Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
I Am the Resurrection and the Life with Pastor Ryan Braley
"I am the resurrection and the life." With these words, Jesus makes one of his most profound declarations while standing at the grave of his friend Lazarus. But what does this statement really mean for us today?
When Jesus refers to the dead Lazarus as merely "sleeping," he hints at something revolutionary: death isn't permanent. While the disciples are confused and Martha believes resurrection is something for the distant future, Jesus boldly declares that resurrection power is present now, embodied in him.
The raising of Lazarus serves as a powerful sign pointing to Jesus's own coming resurrection. There's a fascinating detail many miss: Lazarus emerges still wrapped in grave clothes because he'll eventually die again, while Jesus leaves his burial garments behind—he's conquered death permanently.
This sermon explores how understanding resurrection transforms our relationship with fear. Those who have faced death and emerged—whether literally or metaphorically—often develop a perspective that fundamentally changes how they move through the world. They become "dangerous" because they're no longer constrained by the fears that limit most people.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer exemplifies this freedom. Facing execution for resisting Nazi Germany, he wrote from prison with surprising joy: "This is the end. For me, it's the beginning of life." When we're anchored in something stronger than death, what remains to fear?
The resurrection invites us to live differently—not with reckless abandon, but with purposeful courage. What might you do if you weren't afraid? Ask that person out, pursue that dream, have that difficult conversation, seek help when you need it, forgive that old wound?
The Easter message isn't just about what happens when we die—it's about how we might truly live now. As Brennan Manning suggests, in an unfree world, resurrection people become "so absolutely free that our very existence is an act of rebellion."
Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org
Amen. Thank you, ransom, would you please pray with me? God, we give you thanks this morning for your presence here with us and we thank you for this wonderful story in John's Gospel. We ask God that you'd come and bless us this morning as we gather On this Easter, resurrection Sunday. May we know the power of the resurrection and God may it enliven our lives and may it inspire us in new and fresh ways this morning. And God may it relieve us of any fears we might have and carry in Jesus' name. Amen, I'll make you be seated. Good morning everyone. And we're packed in tight. I love it. I love it. I love the energy. Keep it going all morning long. There's some spots in the front row here. If you want to come and hang on the front, I know you love the front row. My name is Ryan.
Speaker 1:I'm a pastor at Central and this morning it's Easter, but we are wrapping up the end of our sermon series on the I Am. So in John's gospel there are seven times when Jesus says I am and he fills in the blank I am the bread of life, I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the door, the gate, I am the good shepherd, I am the light of the world, I am the true vine. And then he says this I am the resurrection and the life. Now you should have all received a piece of paper when you came in a little white sheet of paper. If you did not get a little slip of paper, would you raise your hand and we'll have our ushers get you one? Okay, I need one up here. Chris needs one. If you don't have a sheet of paper, let me know. It's a small, like quarter 18th sheet of paper. I think there's one here, carl. Yeah, thank you guys. Thank you so much. And oh, one here, carl. Did you go on? Chris? Oh, one here. Keep your hand up. Oh, you got one. Oh, you're good. Okay, good, thank you. Everybody got one. You're going to need it later on at the end of the sermon. So get ready. And there's a pen in your neighbor's purse. Grab that and the wallet Might as well have lunch on them too, you know? Okay, are you ready? Okay, I said, are you ready? So I love this text.
Speaker 1:Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life. And now here's the context of this verse. It comes in John 11. Now, john 11, in this moment, what happens with Lazarus. By the way, this sermon is going to be about two people coming back from the dead. The first person who comes back from the dead is a sign pointing towards the second person who comes back from the dead and changes life and death itself. So one is a sign, the other is life and death, or the conquering of death itself. So, and this moment is like the moment when there's a tipping point in the Gospels, when all of a sudden things get very, very hot for Jesus and it leads right to his crucifixion. So Lazarus is sick and this is what happens. This is the context of this verse.
Speaker 1:So we read in John's Gospel the sisters, martha and Mary you might know them, they're all good friends Martha, mary and their brother, lazarus, are friends with Jesus and they're close friends and they send word to Jesus and his friends, his followers, the disciples. They're up in the north and Lazarus and his sisters are down in the south, in Judea, in Jerusalem, and they tell Jesus that he's very, very sick. Now, this is the sisters, or the church I grew up in, which was in this inner city, part of Denver. I was told Ryan, you have to say it right, it's not the sisters, it's the sistas, fair enough. So the sistas tell Jesus hey, the one you love is sick. In other words, help do something, jesus.
