OPENING CHORUS and OPENING PRAYER
OPENING COMMENTS
- During Lent, we journey through grief, repentance, and waiting, but always toward hope.
- The theme for today is God Enters Death and Gives Life.
- The selected Bible passages for today are Psalm 130:1–8, Ezekiel 37:1–14, Romans 8:6–11 and John 11:1–45.
- Today’s scriptures remind us that even when life feels dry, broken, or buried, God enters death and gives life.
- In Psalm 130:1-8, the psalmist cries out “from the depths” … longing for mercy and redemption / restoration of relationship. It is a prayer born out of waiting, the cry of a heart that trusts that God’s forgiveness will rise like the dawn after a long night. Out of the depths comes hope.
- In Ezekiel 37:1-14, God brings the prophet to a valley filled with dry bones. God commands him to speak life, and the Holy Spirit breathes over the bones until they rattle and rise, forming a living community again. What once was dead stands alive in God’s power.
- In Romans 8:6-11, we are reminded that this same Spirit lives within us. The Spirit of Christ turns our hearts from the decay of death to the fullness of life and peace we find in right relationship with God and our fellow human beings. What was lifeless becomes living because God dwells within.
- Finally, in John 11, Jesus calls Lazarus from the tomb. Even death cannot silence Jesus’ voice and our ability to respond.
- Together, these readings lead us to the heart of Lent: we face the reality of our weakness and mortality. But we do so knowing that God can bring light from darkness, hope from despair, and life from the grave.
SERMON
God Enters Death and Gives Life
John 11:1–45 (NRSVUE)
In the summer of 1967, a seventeen-year-old named Joni Eareckson dove into a lake while swimming with friends. The water was shallower than she realized. The impact broke her neck and left her paralyzed from the neck down. In a single moment, her life changed in ways she never chose and could not undo.
In the months that followed, Joni lived in a kind of living death. She used a wheelchair. Her days were filled with pain, dependence, and grief. She prayed for healing that did not come. She begged God to restore what had been taken. At times, she admitted later, she told God she did not want to live if this was what life would be.
And yet, over time, something unexpected happened. Not a cure. Not a miracle in the way she had hoped. But a presence. In the long silence of her hospital room, Joni began to sense that God had not left her. She discovered that while her body might never walk again, her soul was not trapped. Her life was not over. What looked like an ending slowly became something else.
Joni learned to paint by holding a brush in her mouth. She began to write, to speak, to sing. Eventually, she founded an organization that provided wheelchairs, support, and dignity to people around the world living with disabilities. Her story did not become easy. But it became alive.
Joni’s story does not mean that suffering can be erased. It does not explain it away. But it does show us something important: when the good things of life seem over, when hope feels buried, God is still able to bring life where we expected only death.
That is the heart of John 11.
This chapter is not just a story about a man named Lazarus. It is a story about delay, grief, anger, tears, and tombs. And at the center of it all stands Jesus, who does not remain at a safe distance, but walks directly into the place we fear most — death.
Here is the good news that anchors everything else we will say today, the truth we will return to again and again:
God enters death and gives life.
Before we go any further, let’s talk about what we mean when we say, “God enters death.” We mean that Jesus, who is God, didn’t escape death; he went through it. Since Jesus died in our place, Christians believe that’s why death doesn’t get the final word.
When Christians say that God “enters death,” we also mean destruction, decay, and suffering. To say God enters death is to say that Jesus shares in our suffering because he experienced it. He knew loss, pain, injustice, humiliation, and fear.
Death is not just about the end of life. It’s the end of dreams, relationships, and plans. To say God enters death is to say God steps into those endings with us instead of leaving us to deal with them alone.
Let’s read John 11:1–45.
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them.” 11 After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 45 Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him. John 11:1–45 (NRSVUE)
The Delay That Feels Like Abandonment
The story begins with sickness. Lazarus, a man loved by his sisters Mary and Martha, is ill. They send word to Jesus. The message is simple and urgent: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
Many of us have experienced this kind of moment. We need help. We send the message. We ask. Maybe we pray. We trust and hope that help will come quickly.
But Jesus does not rush.
John tells us that Jesus stays where he is for two more days. By the time he arrives, Lazarus has been dead for four days. Lazarus’ body has been placed in a tomb. At that time, when a person died, they were placed in a tomb. A tomb is a chamber or room cut into rock. The entrance is sealed or covered with a stone slab.
So, when Jesus arrives, Lazarus is dead; he’s in the tomb; the tomb is sealed. The grief is heavy. His sisters, Mary and Martha, are no longer hoping for a miracle.
