is yet coming, but the resurrection of our souls is now here. Whether or not we participate in the spiritual resurrection will directly impact whether or not we participate in the resurrection of life.

Jesus speaks about a spiritual resurrection, that there is a sense in which we will be raised from the dead even now, even in the midst of our day-to-day existence. When we read about the idea of salvation in this gospel account, the favorite term that John uses is “eternal life.” As we have already heard, when Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus, this eternal life is something that will come eventually, but also something that we participate in now. Ultimately, when we are resurrected to glory, we will be participating in Christ’s own resurrection. If we have eternal life on this side of eternity, it is not because of anything we have achieved, nor anything that we simply deserve because we do more good than bad, but because we are participating in the eternal life of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

The idea of resurrection is wonderful and full of hope and joy, but it is built on the unpleasant reality of death. One cannot be resurrected if one has not died. When it comes to the physical resurrection, we love to hear about how God will raise our lifeless bodies to glory because we are all aware and grieved over the reality of death that we will all one day endure. And yet, the idea of spiritual resurrection might not be so comfortable. You see, Jesus promises humanity resurrection from spiritual death. This means that, without being in Christ, none of humanity has spiritual life. Left to our own devices, we would be lying in our spiritual graves, unable to live for God. After all our education, being told that we can do whatever we want to do, so long as we work really hard, we do not like to think of ourselves as helpless, but that is precisely what we are. Jesus does not awaken us to the life that is already within us, but imparts that life to our souls, raising our spirits from the death of sin. God does not love us because we are already good, God loves us, even in the midst of our sin and shortcoming, and it is the love and grace of God that makes us good.

If we were to look around the world and observe the people that surround us, if we are being honest with ourselves, we would notice that most people are not spiritually alive. They are not only aware of how this financial crisis can impact them, they are panicking over it. They get angry over little things. Most people around us live their lives without a thought toward God, who go from day to day without the slightest thought that what they do at home, at work, in their cars, has eternal significance. There is no doubt that, as we live in a culture that increasingly ignores God, where churches are shrinking rapidly, and where moral looseness reigns, there is an awful lot of spiritual death going around.

If we wanted to, we could probably each make a list of people that we think are spiritually dead. We could even make a list of churches that are spiritually dead and spend a good hour thinking up all the reasons that America in general and Hudson in particular, is not what it used to be and how we seem to be going to hell in a hatbox. And yet, we must never forget to take a good, hard look at ourselves, too. This is especially true in the season of Lent because it is a season of self-reflection and repentance, but we must not forget to do it even in the seasons after Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas. I must confess that, when I am honest with myself, I bear far too many signs of spiritual lifelessness. I am not always as loving towards others as I should be. There are days when I snap at people, when I treat others as somehow less than myself, and when I live just like the world around me, the world that I do not hesitate to criticize.

The thing that scares me about those days is like the famous duck test. How do you know if something is a duck? Well, if it looks like a duck, and swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, who could argue that it is not a duck? Ah, but if I look at my life and I look like I am spiritually dead, and I sound like I am spiritually dead, and my behavior smells like I am spiritually dead, how can I convince the world that indeed I am not only alive, but participating in the eternal life of Christ?

It is a sober thought. Just like there is nothing inherent in physical death that should make us rejoice, there is nothing inherent in spiritual death that should make us rejoice. And yet, just like physical death does not have the final word, neither does spiritual death. When we go to a Christian’s funeral, we grieve because we have lost a friend, but we do not only grieve, nor do we grieve as if we have no hope. We rejoice, not because they are dead, but because they will one day be resurrected. They are not defined by death, but by their being raised from the dead and their relationship to the God who raises them. Though I occasionally show signs of spiritual death, I need to always remember that my spiritual death is not the final word. I am not defined by my sin; I am not defined by my failure. I am defined by my relationship to the Triune God who has mercy on sinners. I am defined not by my death in sin, but by my life in Christ, and the same is true for you as well.

Lent is a season for sorrow and repentance, it is a time for serious self-reflection and honest self-examination, but we must never forget that Lent, which culminates in the cross on Good Friday, is vanquished by the resurrection of Easter. One day, we will be physically resurrected from the dead, in union with Christ’s resurrection. Today, we are spiritually resurrected from the dead, in union with Christ’s eternal life. Jesus assures us, “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” The hour is not only coming, but it is now here. You and I are, in spite of our shortcomings, resurrection people. We are resurrected, raised from the dead and empowered by God! Let us go forth into a world of death and shine the life of Christ. We are the resurrected of God! Let us live as resurrected people! Let us pray.

AMEN