Speaker 1:Jesus responds, of course, and he says this. He says our friend Lazarus sleeps. He's telling his friends, the disciples. He's like hey, the one that we love, our friend Lazarus, is sleeping. But I'm going to go there and wake him up. And all the mothers and fathers of newborn babies are like no, let him sleep, don't wake him up. And they say, okay, well, they think that he's sleeping.
Speaker 1:Then His followers, the disciples, think that Jesus means that he's literally asleep. But Jesus clarifies for them no, no, he's actually not just sleeping, lazarus is dying. In fact, he has died. Why does he say that? Why would Jesus say hey, this guy, lazarus, who was sick, has now died. Why does Jesus say that he's actually sleeping? Why does he connect these two phrases? Why would you say that? What's the connection between sleeping and death? The Bible, on many occasions, connects and uses synonymously this word sleeping and death. But it's weird because sleeping only lasts for a short while. Right, many of you woke up this morning because you were no longer sleeping, and so sleep only lasts for a certain duration, amount of time, but death lasts for forever. Yeah, death is forever, except when death is not for forever. And Jesus is hinting that somehow the sleep or this death that Lazarus is going to is only going to last for a short while. And it's more like sleeping than actual death, because Jesus, as he often does, has a plan. Now his friends are confused like what is he sleeping? Is he dead? So he clarifies for them. He's like look, lazarus is dead. So let's just make no mistakes and let's go to him and let's wake him up and let's fix the problem here.
Speaker 1:Thomas, who's one of Jesus's closest friends, knows that what's going to happen next is very, very dangerous. If they go to Lazarus, which is in the south, in Judea, where there's a ton of political, religious you know things happening. It's very hot for Jesus down there. He was just down there with all of them and the people, the religious authorities. They tried to stone Jesus because he was making all kinds of trouble for them, religiously, politically, he was saying scandalous things and the authorities down in the south had had enough of Jesus. They tried to kill him. So the disciples and him, they head up north to get away from all the hotbed of all this activity.
Speaker 1:And now they're saying let's go back down there, like why would we do that? It'll be certain death for us. But Thomas doesn't care. Here's what he says. I love it. He goes, hey, let's go also, that we may also die with Jesus. You see, he's the OG ride or die with Jesus. You know he's like we're going too and we're going to die with you, because they know if we go back down to Jerusalem, where things have gotten so hot for Jesus, this troublemaking, rabble-rousing Jewish rabbi, teacher who pushes back on authority and against these figures, it will mean certain death for them. So Thomas and Jesus aren't afraid, they're afraid of dying. And when they're not afraid of dying, that makes them very, very dangerous. They're no longer playing by the rules of society that's been given to them. They're sort of opting out of the game and they're ready for anything. These dudes are very, very dangerous.
Speaker 1:So they head down to Judea and they learn that Lazarus has been dead for four days, which is significant. They go down there and they're like, hey, he's been dead, he's in the tomb. He's been dead for four days. Very significant, because back in the ancient world you didn't know if somebody was dead all the time, because you didn't have one of those death monitor, heartbeat flatline machine thingies, what are they called? They didn't have those.
Speaker 1:They had other methods, of course, to find out if you were dead. They had the stick method. Is he dead? I don't know, he's dead. There was, of course, the vulture method. They're vultures. Yeah, oh, he's dead. Yeah, he's dead for sure. You have the mirror method, which newborn mothers, or mothers and newborns, that you hold the mirror under the nose. Is he breathing? Yeah, but they know after four days. Dude is dead. Right, lazarus is in fact dead. He's dead for four days.
Speaker 1:But jesus and thomas, who seem unafraid, have this idea, maybe, this understanding that death is not in fact the end of all things, because death isn't forever in their minds, maybe. So they go down there and when they get there, lazarus is dead, four days dead. His body's decaying, dead. He's not just dead, he's like dead-dead. Lazarus is like dead-dead, he's dead, and what happens next will undermine death itself. Now here's what happens.
Speaker 1:Jesus goes there and they begin to have this back and forth, jesus and the people there, and uh, this is what martha says hey, jesus, if you had come earlier, before he died, you could have healed him and he wouldn't be dead, he. And then Jesus says this this is like a mic drop moment. I love this. He's like listen, your brother will rise again. This is a bold move. If you ask me To declare that some dead guy who's been dead for four days, who's dead dead, that he'll rise again, like that's a bold claim. That's like Joe Namath kind of a claim. You know what I'm saying? Jesus doesn't care, though. He's like no, he's it. And Martha says is well, I know that he'll raise again on the last day, at the end of time, when you restore all things, when the kingdom of God comes, he'll raise again at the resurrection. See, she's waiting, expecting the kingdom of God to come later. But Jesus is like no, no, the kingdom of God is here now. And he responds I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though they may die, they shall live. Whoever believes and lives, whoever lives and believes, shall never die. What he's saying hey, listen, we can sit here and talk about resurrection all you want to, but I'm the resurrection. Let me show you, by the way, those who believe in him.
