In the Prayer Book we are told that Jesus Christ has overcome the sharpness of death. These are powerful words, and a tremendous claim made in behalf of our Lord. Death is a universal fact. The Bible says that death is the last great enemy of mankind. The Prayer Book, in beautiful words, speaks of the condition which all living things must live with and look forward to. "Man that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay."

Death has a way of reaching its tentacles into the land of the living. We grieve when someone we love is taken from us. We look forward to sickness with trepidation. We face our own death with fear and trembling. When we attempt to stand up for what is right and are opposed by some implacable enemy and our lives are threatened, we become paralyzed and unable to act. Our Lord Jesus Christ has not only overcome the final end of death, He has also brought His power into our lives to take away from us the grief and fear which haunt our living moments.

We heard in the Gospel today how Jesus was called by His friends, Mary and Martha, to come to Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem, because their brother Lazarus was dying. Jesus knew, and so did His disciples, that to return to Judea was to put Himself in mortal danger. Anytime in the New Testament when Jesus was asked for help, He always acted. This is the highest example of love, to respond to someone in need. The Jewish authorities had sought to stone Him the last time He had been in their territory. Nevertheless, His disciples resolved to accompany Him. Thomas said, "Let us also go so that we may die with Him."

These are the circumstances which begin the Gospel story of the passion of our Lord. They set the stage for the tumultuous welcome He received on Palm Sunday in Jerusalem and His crucifixion on Good Friday. Jesus came to Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem, and met Martha there, who told Him that her brother had died. She trusted in Him and declared that if He had been there, He could have saved him. Jesus spoke to her these words which accompany our burial service in the Church. "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die."

He then proceeded at the grave of Lazarus to express His own deep feelings. Grief is a necessary aspect of human life. It is as much a part of our existence as joy and laughter. We should not suppress and be afraid to experience grief, the human body's normal way of dealing with sorrow and adversity. In the shortest and most poignant verse in the Bible we read that, confronted with the sorrow of Mary and Martha and the friends who had gathered to mourn the death of Lazarus, "Jesus wept." This was a phrase that was incomprehensible to the pagan world. Paganism believed that God was impassive, was above suffering and sorrow and feeling. Wherever the Christian Gospel was preached, the grief of Jesus was a means of conveying the tremendous love that our God has for His people. God in Christ feels our sorrow. He has the compassion to weep with us as we face the difficulties of this life. This incident prefigured the offering on the cross which Jesus was about to perform--His passion, His suffering for us.

Next came the mighty pronouncement that Jesus then uttered before the grave. "Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let him go." It is not possible for us to comprehend fully the facts of this awesome miracle. That it actually happened, there is little doubt. Earlier Jesus had restored to life individuals who had died--such as the daughter of Jairus, and the son of the widow at Nain. Both were raised shortly after their deaths. This amazing event occurred four days after Lazarus had died. There is no possibility here that this could have been a situation where someone was presumed dead and then revived.

Of even greater importance, this was the event which immediately convinced Caiaphas, the High Priest, and the other rulers of the Jews that Jesus had to die. Because of this stupendous miracle, now all the world might follow Him. His death sentence was sealed. Jesus came to Jerusalem in order to bring Lazarus to life and, as a result, was condemned to die.

The raising of Lazarus also explains the tumultuous welcome He received on Palm Sunday when He entered the city of Jerusalem proclaiming Himself the Messiah. The Jews were waiting for this miraculous sign. We heard the prophecy in the Book of Ezekiel that the spirit of God would breathe upon the dead bodies of the Israelites and bring them back to life. The people of Galilee and Judea were praying and hoping for release from the oppression of the Romans. Now they believed that here was the man to do it, the Messiah, who would breathe life into the dead, dry bones of their heroes.

In a tremendous apocalyptic event back alive would come Judas Maccabeus, who had delivered the Israelites from the Greeks. Alive again would be King David and the mighty champion Samson and Joshua who had conquered Jericho. A tremendous uprising would occur led by the warriors of Israel and the Holy One of God. The Hebrew people would regain their sacred nation. That is why they shouted their Hosannas for their deliverer and Saviour.

Jesus believed that there was a higher value than victory in battle and the domination of one nation over another. It was victory over sin, the destruction of the alienation of mankind from God that had to be won. That is why He offered Himself as a sacrifice. His death on the cross was to free us, not from slavery under a foreign political power, but to deliver us from the dominion of sin. This is what His sacrifice in the cross represented. That is the meaning of His words, "I am the resurrection, and the Life." To believe in Jesus means to have the power of His goodness and His love and His strength. Without His death on the cross, His grace would not be available to us. We would still be in the chains of sin and alienation from God. So He went on to that higher battle and that fuller victory--the victory which was prefigured by the restoring of Lazarus to life again. Through the cross, through His resurrection, He restores all of us to life--the life of the soul, the life that goes on forever with God.

Therefore, we can accept everything that God gives us. We can accept our life, and we can accept our death, and we can look forward to that glorious reunion with all those we love in a life of eternal service with God in heaven. An editor of the New York Evening Post, after the death of his little daughter once wrote, "I know things happen for the best, and that our lives are guided by a Beneficent Hand. When my little darling left her father's house for the last time last Friday, I felt assured that somewhere, a wise and better Father awaited her, and that in His care, she would one day become all- more than all - that I rashly and fondly hoped to see her in mine."

It is with this`hope and this faith and this love that we live as followers of Jesus Christ each day. We can say with conviction, "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though this body be destroyed, yet I shall see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger." The power of the resurrection comes into our daily life and we live with courage and hope in the midst of sorrow and fear. May you believe in the risen Lord. May you experience the victory won through Him, and may you know the truth that makes you free.