This morning we wake up to a new day, a new week, a new month, end of October, beginning of November, and it’s that time of year again.
We are in the season of endings.
The ending of things growing in flower beds and gardens!
The ending of Daylight Savings Time!
The ending of short-sleeve, summer-like weather!
The ending of leaves on the trees.
And if this were any other year, like last year, farmers would be getting pretty close ending another harvest, though that’s certainly not the case this year! Weeks from now, even as harvesting look to go on into December, we hope, we pray for favorable weather so that, as a traditional Harvest/Thanksgiving hymn says, crops may be “safely gathered in Ere the winter storms begin.”
We are in the season of endings, and every year this season of endings is for us in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ a time to reflect on THE ULTIMATE END of things – when sooner or later we shall each of us come to the end of our own earthly life but that will not be THE END of us. For believers in Jesus the Christ, for all the saints who from their labors rest, the end of this earthly life is not an end to regret or to worry about or to fear or to hate to see happen!
That’s the point of this All Saints Sunday observed in many churches this first Sunday in November.
In this season of endings that ought to remind us that our own earthly lives don’t go on forever, in the Gospel for this All Saints Sunday, in John 11, we are directed to the miracle of opening a grave that is a sign of the greater glory of God who promises us eternal life in Jesus Christ.
You’ve heard the expression, “a sight for sore eyes”! Look that up in a dictionary and it will say, “A person or thing pleasant to see; a welcome sight.”
So it is with this All Saints Sunday. When All Saints Sunday comes every year in the midst of a season of endings, what a “sight for sore eyes”, what a pleasant thing to see; what a welcome sight”, is a miracle of opening a grave, a miracle that’s a prelude to Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, as well as a prelude to our own resurrection from the dead as well
In John 11 what “a sight for sore eyes” it was for Mary & Martha to see their brother Lazarus raised from being four days dead. Lazarus is called by Jesus to step forth from an open grave. Friends of Lazarus are told by Jesus to unwrap the strips of linen that bind his hands & feet, and once free from those strips of linen Lazarus is immediately wrapped up in the arms of his two, joyful, wide-eyed sisters!What a pleasant thing, what a welcome sight for Lazarus to be healthy enough & well enough to once again take care of and provide for both his sisters, Mary & Martha.
We know the story. Lazarus had a serious illness that turned out to be fatal and ended his earthly life. Jesus was deliberately slow in getting there. Lazarus died & was buried. But even as the end of his life on this earth had come prematurely for Lazarus, here he is, child of God, believer in Jesus, friend of Jesus, alive again, healthy, smiling, standing with his sisters, standing with everyone else, standing in awe of the power of God and the glory of God that Jesus said Mary & Martha would see.
Jesus said it just before he ordered Lazarus grave to be opened and called forth Lazarus from the dead. “Did I not tell you,” Jesus said to a grieving Mary, “if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
That’s a vision & a hope this All Saints Sunday that holds true for all of us as children of God, brothers & sisters in Christ, living & dying, dying & one day having our graves opened and each one of us awakened and called into the light of a new heaven & a new earth.
Talk about a sight to see, a sight for sore eyes! At THE END of this earthly life there is a casket, a private or public viewing, a saying good-bye, painful shedding of tears, a funeral, a burial, a grave, a cemetery. But when’s the last time you saw a bulletin from a Christian funeral with the words THAT’S IT FOLKS – THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE - T H E E N D - printed as the last word after the benediction?
A funeral, a committal service, a burial, a cemetery plot marks
T H E E N D of our earthly life, but when that great day of the resurrection of all flesh comes, when Jesus comes again in all His power & glory -- for all sinner/saints who have die in faith, for all believers in Christ, there is no at the end. In fact, there is NO END in sight. Graves will be opened, caskets will be empty, no more ashes to ashes, no more earth to earth, no dust to dust, but instead resurrection, new flesh/new blood, alive again, a new creation, a new day, a new world, a new heaven and a new earth.
As we heard in the Old Testament reading from Isaiah 25 – The Lord God will “Death swallowed up forever; and the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of His people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”
Thirdly, I can tell you, and assure you, as believers in Jesus Christ this is not and ending where we are all left with waiting for this to happen in some distant, distant future, but we, just like Mary & Martha & even a resurrected Lazarus, we are invited, encouraged even now to be a part of an eternal, unending, joyful celebration
What a great truth to take from this John 11 text! To go from earthly ending to grave opening to joyful communion & belonging!
What a great miracle of opening this is: Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life. First, to see & be reminded of the mighty power of God & the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God who is God of the living and the dead. Second to view this story of Lazarus brought back to life as a story that helps us to be patient with & be ready for & not be fearful of earthly endings brought about by sickness, sin, falling apart, falling short, succumbing to death.
In this season of endings, in this veil of tears we’re used to living in, the miracle of Lazarus stepping out of an open grave called forth by the Lord Jesus is the same miracle that will happen to us.
Knowing that and believing that means even now we can begin to anticipate & participate in the joy of joining & belonging & being One in Christ.
Oh, blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine!
More and more here lately we sing that “Thine” when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper and well we should . . If ever there was a meal, a banquet, a feast of love, a means of grace that says to us the ending of this life is not really the end, and has the word “Thine” written all over the Lord’s Supper.
As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we do show forth the Lord’s death & resurrection until He comes.
As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we experience with all God’s saints who have gone before us the wonder of belonging to the communion of saints. We experience the miracle of all our sins being forgiven. We experience by faith being set free from the shortness, the selfishness, the bondage of me, myself, and mine so to embrace & hold fast to the oneness, the fullness, the glory of Thee and Thine!
Thine the Kingdom Thine the prize Thine the wonderful surprise
Thine the banquet then the praise Then the justice of Thy ways
Thine the glory Thine the story Then the welcome to the least then the wonder all increasing at Thy feast at Thy feast!
Is this not what we all long for and what we live for as redeemed children of God, brothers & sisters in Christ, that we might pass our days in rest & quietness, in courage & confidence, as have so many of the saints who have gone before us.
Support us all the day long of this troubled life, says an old evening prayer of the church.
Support us all the day long of this troubled life, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over, and our work is done.
Then, Lord, in your mercy, grant us a safe lodging and a holy rest, and peace at the last; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
An author, preacher, down-to-earth pastor, retired professor whose writings I like to read, who tells it like it is, puts all this in words I can identify with.
One day I shall leave home and shall not return at the end of the day.
I shall then be buried; forgotten, returned to the dust from whence I was made, remembered for a while only by who few who knew me well.
I shall fade into the oblivion of the forgotten. Whatever I accomplished shall tarnish and diminish.
And yet on the basis of what I have known of God, I believe that what seemed an ending will in reality be an opening.
I fully expect to hear the God who sought me in life say to me even in my death.
“Yes, the face is familiar. I remember you. I’ve got a whole new world to show you. Wait until you see this. I have yet to give up on you. Can we talk? You haven’t seen anything yet. We’ve got all the time in the world.”
This by faith I believe, we believe is our end. At the end, in the end, where this earthly life ends, there is an opening, a joining up with the rest of God’s saints, a new beginning.
