Wake Up

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  March 26, 2023

Click here to listen to the service 
  
Read John 11:1 – 11
 
Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb and raising him from the dead is probably a story that is familiar to most, if not all of us.  It is the last recorded miracle that Jesus performed before making His triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the start of what we now call Holy Week… [but that is something we will reflect upon more next week on Palm Sunday].
 
But today, these first verses that we just heard read from John 11, center around the call that went out for Jesus to come because His dear friend, Lazarus, was ill… and while the text simply says Lazarus was sick, it would seem that it must have been a rather serious illness… otherwise, why send for Jesus?
 
Now, we know that Lazarus was no stranger to Jesus.  The two were very dear friends along with Lazarus’ sisters, Martha and Mary… who no doubt knew about the miracles Jesus had already performed… how many people He had healed with His touch or even with a declaration of healing like He did for the son of a Roman official…
 
So, the sisters sent for Jesus to come… believing that if He did so, Lazarus would be healed.
 
Now, hearing that His friend, Lazarus, was sick; however, did not cause Jesus to jump right up and hightail it back to Bethany where Lazarus, Mary and Martha, lived.  On the contrary, the text tells us that Jesus stayed right where He was for two days before heading back to the home of His beloved friends.
 
And when Jesus told the disciples about His plan to return to Judea… they were somewhat skeptical… given the fact that not all that long ago, the Jews had tried to stone Jesus.  But that did not seem to deter Jesus from His mission.
 
He explained to His disciples the importance of walking in the daytime while it is still light rather than stumbling around blindly in the dark of night… He wanted them to understand the importance of following God’s will and trusting God to provide direction… rather than walking around without a clue about what they were doing and why they should be doing it.
 
And after He explained that… Jesus told the disciples that Lazarus had fallen asleep and He was going to Judea to wake him up.
 
This apparently did not make a whole lot of sense to the disciples… because if we were to read the verse following our text, we would find their response, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”
 
But Jesus knew what needed to be done for His friend, Lazarus… He understood the assignment God had given Him to do... and so He went to the tomb to tell Lazarus to WAKE UP.
 
And that is what I want to draw our attention to today… Jesus’ call and command to WAKE UP.
 
Now, if we take a closer look at this 11^th chapter in John’s Gospel, we might discover that Lazarus was not the only one to receive a WAKE UP call that day. 
 
First, Jesus issued a WAKE UP call to His disciples… calling them to move beyond their basic level of understanding to a place of trusting and obeying God. 
 
Second, Jesus issued a WAKE UP call to Martha… encouraging her to WAKE UP to the truth about Him being the Messiah and just what that entailed.
 
And last but not least, I daresay, there is a WAKE UP call contained in these verses for all of us believers as well.
 
Now, if anyone has been watching or listening to the news over the last few days, weeks, months, and even years… you may have heard about the growing resistance to a concept that is referred to as being “woke.” 
 
But to be clear, the idea of someone being woke is not something that should cause any of us to be afraid or run the other way as some people would have us believe.  And it is certainly not something that we should waste time and valuable resources to create legislation against as is being done in Florida.
 
In fact, the exact opposite is true… especially for followers of Christ. 
 
The actual definition of that term, “woke” as it is found in Merriam Webster’s dictionary means to be, “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/woke-meaning-origin).
 
But sadly, that word has been coopted and thrown around as a derogatory term that is used to describe people with certain political ideals… ideals, I might add, that are actually in line with doing what Jesus would have us to do…
 
Ideals like loving our neighbors as we love ourselves… caring for the hungry, the homeless, and the hurting… treating others with dignity and respect… forgiving others as we have been forgiven…
 
Ideals that would have us call out discrimination of all types… racism, sexism, ageism, classism, homophobia, xenophobia, and every other -ism and -phobia there may be that results in the unfair, unequal, and unjust treatment of others.
 
All of which calls to mind something that the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
 
We cannot afford to sit or stand idly by and think that the stories we hear or read about do not have any impact on us simply because they are happening to that group in that city, or that state, or that country… the reality is that if “it” can happen there… whatever “it” is and wherever “there” may be… it can happen right here and it can happen to any one of us.
 
It reminds me of the poem entitled, “First They Came” which was written by a Lutheran pastor by the name of Martin Niemöller. 
 
And while it was written as a confession about the silence of Rev. Niemöller and others who supported Nazi ideals and the political movement and who did not oppose what was happening to the Jews during the Holocaust… it should still give us a reason to pause and think today.

As followers of Christ, as His disciples… it is incumbent up on us to WAKE UP and speak out while we still have time…
 
We are seeing concentrated and intentional efforts to marginalize entire groups of people who do not fit within certain arbitrary categories of what is deemed acceptable or what is defined as the norm… with egregious attempts being made to ignore the truth and erase the history of what has brought us to where we are today… attempts that include the banning of books and prohibitions against teaching certain subjects to our children.
 
We would do well to ask ourselves the question, “If Jesus were to come back today, would He be pleased with what He sees?” 
 
Would He be pleased with the state of our world as it is today?  And not only that, would He be pleased with our response to the state of our world as it is today?
 
And, let me just issue this word of caution… the hour is getting late… so, we need to WAKE UP now… because as we read in Matthew 24 (42), “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
 
And make no mistake, the Lord is coming back.  It may not be at the time we want or hope or expect, but the Lord is coming… which is why we need to believe.
 
And that takes us back to our text this morning.
 
Jesus issued a WAKE UP call to the disciples to open their eyes to the fact that there was still much they needed to see and learn to strengthen their faith.
 
After explaining to the disciples that Lazarus was not simply asleep, but was actually dead, Jesus told them, “…and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” (John 11:15). 
 
WAKE UP disciples and believe.
 
Then Jesus issued a WAKE UP call to Martha after she gave Him the “business” for not coming right away… telling Him that if He had come when they first asked Him to, Lazarus would not have died.
 
In response to her berating, Jesus assured Martha that Lazarus would live again which she mistakenly took to mean that Lazarus would “rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24). 
 
However, Jesus explained to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25 – 26).
 
WAKE UP Martha and believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
 
And not only did Jesus issue WAKE UP calls to the disciples and to Martha to believe… He also issued a WAKE UP call to the people who gathered at the tomb where Lazarus was buried.
 
Before calling Lazarus to come out, the scriptures tell us that:  
WAKE UP people and believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that He has been sent by God.
 
The signs are all around us if we will only open our eyes to see the truth.  Jesus is calling us to WAKE UP.  He is calling us to WAKE UP and believe that He is the Messiah.  He is calling us to WAKE UP so we will be ready when God sends Him back for us.
 
And, more than that… He is calling us to WAKE UP to the fact that He has commissioned us to go and make disciples… to not only tell them but to show them the love of Christ… the love of a Savior who was willing to give His life in exchange for all of our lives… the love of a Savior who calls us to love one another as He has loved us… the love of a Savior who lives!
 
And because He lives… we can answer His call to WAKE UP as we face each new day ahead… and that is the Good News for us all today.
 
Amen.
 

Back