A sermon preached at
Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 29
March 2020, the fifth Sunday in Lent, by Dr. Hope S.
Antone. The scripture readings that day were Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 11:1-45.
Dear
God, as we reflect on your word today, may the words of my mouth and the
thoughts of our hearts bring us closer to you. Amen.
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” These words speak of the great love of
two sisters, Martha and Mary, for their brother Lazarus. There is great sadness
and grief though in these words, for they had sent a message to Jesus saying,
“Lord, he whom you love is ill.” They must have hoped that Jesus would respond
quickly to their call for help.
I think we can identify with the
sisters. We can easily replace the word ‘brother’
with sister, or mother, or father, or any loved one who has died. We can also rephrase the
whole statement to say, “Lord, where were you when I needed you most? Then I
wouldn’t have fallen ill, met an accident, failed an exam, messed up a
relationship, or lost a job.” These are some ideas that naturally come to mind
when we look upon God as our refuge, helper, healer, and savior.
During this time of the Covid-19
pandemic, many can relate to this story. And perhaps we are not just thinking
of our own loved ones. We are thinking of those infected and those who are
vulnerable to the virus because we are worried that we might be infected, too.
We are thinking of those directly dealing with the outbreak, the frontliners as
we call them. They include the medical personnel attending to the sick; those
cleaning and disinfecting equipment and facilities; those serving/delivering
food and needed supplies; those transporting people; those collecting/disposing
the garbage, and what have you. We have realized that whatever happens to one
member of the community affects everyone. We are all connected; we are one
family.
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died.” These words also reflect the sisters’ frustration and disappointment
in Jesus. After all, the family of
Martha, Mary and Lazarus, was very close to Jesus. They had great expectation
that he would quickly respond to their need. But after Jesus got their message,
he simply said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s
glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” And he stayed
two days longer in the place where he was. How could he delay his coming in the
face of their urgent need?
During this time of the Covid-19
pandemic, we also have to deal with various delays – delay in finding treatment
or vaccine; delay in the replenishments of stocks of new necessities, like
surgical masks, hand sanitizers, even toilet paper; delay, postponement or
cancellation of work schedules and travel plans; uncertainty about when we can
get back to our normal life. We may be feeling tired of being holed up in tiny
apartments, of missing our precious day-off, and of just not being “in control”
of our lives.
Can we imagine Jesus saying, “This illness (Covid-19) does not lead to
death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified
through it”? Yet every day we hear of more infections, more deaths.
We know
from experience that certain illnesses could lead to death. This Covid-19 is
the new addition to the list. We also know that finite as we are, our physical
existence will, at some point, come to an end. But I think that coming to terms
with the reality of death enables us to turn our illnesses into vessels of
grace, thereby glorifying God.
A story
has been told about two men who shared a hospital room in the Jefferson
Memorial Hospital. Vincent, the man whose bed was near the room’s only window,
was not doing well after a lung removal. He was made to sit up for an hour each
afternoon to help him drain fluid from his lung. Parker, the man away from the
window, had to lie flat on his back because of severe dislocation resulting
from an accident. The two men, without really getting close to each other,
bonded well and shared stories about life, job, family, and experiences in the
war. One day, while Vincent was propped up, he started describing the things he
could see outside the window. Each day he told a different story about the
lovely park with ducks playing, children sailing their model boats, young
lovers walking arm in arm, and even a parade passing by.
One
afternoon, a nurse found that Vincent had died peacefully, about 30 minutes
earlier. Parker grieved the death of his roommate. How he missed his vivid
descriptions of the view outside the window. Hoping to have a peek of the
beautiful world outside, he asked to be moved to Vincent’s bed by the window.
As soon as he was settled in his new bed, Parker painstakingly tried to take
his first look at the world outside. To his surprise, he saw only a brick wall
outside the window. [Source: “The Man by the Window,” by Harry Buschman]
Based on
this story, I can say that Vincent must have come to terms with the reality of
death so that he could turn his illness and his pain into vessels of grace for
his roommate Parker. Vincent’s illness may have ended in his death, but his
hopeful disposition had encouraged Parker about life.
This reminds me of Jesus’ own life.
When he finally arrived at Bethany, he
assured Martha that her brother would rise again. Martha, however, understood
that resurrection would happen on the last day. So Jesus replied: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who
believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and
believes in me will never die.” With Mary, Jesus wept, asked for where Lazarus’
body was laid, and performed the miracle of raising him to life.
The act of
raising Lazarus to life is the sign pointing to what would soon happen to Jesus
himself. The gospel according to John describes this act as the last straw that
leads to Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. But just as Lazarus arose, Jesus would
be resurrected for he is the source of resurrection and life. This sign of
raising Lazarus is not a promise that believers would never experience death;
or that all believers would be brought back to earthly life if they died.
Rather, it is an assurance that, with Jesus, death is not a barrier to the life
he offers. It is a demonstration that resurrection happens not only in the heavenly
afterlife but also in the present earthly life.
The story
in the book of Ezekiel (37:1-14) is a vivid illustration of the possibility of
resurrection during the earthly life of a biblical Judean community. Their
forced deportation to and exile in Babylon meant crises of physical suffering,
communal identity, and faith. Uprooted from their homeland and deported to the
enemy country, they lost the key symbols of their identity: Jerusalem, its
temple, its people, and the Davidic monarchy. The vision of the valley of dry
bones is not about a people who died physically. It is about a people who died
spiritually because they lost hope, purpose and meaning in life. God is
instructing the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy to these dried up bones so they
would live again. God brought them out of their graves of hopelessness and
despair, and put God’s spirit within them.
In a way this period of the Covid-19
pandemic is like being in the valley of dry bones. It is like walking through
the darkest valley, the valley of the shadow of death.
Reflecting on this, Penny Aquino-Domogo, an Indigenous Filipino doctor,
wrote: “God loves us. I am sure God did not send covid-19. But there’s a message in this
global disease outbreak for all of us. The world needs to slow down and reflect
on how we are living. Perhaps we have reached a breaking point. We cannot go on
doing what we are doing. We have to rest at some point. We fight covid-19 by retreating, literally, just like the
turtle. It’s been a long time that we have been out gallivanting, trampling on
forests, diving into the deep seas, and dumping our wastes everywhere we go.
Enough is enough! Mother Earth needs to breathe.”
As many have realized, healing from an
illness always takes time. It is not instantaneous. There may be delays.
Genuine healing requires that we don’t only heal the sickened part of our body,
but that of our whole being. Genuine healing demands that we understand the
root cause of the problem rather than just addressing its symptoms. Covid-19 is
a stark reminder that something has gone wrong with the web of life, of which
human beings are just a part.
Some say that when this will be over,
life will not be the same again. We have seen inspiring videos and messages
that during this time of lockdown and travel ban, the skies are clearer again;
the dolphins can be seen in the canals again; the chirping of the birds seem
louder again; the families are getting closer again. We hear of stories that
the military in different countries are helping in the prevention and control
of the outbreak, mobilizing their medical equipment and facilities for the
treatment of the infected patients. This reminds me of another prophetic vision
(Isaiah 2:4) of turning swords into
plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.
Perhaps leaders of nations should critically look into the current models of
economic development they have been following; and to look for more sustainable
models based on what truly matters – such as food and health.
For me, these realizations are some
signs of the resurrection and life in the midst of today’s valley of dry bones,
valley of the shadow of death. Let us claim and proclaim these signs. Let us
participate and contribute in living out these signs of resurrection and life.
In Christ’s name. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, March 29, 2020
