The greatest book of all time. An unforgettable story, told by an incredibly gifted author. According to a website called “The Greatest Books,” at the top of the list are:
~ In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust, a recollection of the narrator’s childhood.
~ Ulysses, by James Joyce, the passage of a man through Dublin on an ordinary day in 1904.
~ Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, the story of a retired man who becomes obsessed with chivalry.
~ One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family.
~ The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a chronicle of the Roaring 1920s. (The only one I have read, and it was back in high school!)
Okay, so they may be great books, all of them. They were created via a master list out of 122 other best-books lists. So, okay.
But what is the most influential book of all time? Which story has had the greatest impact on human life?
The Yale Alumni Magazine published a list of books that have changed people’s lives, and you might be surprised by what they found. A Yale professor of military and naval history chose Winnie-the-Pooh, “because each of the animals has a distinctive personality.” He has found it to be an excellent guide for navigating life, classrooms and department meetings.
A professor of World Christianity says that his life was changed by Helen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life. The professor grew up in Africa and discovered her book in a trash dump. He remembers that he read with avid attention to “her testimony about knowledge as power.”
The director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History realizes that his life was changed by Jane Werner Watson’s Giant Golden Book of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles, published in 1960. Even if the science is now outdated, he says, the illustrations in the book “remain just as powerful as when they ignited in me a passion to understand the natural world.”
Winnie-the-Pooh. Helen Keller’s autobiography. A giant picture book of dinosaurs. These are books that have changed people’s lives.
I’d like to think that we could add the Gospel of John to this list. John 3:16 alone, the verse that the reformer Martin Luther called “the gospel in a nutshell,” has transformed the lives of countless thousands of people. Then there’s the story of from a couple of weeks ago about Jesus meeting a woman at a well — a story that has helped so many understand how cultural, ethnic, and gender relationships can be forged.
And, of course, today’s text tells the story of death, resurrection and belief — a story that has generated faith in the lives of millions. John’s account of Jesus, Martha and Lazarus — an account that does not appear in any of the other gospels — has all the drama of the world’s greatest and most influential books.
John tells us that “a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.” We can imagine Lazarus and his two sisters as vivid characters, as distinctive as Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore. In fact, you might think of Lazarus as Pooh, friendly and spirit-filled. Mary is Piglet, intelligent but timid. And Martha is Eeyore, sardonic and pessimistic.
Now, Eeyore and Piglet sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” They knew that Jesus loved upbeat and cheerful Lazarus, and they assumed that he would rush to his side. But, maybe Jesus was thinking they were over-reacting, after all, he just had the common cold – or not.
Either way, Jesus brushed their message aside, saying, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory.” I told you it was the common cold! And he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. While he was there, Lazarus died. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a cold. I make light of the situation, but isn’t it odd that Jesus doesn’t seem to take the illness seriously? At least to those of us who are bystanders of the story.
Eventually, Jesus traveled to Bethany and found that Lazarus had been lying dead in the tomb for four days. Martha left her house to meet Jesus in full Eeyore mode — glum and pessimistic. She probably said, “It’s all for naught.” Did she have her hands on her hips when she said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”? But since Martha also had strong faith in Jesus, she went on to say, “But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”
Jesus responded to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha / Eeyore said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
But Jesus was determined to change her thinking about new life, so he announced, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
What a crisis for Eeyore, who was in the habit of saying, “Wish I could say yes, but I can’t.” Martha could see the facts around her: Lazarus was dead, his body rotting in the tomb, and he wasn’t scheduled to rise until the resurrection on the last day. But now Jesus was saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?”
“Wish I could say yes,” she thought to herself. But instead of agreeing completely, she said, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” And then she went home and reported to Piglet that Jesus was calling for her.
Mary jumped up and ran out to see Jesus, like Piglet feeling small and helpless in a crisis situation. When Mary came to Jesus and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said, “Lord, it is hard to be brave when you’re only a very small animal … if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She sort of made the same statement as her sister, but the emotion was different, because when Jesus saw her weeping, he was disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He wasn’t moved when Martha confronted him, with her hands on her hips. But now, he’s moved. He’s touched. He’s feeling something in his gut.
And then, suddenly, Jesus is crying.
In public.
The Son of God, the Savior of the world, is crying. Lazarus was his Winnie-the-Pooh — his friendly, thoughtful, and spirit-filled friend. And now he was dead.
Christ(AKA Christopher Robin) walked to the cave that served as the tomb of Lazarus, and saw that it had a stone lying against it. “Take away the stone,” ordered Jesus. Eeyore said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” “It’ll never work.”
But Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” For Jesus, the key is believing — faith is the attitude that changes your life. What makes the Gospel of John a life-changing book is that it is a story about the power of belief. It is the Gospel that says:
~“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
~“Very truly, I tell you,” said Jesus, “anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
~“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Anyone who believes may have eternal life. Anyone who believes has passed from death to life. Whoever believes in Jesus will never be thirsty.
The power of belief … of faith … of trust.
So, they took away the stone. Jesus lifted up a prayer, giving thanks that God had heard him. But he was really praying for the sake of the crowd, “so that they may believe.” Then Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Releasing him, they saw that Lazarus was alive and well — upbeat, cheerful, full of spirit. Pooh was back! And when the people in the area saw what Jesus had done, they “believed in him.” Once again, the power of belief. Certainly, better than the smell of unbelief.
Later in the Gospel of John, we learn that the chief priests were furious at Lazarus, “since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.” What a paradox – if the chief priests knew that Lazarus was raised from the dead, why did they still have doubts about Jesus.
When you look at a list of great books, you might wonder about their purpose.
No such question needs to be asked of the Gospel of John. The book was written “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
John changes our lives by inviting us to believe in Jesus, so that we may have life in his name. The Gospel of John is a book that can change your life, because it tells the story of Jesus overcoming death. Do you believe it?
Let us pray.
In today’s gospel we read how Jesus rewarded the faith of Mary and Martha when he raised Lazarus from the dead. We pray that we, too, can match their faith and look forward with confidence to sharing the joy of resurrection and reunion with our Heavenly Father. We pray to the Lord.
We pray for all who mourn the loss of loved ones, that Christ, who wept at the death of Lazarus, may comfort them. We pray to the Lord.
We pray for those who are sick, both at home and in hospital, that our loving and caring Father look down on them with compassion and grant them healing in their pain or distress. We pray to the Lord.
For an end to the violence perpetrated by harsh words, deadly weapons, or cold indifference. May our homes, our nation, and countries around the world become havens of peace. We pray to the Lord.
As we enter the last two weeks of Lent, may we each be inspired to do penance for any sins we may have on our hearts, to enter into more prayer that we may have a deeper relationship with our heavenly Father. We pray to the Lord.
For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.
We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.
O God, how quickly we walk into Lent with enthusiasm and vigor. We are determined to reach Easter as a true Easter people, full of hope and intent on charity and kindness and love. But, somewhere along the way, our steps falter. Our pace slackens. We trudge along with slumped shoulders, and our gait becomes uneven. Soon we are only plodding, one foot in front of the other, and our hearts become as heavy as our feet. Like Martha, we become Eeyores about our life and its accomplishments.
Forgive us, God. Stir us with a rushing wind that we might look up from the ground to the majesty of the trees, dancing in the wind. Let the breeze carry with it a whispered reminder that you walk with us, even to the end of time. Force us to step more lively and breathe deeply that we might reawaken the gift of the Holy Spirit within us. Help us to move forward as we walk toward Jerusalem ... and beyond. We ask these things, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
God Love You +++
The Most Rev. Robert Winzens
Pastor – St. Francis Chapel
San Diego, CA.
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