Speaker 1:There's this Greek word that means believe. We translate it as something we believe. Now, in our Western world, we think of believe as like a mental agreement. Oh, I believe that two plus two equals four. I just believe with my head. I have this cognitive assertion to a certain propositional truth statement. I agree, I believe, but in the ancient world that was not what believe meant.
Speaker 1:Believe in the Greek and in the ancient world, especially in the first century, meant more something like believe into. It was like there was a movement to it. It was dynamic, not static. So when you believed in anything, you had a relationship with that thing. That was like a push and a pull, give and a take. When you all came in here this morning, you believed that pew would hold you up, did you not? And so you sat down in it. If you didn't believe it would hold you, you wouldn't sit down in it. So there's this idea in the ancient world to believe is like this movement of believing into.
Speaker 1:So to believe in Jesus is to believe into him, to put your trust in him, your faith in him, to follow him, what he says and his teachings and his ideas, and to throw your whole life into his life, to eat the bread of life, as we learned in week one, to stay around in the sheep pen because he's the good shepherd, as we learned in week three of our series. To live in the light of the world, as Jesus is the light of the world, to live in his light, which we learned in week I don't remember five or so to abide, to stay connected to the main stock as divine, to live like that, to abide, to believe that he is the way, to like, walk on the way as he is the way. This is what it means to believe, to believe into, to put your whole life into this thing. Now here's what that means.
Speaker 1:There might be some days where you mentally, with your brain, don't always you're not always convinced that some of these things are maybe true. Or you wake up and you just had too much pizza the night before or didn't get enough hours of sleep, whatever your thing is, and you wake up and you're like I don't really know. This all sounds kind of crazy. That's okay. My response is that's fine. Just believe anyway In faith, go anyway and love God and love your neighbors anyway.
Speaker 1:Faith is often more about a movement, about behavior, than it is about thinking certain things are true with your brain. Although I don't believe it's irrational to believe in God? I really don't. It's actually rational and reasonable to believe in a God who created the world. But sometimes faith is like just believing into to move, and so sometimes our prayer is more like the guy who's the father, who has a sick son and he asks for healing and then he says to Jesus Lord, I believe, but will you help my unbelief? I'm going to believe into you, I'm going to walk with you, I'm going to put my life in your life and just see what happens. So here's the deal when you believe, those who put their lives into the hands and the ways and the teachings of Jesus and the life and exchange their life for his life, who call on his name as a savior, as a Lord, as someone who can help them, who ask for help, open their hearts and their minds to the Holy Spirit and the work of God in the world and the faith itself, those people who believe into it won't die. At least, according to Jesus, they'll live.
Speaker 1:Here's the funny thing about life and death, though there are many ways to be alive and there are many ways to be dead. Are you with me, most of these folks who actually, I think, all of them that talk to Jesus in that moment, whom he's talking to, whom he says if you believe, you won't die. Their hearts all stopped beating at some point, probably about 2,000 years ago. They're all dead, but those men and women had life Life, and one day, as we know on this side of history, they will experience this kind of life again in the resurrection. There's all kinds of ways to be alive and to be dead, and maybe death, as we know, it is not in fact the end.
Speaker 1:So now this is back and forth. They show up Lazarus is dead for four days and they're going to raise him from the dead. Jesus knows this. But they're going to raise him from the dead. Jesus knows this. But they're a little bit nervous. And here's what happens. Jesus is like hey, look, take away the stone. There were these graves, these tombs that had stones in front of them, kind of like this one here. And then somebody says hey, not a good idea, the stench will be horrid. He's been four days dead. So Jesus remembers oh, that's true, good point. He looks over at Peter and Peter's like no bro, I got you, I brought the Febreze, we'll be fine, just do it. And so Jesus yells Lazarus come out of there. I love it.
Speaker 1:And then the text tells us and the one who had died came out bound, hand and foot, with grave clothes on draped off his body and his face was wrapped with a cloth, and Jesus said loose him, let him go. Now. I don't know what the craziest thing you've ever seen in your life is. This would top my list. Imagine being there and this dead guy who was dead, not just dead, but like dead, dead four days he comes walking out of a tomb. These things don't happen. It might make you a little bit afraid you know what I mean. And so you start to scream, maybe, but terror takes the words before you make them and you start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes and you're paralyzed because this is thriller. Thank you, that did not go so well at the 8 o'clock. I don't know. They didn't really get it. I was rehearsing that joke for days. That was so funny. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just ask a friend. Now here's the deal. I get it.