This delay is not explained in a way that makes everything feel neat. And that matters. Because for people of faith, we believe that God can act. That’s not the hardest part of faith. It is living in the space where God could act but has not yet.
The waiting room.
The hospital bed.
The unanswered prayer.
The silence.
The isolation.
This story refuses to pretend that waiting is easy or noble. Martha runs out to meet Jesus with words that are both faith and accusation: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Those words carry disappointment. They also carry trust. She still calls him Lord. She still runs toward him. She does not hide her grief or clean up her frustration.
And Jesus does not correct her. He does not explain himself. He does not offer a lesson on patience.
He offers a promise.
“Your brother will rise again.”
Martha hears this as future hope, resurrection someday, later, “on the last day.” That’s something she already believes.
But Jesus is about to show her that resurrection is not only a future event. It is a present reality standing in front of her.
Because in Jesus is the resurrection and the life. In Jesus, God enters death and gives life.
God Does Not Stand Outside Our Grief.
As Jesus moves closer to the tomb, the story slows down. John, the writer of this story, lingers over the emotions: the tears, the anger, and the ache in the air.
When Jesus sees Mary weeping, and the crowd with her, he is “deeply moved.” The language here is strong. It suggests agitation. Distress. A holy anger at what death has done to the people he loves.
And then comes the shortest verse in Scripture, and an important one.
“Jesus wept.”
This is not a performance. This is not a teaching moment. This is God in the flesh standing in front of a grave and crying.
Here is something this story insists we see: God does not explain our pain away. God does not tell us to move on quickly. God does not remain untouched or unaffected by our pain.
In Jesus, God enters grief. God enters loss. God enters the silence at the tomb at the grave where words no longer work.
If you have ever wondered whether God understands what it feels like to lose someone, to stand helpless in front of what cannot be fixed, this moment answers that question.
God does not love us from a distance.
God comes close enough to weep.
God does not save us by avoiding death.
This is the Incarnation. God became human in Jesus, not as an idea, but as presence. God with skin on. God with tears on his face. God standing where we stand, united to us.
And still, the story does not end with tears.
Because in Jesus, God enters death and gives life.
The Tomb Is Not The End of the Story.
When Jesus arrives at the tomb, he gives a command that feels almost unbearable: “Take away the stone.”
This is not because Jesus cannot act unless humans help. God’s work in us can bring us face to face with the reality we would rather avoid. The sealed places. The grief we have learned to hide. The hopelessness we have learned to live with. The losses we have named “final.”
Martha protests. “Lord, by this time there will be a smell.” In other words: this is too late. Too far gone. Too real.
But Jesus does not argue. He prays.
And this matters.
Before he calls Lazarus out, Jesus thanks the Father. He roots what is about to happen in relationship, not power. What unfolds at the tomb is not a display of raw force, but the overflow of communion between Father, Son, and Spirit.
Then Jesus speaks.
“Lazarus, come out.”
He calls a dead man by name.
And life obeys. Life obeys the Life-giver.
Lazarus comes out, still wrapped in grave clothes. He is alive, but not yet free. And Jesus says to the community around him, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Notice the order. Life first. The unbinding, the freedom second. Resurrection life precedes release.
This is crucial. Because we reverse it too often. We assume freedom must come before life. That we must clean ourselves up before we are welcomed back. That healing depends on our readiness.
But in this story, Lazarus does nothing to earn being brought back to life. He does not cooperate. He does not decide. He does not even believe first.
First, God gives him life. First, Jesus, who is the resurrection, comes to us even when we are still bound.
Because in Jesus, God enters death and gives life.
Lazarus Points Beyond Himself
It is important to remember that Lazarus will die again. Jesus brings Lazarus back to life; he resuscitates him. This is not the resurrection to eternal life. But this is a sign pointing forward to resurrection.
The author John places this story right before the events that lead Jesus to the cross. In fact, this miracle becomes the turning point that convinces the authorities that Jesus must be stopped.
Why?
Because Jesus has just done something that only God can do. He has called life out of death. And by doing so, he has sealed his own fate.
The one who calls Lazarus out of the tomb will soon be placed in a tomb himself. This is where the story deepens because it points to the cross.
Lazarus breathes again because Jesus will give up his spirit.
On the cross, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23:46 NIV
Jesus does not conquer death by avoiding it. He conquers death by entering it fully, carrying it in his own body, and breaking it from the inside. Jesus dies the death we cannot die.
This is vicarious grace. Substitution. Love that takes our place.
In Jesus, God enters death and gives life.
Not for merely a little while.
Not as just a symbol.
But forever.
