The Agony of God

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Gainesville FL
The Chapel of the Incarnation, Gainesville FL
April 10, 2011

Year A: The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45

The Agony of God

Here in church over the past few Sundays in Lent we’ve been hearing very long excerpts from the Gospel of John.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Gospel of John is the last of the four gospels to have been written, probably some time around the end of the First Century, several generations after the earthly lifetime of Jesus.

In part because it’s a relatively late gospel, it’s also the most theologically sophisticated of the four gospels.

There has been more time for people to reflect on who Jesus was and is – more time to reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

We hear some of the fruit of that reflection in the grand and cosmic opening verses of the Gospel of John:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”

Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is presented very much as the Word made flesh – as God’s Son in whom we see what God is really like.

Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is presented as more divine than human - very much in control, very certain of his mission and its eventual outcome.

Just like the other gospels, the Gospel of John describes powerful supernatural acts of Jesus. But in John these supernatural acts are not called miracles. In the Gospel of John the powerful acts of Jesus are called signs.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus performs signs to point to the truth – the truth about God, the truth about himself, the truth about us, and the truth about life and death.

For example, at the wedding at Cana Jesus turned water into wine not because it was something amazing to do, though, of course it was amazing. Jesus also doesn’t go around doing this all the time, though I’m sure it would have gotten him invited to a lot more parties! Jesus changed water into a wine as a sign pointing to the truth that it’s in Jesus that we find overflowing abundance.

Another example: the man born blind we heard about last week was given sight not because it was something amazing – and merciful - to do, though of course it was amazing and merciful. And Jesus doesn’t go around giving sight to every blind person he met. Jesus gave the man sight as a sign pointing to the truth that it’s in Jesus that we really see the power and love of God.

And today, we heard the story Jesus’ greatest sign – the raising of his beloved friend Lazarus from the dead.

Again, Jesus doesn’t travel around to every funeral in the area raising the deceased back to life.

The entire sequence of events in the Lazarus story is designed so that in this sign Jesus can point to and reveal the glory of God.

So, Jesus waits two extra days after receiving word that his friend Lazarus was ill.

Jesus misses out on the funeral. Jesus wasn’t there to console Mary and Martha.

When Jesus arrives Lazarus has been dead for four days.

There was a belief in Judaism that the spirit hovered near the body for three days after death. So, when Jesus arrives on the fourth day, there can be no doubt that resuscitation is impossible: All hope is lost. Lazarus is dead – really dead.

Now the stage is set for Jesus’ greatest sign. John is about to tell the story of how Jesus – how the Word of God made flesh living among us – reveals that death is no match for the power of God.

But first, looking at Mary and the others mourning Lazarus, surrounded by their grief, Jesus seems to be overcome with emotion.

John tells us that Jesus was “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” The word translated as “deeply moved” is more accurately translated as “angered.”

And then, Jesus, the Word of God, cries.

Now, if we were talking about anyone else, this reaction would be no surprise. Anger and sadness at the death of a friend is perfectly normal human behavior, of course.

But, John nearly always presents Jesus the Word of God as being supremely confident and in control – so he must have had an important reason to include the details of Jesus seeming to lose control. John must have had an important reason to include the details of Jesus angry and weeping.

In his anger and in his tears Jesus is most fully human.

And in his anger and in his tears Jesus is also most fully divine.

John seems to be making the point that in the anger and tears of Jesus we see that, just like us, God is angered by the power of suffering, grief and death.

In the anger and tears of Jesus we see that, just like us, God is saddened by our suffering, grief and death.

In the anger and the tears of Jesus we see the agony of God – the agony of God who loves us.

In the anger and tears of Jesus we see the agony of God – the agony of God who loves us and who suffers along with us.

The agony of God leads God to act.

It’s because of the agony of God that the Word became flesh and lived among us.

It’s because of the agony of God that Lazarus was raised from the dead. It’s because of the agony of God that we are given this powerful sign of God’s triumph over death.

Jesus cries with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

And love defeats death.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there. In his book What Jesus Meant, Garry Wills writes, “Jesus embraced his own death when he gave life to Lazarus.”

In the Gospel of John, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead he sets in motion a chain of events leading to his arrest and execution. This awesome and unprecedented act of power and love convinces the powers that be that Jesus is just too dangerous to live.

And so on Good Friday we will see even more clearly the agony of God.

On Good Friday we will see the agony of God who came and lived among us and was rejected by people just like us.

On Good Friday we will see the agony of God whose offer of love was rejected with nails and a crown of thorns.

But, the good news is that, despite even this painful rejection, God doesn’t give up on us. God doesn’t leave us in our sin, suffering and grief.

The agony of God leads God to act.

The agony of God leads to the best news for us for all time.

The agony of God leads to Easter morning, when love defeats death once and for all.

Thanks be to God.