Sermon - 3/21/26

Year A – Fifth Sunday in Lent– March 22, 2026

Pastor Megan Floyd

John 11:1-45

Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who liberates us from our bindings, and redeems us through God’s love and grace. Amen.

***

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  …both sisters launch this statement at Jesus… this accusation… this plea.

Did you not care… did you not love him enough? Did we not love you enough? Why… why did you let him die?

Their words cut into my heart… I feel their grief… and I imagine you do, too.  None of us need reach very far to grasp the pain of a loss that we wished our Lord could have prevented.

This past week, I learned that the father of an old high school friend died after suffering for many years with cancer. They are devastated and broken… and yet, clinging now to the promise that Jesus gave us… that her dad is now rejoicing with God, free of his earthly pain.

But… four years ago… when he was first diagnosed, they were sure that their faith would deliver him from his illness.

…and I was angry at their pastor for having the audacity to proclaim that if they prayed the right way… loved God the right way… that if they could somehow have the most perfect faith… that his cancer would go away.

That kind of theology… is cruel and abusive… and I wish it wasn’t so prevalent in our American spiritual culture… It adds a layer of shame and guilt on top of the bodily suffering that one is already enduring and creates impossible standards. …yeah, I was angry, and I grieved for them.

But this text is tricky… Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and whatever he asks for will be given. So, the temptation is there… to hope that we can somehow compel Jesus to take away our illness… or to prevent the death of our loved one… or to reverse the accident… or to repair that which was lost.

We focus on the sign… on the miracle that Jesus performed of bringing Lazarus back to life… something he did so that those who witnessed and testified to it would understand and believe that Jesus was sent from God.

But if we are so focused on the miraculous raising of Lazarus… we may miss the beautiful truth that Jesus was there with them… he was with them in their sorrow… very much so… just as Jesus is with us in our pain… and in our grief…

Jesus, in his compassion and empathy... weeps with us when we weep.

Jesus, who is sent from God… who is God… came to share life with us… all of our life experiences… our joy and our love… as well as our pain and our grief.

And we all know… that love and loss are intertwined, and that grief is a natural part of our lives.

In the face of grief and loss, it is also tempting to rush into the promised joy of eternal life with Christ… to gloss over the pain of death and skip into rejoicing… but does that honor the source of our grief?

At this point in Lent… in our steady march toward Jesus’ betrayal and the cross… we, too, might be tempted to skip past the hard parts and move directly into our Easter celebration.

…but does skipping the discomfort of Holy Week honor Jesus and the sacrifice he made for us?

Does that honor the fullness of life that Jesus spent with us? Can we not dwell for a time with Jesus… in his grief?

When Jesus went to Bethany, he knew what he was going to do… he knew that he would raise Lazarus… not so that Lazarus could have more earthly life, but so that we might believe in Jesus.

And yet, even knowing what he went there to do… Jesus was still deeply moved… by their grief… and he wept with them.

We don’t know exactly why Jesus wept… I imagine it was complicated, as our tears so often are.

Perhaps he was angry at death itself… and the pain it always brings… or perhaps he was feeling the weight of his own impending death, and how this sign of raising Lazurus would be the act that would set things in motion for his arrest.

Just as the crowd speculated on his tears, we do not have a clear understanding of his grief… only that he grieved.

But you know… grief does not need a clear explanation to be valid.

Jesus, our God with us… grieves with us in the face of death and suffering… Jesus shares our sorrow that we must face this pain as part of the cycle of life.

And yet… Jesus is still Lord over all that binds us, including death… but also… so much more.

And so, just as Jesus calls to Lazarus to come out… he calls to us…

Jesus calls to us not only at the end of our earthly lives, but he calls to us every day… to leave behind the things that bind us and chose life with Christ.

Jesus calls to us who are dead and bound in our sin…

calls to us when we are crippled with guilt and shame… he calls to us when we feel isolated and alone… he calls to us when we turn a blind eye to the pain of our neighbors… and invites us to actively participate in our own renewal.

Hear the words of our Lord calling to you… come out… and…

Unbind him… let him go…

Unbind her… be free from the power of sin…

Unbind them… be liberated to see the Glory of God at work in yourself, for you are deeply loved.

Let your bindings go… so that you might be fully present in God’s love and light… and feel it’s warmth.

Let your bindings go… so you are able to fully receive the grace and mercy Christ has freely laid before you.

Let your bindings go… and know that you are always and forever, forgiven and redeemed.

Christ is calling to you… to come out and join him.

And yet, he knows… we all know… this life is a work in progress. Some days are better than others, and my friends… that’s why there is grace.

Jesus’ love is not dependent on you praying the right way, or loving Jesus the right way, or having the perfect faith…

Jesus loves you. Full stop. And because of that love, he calls you to come out and live your life with him…

This world around us will still have brokenness and failing… we will still have pain and grief… and Christ weeps with us in our grief, and we place our pain in God’s loving care and know that on the other side of death… there is life.

It can be challenging to let go of that which binds us, for sure… to let the old pass away and trust our God who calls to us into something new.

But hold fast to the promise that our journey is not just to the grave, but through it… and there is new life on the other side. Amen.