As Vice President at the time, George Bush Senior represented the U.S. at the funeral of the former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, and he writes of being deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
There in the centre of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped and trusted that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.
This incredible gesture speaks of the hope which we as Christians profess but it is a hope not built on the future but on the present. Our thoughts must not centre simply on what is to come, because there are urgent matters to be dealt with here and now. God’s kingdom is not restricted to a place out of sight in the future, but is here with us now – as we pray in the Lords Prayer, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’
And so one of our roles as Christians is to be kingdom builders – discovering what God’s mission is and working with him.
There’s a story about when Sir Christopher Wren was visiting St Paul’s Cathedral as it was being built. He found three men doing exactly the same job – he asked the first what he was doing and the man replied, ‘I’m shaping this stone to make it into an arch.’ He asked the second man the same question and he said, ‘I’m building part of the East window’, and then he asked the third man who said, ‘I’m building a cathedral’.
That man realised that whatever part he was playing in the work, he was building the cathedral, and that should be our picture of ministry today, the ministry of all of us as Christians – we are building a kingdom, and God has entrusted us and is empowering us to do it.
In the gospel reading this morning (John 11:1-45), we heard the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. There are many stories of resurrection in the Bible, but 2 stand out – the first is of course the most important of all - Jesus conquering the power of death not just for himself but for all who turn to him, and the second is this one.
Other accounts are often of people who have just died, but Lazarus has been dead for 4 days. He is in the grave, and bound in the grave clothes. Incredibly at Jesus’ words he is raised from the dead. He has a new life, and each of the readings that we have heard this morning take new life as a theme. There are the dry and lifeless bones being given new life in the writing of Ezekiel (37:1-14) and in Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:6-11) he writes about the power of sin bringing death, but he goes on to write that if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace…
But the gospel reading also takes us a little further as we think about building the kingdom of God because even as Lazarus incredibly walked out of the tomb, there was another stage to his rebirth, and that was to take off the grave clothes. Jesus said, ‘Unwrap him and let him go’.
And I think this point reminds us that it is possible to accept Jesus into our lives without committing ourselves to following him and trusting him completely. Lazarus’ clothes would have prevented him from actually being free, and sometimes our reservations and our in-built human fears of trusting others, sometimes our habits, maybe our bitterness, our grief, our hurt, stop us from being free in Christ – Free to trust, free to learn, free to love and free to be loved, and free to be part of building the kingdom of God.
And so the cry of Jesus ‘Unwrap him and let him go’ is a cry for us all to allow ourselves to be unwrapped – I’ll quickly add that I’m not suggesting naked Church !!! But we must allow ourselves to get rid of the things that are stopping us from getting closer to God, and those things often start in our own thoughts and hearts.
It may be the problem at home, the illness of a loved one or of yourself that needs to be faced, it may be the work problem, or it may be an issue with another person, but all of these things are problems that will never be solved alone. ‘Unwrap them and let them go’ would surely be the advice of Jesus.
Or the problems may come in our churches where we are sometimes bound by things we like doing and feel comfortable doing – we sometimes forget that our ministry as Christians is not to be comfortable in our own environment but to step out in faith – to take chances, to change when change is needed – and always to focus on what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.
And if the answer to those questions come back to us and for us then we’re not building a kingdom, we’re furnishing a club – kingdom building must look outside – the Diocesan vision reminds us that we gather as God’s people, we grow in the likeness of Jesus himself and we go out in the power of the Spirit confident in the good news we share, and seeking to love as God loves us.
To function effectively Lazarus had to have the bandages taken off – and so we must take away anything that restricts us from going out into the community and welcoming others into the church.
We need to be free – free to love unconditionally and, very importantly, to know that we are loved.
Lazarus had a life still to live in that place where he was – he still had work to do, he still had a family to care for and a family who cared for him, and released from his grave clothes he could go about his work positively knowing that his Saviour was Jesus and that he had been released for the power of death into a new life.
And that new life is what we so often take for granted, but it is the new life that Christ wants us to enjoy and to share. Over and over again the words and actions of Jesus centre on the need to maximise our lives, to enjoy what we have, to make the best of things even when they seem tough, and also to reflect this strength and joy to others.
Today is known as Passion Sunday– traditionally it is the day when we look solemnly towards the cross. Holy Week and Good Friday is getting closer, and on this day we are called to reflect on the self sacrificing love of Jesus who committed everything for us, and once again we are called to respond.
‘Unwrap him and let him go’ was Jesus’ permission to Lazarus to go and do his work, the work of Christ of seeking out those who are lost, the work of Christ of serving, trusting, caring,
offering compassion, offering hope, encouragement and peace, offering above all love… That love which mirrors the love of Christ for all people, regardless of who they are or what they look like, or what we may have argued with them in the past about. The love of Christ is a love that knows no boundaries.
And as we serve him, as we praise him, as we trust him, as we seek to share his joy and his love and help to be part of building his kingdom, we do those things secure in the knowledge that whatever happens, whatever we do or say, or whatever anyone else does or says to us, we are loved by Him, and there is no fact more important than that… AMEN
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