Speaker 1:Miracles are weird. We live in a world that we love science. I love science, science is great, and miracles seem to kind of override some of these things, these laws of nature, and it doesn't make sense. But, my friends, the world is a complex, mysterious place. Anyway, it really is. It's profound. I mean, read a book on quantum physics, you know what I mean. It's incredible.
Speaker 1:But if we believe that God, there is a God behind this whole thing, who is this benevolent creator, at least that then why couldn't this God, who sort of built the whole thing anyway, why couldn't he intervene every now and again? In fact, in that way, the laws of nature reveal that there is in fact another being outside of this whole thing, kind of operating within it, every now and again. Why couldn't that be true here? Huh, and maybe it's not God breaking the laws of nature as much as it is God putting things back to where they were supposed to be and were intended to be from the original starting point. Yeah, but if you read quantum physics, there's all this data that suggests that there is some sort of order to this whole thing. It's quite fascinating. So it's weird. I get it, but maybe we believe into this just for a moment this morning, here.
Speaker 1:Now, what happens then to Lazarus, as I told you, is a sign, because all of these seven words of Jesus. They're all accompanied by this miracle, which is a sign, now, a sign I told you in week one is an intentional miracle to reveal something true about God. What does this raising of Lazarus, what is it a sign of? Of course, it was his friend, he loved him and rose from the boy. What's a sign pointing to? Well, it's, of course, a precursor to the death and resurrection of jesus himself. But it's a sign that this is what, hey, this is what jesus can do for others. But also, what's coming next will change and undermine, in fact reverse death itself. Yeah, yeah, jesus is coming to undo death itself and change the whole dynamic, because death in this way is much more like sleeping.
Speaker 1:Now, this is too much for all the authorities. They can't handle it. So the religious, the political authorities, they get nervous because here this guy is again causing trouble, raising guys from the dead, feeding thousands of people. He doesn't play by the rules we want him to play by. This dude's unafraid of us at all. He's like sort of doing his own thing. He's unafraid and it's too much. And this miracle was too public, too powerful and too sort of. You can't ignore it. It's unignorable. Is that a word? Unignorable. It's unignorable. They have to deal with him. In fact, they say this to themselves. They say, hey, listen, if we let this go on like this, let this guy just do his own thing, they will begin to believe in him even more. Everyone will begin to believe in him, and we can't handle that. It'll undermine our authority, no-transcript. And they try him and they convict him an innocent man and they hang him on a cross. And that was Friday.
Speaker 1:But remember the sign. What happens in Lazarus is a sign pointing towards something else that will happen, an undoing of death itself. And Jesus just hinted that hey, look, I am the resurrection. So three days later, jesus comes back out of the grave. Now notice, when Lazarus came out of the grave, he was wrapped in grave clothes because he's going to die again. He has to. He's a human being. He's going to die again. This is a sign. It's not the whole thing, it's just a sign he needs those grave clothes again. Now, when Jesus comes out of the tomb, he leaves his grave clothes in the tomb Because that dude won't die again. Now here's the question. I have Dudes who come back from the dead.
Speaker 1:I have this image in my head that these guys like they're no longer afraid of much anymore when you face death and you come out the other end, like what makes you afraid any longer? You think those dudes are scared to walk out at night in the woods anymore. I don't think so. Think they have nightmares about the boogeyman or a monster chasing them. Or nightmares about walking around their high school totally naked before a test they haven't studied for. I don't think so. These dudes are unafraid and because of that, these dudes are very, very dangerous. You can ditch your flannel graph white robe of Jesus with the blonde hair and the blue sash floating on the sand. You can get rid of that. This is a dangerous, dangerous man who no longer plays by the rules of society or these authorities any longer. He's playing by different rules altogether because he's overcome death.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you've ever been around someone who's not afraid of dying, they're frightening people to be around because they'll do almost anything and they almost radiate this power, as though they see things you don't see. You know what I'm talking about. In fact, pilate meets with Jesus before he goes to his death and Pilate can sense it. Pilate says this. He's like hey, where did you come from? Who are you? What kind of a weird man are you? And then Pilate, it says, was deeply afraid. Yeah, of course he was afraid.
Speaker 1:Now we all have those friends who are unafraid of dying because they're naive and they're kind of reckless, like the guy who climbs over the wall at the zoo, like that's not what I mean, don't be that guy. I mean those who are rooted and anchored in something deeper and stronger than death itself, folks who've seen things and their eyes are wide open and they're not chasing death. They're not afraid of dying because they're anchored in the one who is the resurrection and the life. Maybe you've heard these stories about folks who have like near-death experiences and they kind of come out of this thing and they see everything wildly differently. It's like they've been given new lenses or a new framework and they see the world totally differently.
