Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Luke 11:17-44
Pastor: Pastor Joel Jenswold (Pastor at Lord of Love in DeForest, WI)
Sermon Date:  March 25, 2020

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What traits make a good soldier? That is a question that has been asked, and studied, for years. It is studied by those at the top in the Pentagon, because if we can find the answer to that, we can put together an armed force composed of only those possessing these traits. Recently a study was done of some of the members of the Navy Seals. The Navy Seals are that elite group of fighters who are often given the most dangerous and most important deployments. They studied a number of Navy Seals to see what qualities these elite fighters had in common. The study revealed the following traits tended to be present in these warriors: confidence, pride, honor, integrity, and directness. Absent were traits like tender-hearted. Sympathetic. Loving. Compassionate. This is not to say that soldiers do not possess these traits. But these are not the first things to come to mind when we think of what makes for a mighty warrior.

This Lent we are gathering around the theme: The Son of God Goes Forth to War. It is a theme that wants us to see Jesus as a warrior. It’s just that… he doesn’t always look the part of the warrior, does he? Such is the case in our text for this service. Today we see a weeping warrior. It is a text that allows us to contemplate Jesus as The Hidden Warrior. Our text is part of one of the best-known and beloved stories of Jesus.

You remember the story? There were three siblings, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, who had become dear friends of Jesus. They lived in the little village of Bethany, just to the east of Jerusalem. Lazarus became sick, and was getting worse and worse. The sisters sent this message to Jesus: Lord, the one you love is sick. (John 11:3) But Jesus does not do as we expect; he doesn’t drop everything and rush to Bethany to fix Lazarus. He stays right where he is! Meanwhile, Lazarus dies. Finally, on the fourth day Jesus says to his disciples, “Let’s go.” When Jesus arrives, Martha runs out to meet Jesus. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died! (John 11:21) Mary, too, finally comes to Jesus. She falls at his feet and says the
same as her sister, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died (John 11:32). Jesus looks at the faces of Mary and Martha, their cheeks streaked with tears, their eyes red from crying. He hears the many people who have come to console the sisters in this sad hour weeping. Jesus feels his heart in his throat. He gets out the words, Where have you laid him? “Come and see,” they say. At this moment, if we had been there and looked at Jesus, we would have seen Jesus’ own eyes well up with tears and now tears stream down Jesus’ cheeks into his beard. The people who saw Jesus’ tears said, “See how he loved him!”

Not much of a warrior, huh? A bit weepy, maybe? If Jesus was in boot-camp, he may have been discharged and a note put in his file which said, “Unfit for combat. Weak. Unstable. Does not seem to handle death very well. Soldier was seen crying on way to cemetery. Seems a bit fragile, not at all warrior-like.” This tender-heart of Jesus, this love of Jesus, is what made him such a fierce warrior! It was love that drove the Lord Jesus to Calvary. Love drove him, not hate. Oh, there was certainly hate in the heart of Jesus – he hated sin, and he hated what sin had done and he hated looking at the faces of people who just buried their brother! But Jesus was animated by more than hate. More than anything else, there was fierce, warrior-love love in the heart of Jesus. The Bible tells us God is love (1 John 4:8); not God is hate. Jesus wept because he loved Lazarus, and Mary and Martha and who were so sad that day.

How good to know that the heart of our Warrior is filled with love. You see, we still approach Jesus the way Mary and Martha did: Lord, the one you love is sick. Except when I say it, I’m not giving Jesus information, I am making confession. “I’m sick, Jesus. Really sick. Sick unto death..with sin.” And our text shows us how Jesus feels about what sin has done. He weeps. I remember a choir anthem I once sang that asked the question, “Did Jesus weep for me, for me? Did Jesus weep for me?” And the answer is, “Yes, Jesus wept for you.” Of you it must be said: See how he loved him! But he weeps not as one who is helpless; he weeps as one who can help.

Here we should probably go back and finish Jesus’ conversation with Martha when she ran out to meet him. After she said that her brother would not have died if Jesus had been there, Jesus said this: Your brother will rise again. Martha confessed, I know he will rise again, in the resurrection at the last day. Then Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He doesn’t say, “I will cause the resurrection,” or “I will bring about the resurrection.” He says, “I am the resurrection.” It’s like he says if you look up the word resurrection in the dictionary, you see his picture! He IS the resurrection. And he proves it.

They walk to the graveyard where Lazarus is entombed. Jesus commands they roll the stone away from Lazarus’ tomb. Martha protests because surely decomposition has begun and the smell of death from the tomb will overcome them. They roll the stone away. And Jesus commands, “Lazarus, come forth.” Out comes Lazarus, alive! There we get a glimpse of the victory our Warrior wins. He has won the victory over death! He goes from weeping to plundering the grave! This is the Warrior who opens and empties graves and tombs!

Have you ever been in the situation of Mary and Martha? Someone you love is sick. We send word to Jesus; they die anyway. We plan the funeral. Pretty flowers. Friends and family. A fresh grave at the cemetery. We return home. Days go by. You wonder, “Why didn’t Jesus come and make them better? If Jesus had come, my loved one would not have died. Why did Jesus hide? I saw cousin Bill and Aunt Tilly at the funeral. I wish I could have seen Jesus there! Where was my strong Warrior when I needed him most?” He was there! In every comforting word of Scripture that you heard, the Resurrection and the Life was there! Also, be patient, and you will see the glory of God and the power of Christ! On the last day, our Warrior will come in glory and as he promised, all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out (John 5:29). He will do to our graves what he did to Lazarus grave! “Come out!” And we will. He will once again plunder the grave, because by his resurrection, he won the victory!

A weeping Warrior does not look like much of a warrior, unless that warrior is Jesus. Hidden behind the tears is the Warrior who beats sin, and death, and Satan, and the grave. And remember, dear friends, God delights to hide the blessings of his love in places we would least expect to find them. The victory Jesus won is hidden and given through words, words written in an ancient text. The victory is hidden and given to little babies as simple water is connected to the word of the Warrior in holy baptism. The victory is hidden and given in a meal we eat that was instituted by our Warrior the night before he died for our sins. The victory is hidden yet realized every time a saint closes his or her eyes and falls asleep in Jesus. God hides so he can reveal and give. During this season of Lent, rejoice that in Christ Jesus is hidden the warrior who gives victory over death!

Amen.