Raising of Lazarus: A Narrative Sermon Lent 5 A

<p><strong>Focus reading: John 11:1-45</strong></p> <p>An oldy but a goody, a narrative sermon. I will play the part of Lazarus, the friend Jesus raises from the dead in the story of John 11. Along the way I will reflect on who Jesus is and what life itself means. I try to reflect the kind of ideas and culture that surrounded Lazarus but in the end Lazarus reflects my faith and thinking about Jesus. In the end it is of course me imagining the sort of thing that a man like Lazarus thought and did.</p> <p>John has chosen to include this story of Lazarus to help us understand more clearly who he believes Jesus is. His hope was also that we would come to believe. The question of who Jesus is, is the central question in Christian faith. Lazarus in the story Andrew will tell concludes by saying that there’s more to Jesus and there’s more to God than we can ever imagine.</p> <p><strong>Questions for thought or discussion.</strong></p> <p>What do you think of Lazarus’ image of death? The Sadducees didn’t believe in life after death. How could they have made sense of this life without a life beyond? If you are a person of faith has your experience of faith been like that of Lazarus in Andrew’s message? Does life sometimes get so hard or busy that you take Jesus or God’s love for granted?</p> <p>****************TEX OF SERMON******************</p> <p>Lazarus Monologue - Narrative Sermon<br /> I was asleep. Well actually I was dead. I heard later that Jesus had said I had "fallen asleep" - that's not really a bad description. It was like being asleep.</p> <p>You see I had been very sick, and then I died. It was a relief that the pain and fever was gone, but I was afraid. I was afraid of dying. I was afraid that as death approached the pain and sickness would be worse. I did not want to be cared for - I wanted to care for my self, but I couldn't. But I was afraid of more than the pain and indignity. I was afraid of death itself. I was afraid of slipping into endless darkness.</p> <p>Now I am Jewish as you know. Some of the pr