Speaker 1:Or maybe you've had a friend, a lost loved one that you've lost, that they've died, and after they die you have this shuffling or reshuffling of your priorities and your intentions and what you're doing with your life. It changes everything, because when you're unafraid of dying and you have this new perspective, your eyes are wide open. It changes everything. It's like playing with house money. I like to say yeah, what are you afraid of? These folks realize, and they recognize that life is fleeting, it's vapor-like. You might say it's here and then it's gone. And it's a gift. It's a pure and precious gift. It's precious because it's so fleeting. And so you have this reshuffling of all your ideas and priorities and you're no longer afraid of the things that used to make you be afraid.
Speaker 1:There's this great German pastoring, theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who resisted the Nazi movement over in Germany and in doing so he got into big trouble. He actually was a part of a plot to kill Hitler, to end this part of the war, and they caught him and they threw him into prison. And in prison, and he actually was facing a certain death. He wrote tons of letters and essays, and when you read them they're full of joy and peace. How could that be? Because Bonhoeffer was unafraid. He knew something that many of us don't that death is not the end. Here's the last thing Dietrich Bonhoeffer ever wrote. He said look, this is the end. For me it's the beginning of life. Yeah, he's anchored in something deeper than death, something stronger. He's anchored in the resurrection, the life.
Speaker 1:What is it like to be unafraid, to be so free. You can move through the world with this carefree attitude Not reckless or naive, but just like you know what's up. The great Brennan Manning says it this way. I love this. He says the only way for a Christian to deal with an unfree world and, by the way, friends, we live in a world so unfree it should be obvious to us. All of us are in it too, so it's kind of like the water we swim in. I get it, but the only way to deal with that is to become so absolutely free that our very existence is an act of rebellion. There's nothing more maddening than a free person. Yeah, what are you afraid of this morning? What are you afraid of? If we're anchored in the one who is the resurrection, we don't need to be afraid. So I would say this Go ahead, go ahead and ask that girl to prom, ask that boy to prom, do your thing, shoot your shot, why not?
Speaker 1:How about you quit that job that is sucking the soul out of you? What are you afraid of? Or maybe you need to just be told hey, why don't you show up and give your full attention, your full presence, treat it like it's a craft, give it your all Then complain later. Maybe that's what you need to be told. Or maybe you need to hear hey, start that new business, just do it. What are you afraid of? Maybe you need to learn or be told hey, go ahead and start therapy. Call them tomorrow, revisit your past traumas and those wounds. We've all got wounds. Go visit them. Talk with somebody about it. Pay the hundred bucks, do it. How about this? Maybe you need to tell somebody I love you. Tell them first, be the first one to do it. Say I love you.
Speaker 1:Maybe you need to forgive somebody who's wronged you, hurt you, wounded you. Maybe you need to offer forgiveness to somebody who's hurt you, or ask and offer it Both of those things. Maybe you need to just start going to church more often or to AA Either one's fine with me, either one. Maybe you need to dance at that wedding. By the way, one of my rules for life is whenever someone asks you to dance, just dance. Don't be Johnny Too Cool. Just dance. Okay, just do it. It's a metaphor for life. Maybe you need to say no to just another thing to do to impress folks that you don't even like. Or say no to overcommittal or one more tournament this weekend. I'm not doing that. You have my permission to say no.
Speaker 1:This morning you need to ask for help. You're weak and tired and wounded. You need to ask for help. A dear friend of ours just took his own life a couple days ago. You need to ask for help because you're in a dark place. Ask for help. People have friendly ears around you. Ask for help. You need to confess something that's been weighing on you heavily for a long time. You want to just tell somebody. Do it, just confess it. You don't know what will happen. Tell somebody. Maybe you need to tell your kids hey, kids, I'm proud of you, I'm proud of you. Or kids, maybe you need to tell your parents I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1:What are you afraid of? This morning? You have that white sheet of paper. What I want you to do is take it out and during this next song, you're going to just what's the thing that's blocking you? Where are you unfree? What's the thing you're afraid of? Write it down. You need to write it down and then you're going to bring it forward during communion and you're going to drop it in that basket or this basket or this basket here, and then I'm going to take those. All, we're going to throw them in the tomb. If you want to get really crazy, you can walk up to the tomb and throw it under yourself, because those who know that death is not the end have nothing to be afraid of this morning. May you live free. Amen.
