Life: Tragedy or comedy?
Readings: John 11. 32-44 & Revelation 21. 1-6
What is life? Is it a tragedy or a comedy?
We have quite the selection of readings this morning, and in all honesty not what I’d have chosen for today if I was in charge of the lectionary. But that’s the joy and challenge of the lectionary, it takes you to places you hadn’t thought to go, makes links you hadn’t thought of. And in our selection of readings is quite the range of events. We have the banquet in Isaiah, the cosmic wedding in Revelation, and the funeral in the Gospel. The wedding and the banquet overlap somewhat, but the funeral stands in stark contrast doesn’t it. Two banquets and a funeral.
You know when Shakespeare was writing plays he did so in three different genres; histories, comedies and tragedies. It’s obvious what the histories are, but what’s the difference between a comedy and a tragedy? And it’s not necessarily that one is funny and the other is very serious. Both can have moments of joy and sadness, all sorts can happen. The difference is in how it ends. Tragedies end with a funeral, comedies end with a wedding.
As we pick up our Gospel reading today it’s a tragedy. Jesus has been on his way to visit 3 of his closest friends; Mary, Martha and Lazarus. And on the way he’s told that Lazarus is sick, he doesn’t speed up, he just keeps going. And then he speaks to his disciples to let them know that Lazarus is now dead, he’s gone. And when he arrives he’s there 4 days too late. The sisters must have been tearing their hair out, their friend the miracle worker has taken too long, he’s dawdled and now their brother is dead, dead and buried. Martha even says to him right before the section we have today ‘If you had been here my brother would not have died’. And Mary in our passage repeats those words as Jesus meets her. It’s a tragedy.
And how often do we feel like that in our own lives, with our own loved ones. If you had just turned up Lord this thing wouldn’t have happened, if you’d just answered my prayers, just glanced my way for a moment, none of this would have happened. And underneath it all is that one question; why?! Mary and Martha thinking ‘why did you take so long’, us thinking ‘why didn’t you do this or that’. It’s a tragedy.
And what does Jesus do now? He goes to the tomb. We’re getting ready, something dramatic might be about to happen. The crowds, including the professional mourners follow him. What’s he going to do. He get’s there and he weeps. He cries. And he cries so much that he out mourns all the professional mourners. They’re stood there on the sidelines going ‘wow, this guy really loved him’.
And then what we’re all waiting for happens, the stone is rolled away, Jesus calls to Lazarus and he walks out. Walks out still wrapped in all the burial cloths, it would have been perhaps a quite amusing scene, face, hands and feet still wrapped up, perhaps amusing if it wasn’t so startling and wonderful. And Jesus simply says this ‘unbind him and let him go’. He’s free, free from deaths clutches, restored to his family, free to live again. It’s a wonderful scene. Ah, you may be thinking, so it’s a comedy! It’s a joyous ending. Perhaps. But there’s still tragedy to come. Whilst Lazarus is raised and restored now, he will die again. One day his hands and feet and face will be wrapped again with the burial cloths, laid once more in the tomb, and this time Jesus won’t be there to call him out. It’s the same for all of us. Life is a tragedy, every life without exception ends with a funeral, ends in death. Life is a tragedy.
Or is it?
You see whilst the story of the raising of Lazarus is wonderful in and of itself it points to a much greater reality. Because the people of God will not be left in their tombs. Left in their graves. For all of us who are trusting in Jesus will see the glory of God, and not merely in seeing miracles, but in seeing him face to face. We’re about halfway through John’s Gospel, and here John is pointing us to a much greater moment, a moment where someone else will dead and buried for days and yet walks out of the tomb. And yet for Jesus this isn’t to die again, but to live forever, a risen life without end.
We and all the Saints are raised to life though his life. Because having walked with our Lord and master through this life, we will at the last here those words of Jesus for ourselves ‘Samuel, come’, ‘John, come’, ‘you, come’. Beckoned from death to everlasting life. Our hope is full of immortality, our hope is that this life is not as it seems, contrary to all expectations the last page for us is not a funeral, but a wedding.
But before I move on to the wedding I want to pause by the graveside of Lazarus for a moment. Because so often when I plan funerals with families they want to make it a celebration, a celebration of their life, to make it happy and joyful. And in many ways there’s nothing wrong with that. And we can be worse with this as Christians, especially if the person who has died is a Christian, we don’t need to be sad, they’re with Jesus. And I find sometimes people even feel a little guilty about being sad, they’re in a better place.
But here’s the thing. Jesus weeps. He knows that in just a moment he will call his friends name and he will walk out of that tomb alive. Yet he still weeps. If Jesus himself mourns for his loved one despite the fact he will in a moment be raised, we have permission to mourn, even in the midst of our hope for the resurrection.
The wedding. The wedding at the end of the universe, at the end of time and the beginning of eternity. That’s where all this is headed. A day when heaven and earth will pass away and a new heaven and earth begin. One where God will at last be united with his people. Where Jesus will marry his people. together forever. That’s what’s going on with that new Jerusalem dressed as a bride. We’re not meant to be imagining a city wearing a dress, it’s a picture of God’s people, his beloved. The bride prepared for her beloved, prepared for Jesus. And as well as Jesus and his people united forever, heaven and earth are united forever, God will once more dwell in our midst, no longer hidden from our sight, we will see him face to face. And on that day God will wipe the tears from our eyes as death and suffering and mourning pass away like waking from a nightmare. All things made new, all things made perfect at last.
Why? Because as we put our faith in Jesus he spoke these words ‘unbind him, and let him go’, freed from the grip of sin, the cords of death, we have been set free to live with him forever. And in that day, like Lazarus, we will be united with our brothers and sisters down the ages, restored to God’s family, and goodness we’ll have a lot of people to meet.
For us and all the Saints life isn’t a tragedy, it’s a comedy. A comedy where God has the last laugh as he frees his people from the clutches of death, at last casts away all that is wrong with our world, makes all things new and at last declares for the final time ‘it is done’. No matter what life throws at us, no matter what this world throws at us. No matter how bad things get, how hopeless, how desperate. The last page is written, we’re not headed to a funeral, but through it to a wedding.
That’s our hope, our true and living hope, life doesn’t end in death, for us and all God’s Saints it is merely the beginning.
Amen.