The Work of the Triune God
This story is not only about Jesus acting alone. It reveals the life of the Trinity, our triune God. Triune means three.
The Father sends the Son into the world, not to remain distant from suffering, but to stand in its deepest place. The Son obeys not out of obligation, but out of love, giving himself fully to the work of life. And the Spirit is the breath of resurrection, the power that raises, the presence that sustains new life beyond the tomb.
The Father sends life.
The Son embodies life.
The Spirit delivers life.
This is not a lonely God. This is a God who acts in communion, in community, in union, drawing us into that shared life.
Resurrection is not just something God does for us, one day, after we die. It is something God invites us into now. Because Jesus was resurrected, he invites us into his resurrection life, into new life.
Receiving Life, Not Achieving It
Notice how little Lazarus contributes. He receives life before he can respond to it. The community unbinds him not to make him alive, but because he already is alive.
This reframes how we hear our own stories.
Some of us are waiting for an answer, for help, for relief.
Some of us are grieving losses that feel irreversible.
Some of us are carrying stones we assume cannot be moved.
This passage does not promise that every loss will be reversed in the way we want. But it does promise this: death does not get the final word.
Life is not something we must manufacture or create by our effort. It is something God gives.
And often, it comes not as a return to the old normal, but as a new kind of living we could not have imagined before.
Hope That Reaches Into the Present
Resurrection is not only about what happens after death. It is about how life breaks into the present.
This is where Joni Eareckson’s story connects again. Her paralysis was not reversed. But her life was not over. God did not remove her suffering, but God was with her in it and brought life where despair once ruled.
That is not a formula. It is a witness.
Resurrection life looks different in different bodies and stories. But it always bears the same mark: hope that does not depend on circumstances.
Because in Jesus, God enters death and gives life.
Since this is the life God gives, it does not stop with us. When God calls us out of death, he also sends us back into the world as people who know where life comes from. We begin to notice the tombs around us — not to fix them, but to stand near them with hope.
We move toward suffering, like Jesus did. We listen longer. We show up more patiently. We refuse to give up on people or places the world has written off as finished. This is how we can participate in God’s mission. We do not carry life in our hands; we bear witness to the life God is already giving. We trust that the same voice that called Lazarus still speaks through love, presence, and mercy today.
The Promise We Stand On
The story of Lazarus ends with many believing, and others plotting to kill Jesus. But for those who are weary, grieving, or afraid, this story offers something steady.
God does not abandon us to the tomb.
God does not ask us to climb our way out.
God comes in.
God calls our name.
God gives life.
The Father sends.
The Son enters.
The Spirit raises.
And that is the promise we stand on.
So, wherever you find yourself today — waiting, grieving, hoping, doubting — hear this good news again: God enters death and gives life.
Not only someday.
But truly.
Even now.
Amen.
SONG OF RESPONSE
Small Group Discussion Questions
- Where in your life do you feel like you are standing near a “tomb” right now — a place that feels closed, delayed, or beyond hope — and what did it mean to hear that God enters death and gives life?
- The sermon emphasized that Lazarus does nothing to earn life — he simply receives it. Where do you notice pressure in your own life to achieve, fix, or prove yourself, and what might it look like to receive life instead?
- Jesus weeps before he raises Lazarus. How does that shape the way you think about God’s presence in grief or unanswered prayer?
- The sermon described mission as bearing witness to life God is already giving, not fixing others. Where might you sense an invitation to show up with presence, patience, or hope in the places or relationships around you?
BLESSING of A CHILD
- Mark 10:13‑16 Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” 16 And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.
Officiant says:
Children are a blessing and a reason to rejoice. For this reason, we follow Jesus’ example in blessing the small children in our congregations.
When one member rejoices, we all rejoice, and it is our pleasure today to join in celebrating this precious child and praying together to affirm God’s love for him/her and to thank God for his blessing and presence with him/her as he/she grows throughout life.
Will [name of child’s] mother/father/parents please come forward, and all his/her brothers and sisters, too, if they would like?
When everyone is assembled, the officiant continues:
In Jesus, we are all children of the Father, completely dependent on him, just as this child is dependent on his/her [use appropriate relationship, whether parents/mother/guardian/uncle/aunt/grandmother, etc] for life, protection, and training. We respect and cherish [name of child] and know that our Father himself loves him/her even more deeply than any of us can.
Although this child is very young, [first names of parents or guardian] have already prayed countless times for him/her. No doubt we shall pray for him/her many times again, each in our own way and privately before our Father in heaven. Let us pray together now, rejoicing over this young life in our congregation, recognizing our dependence on our Creator, and committing this child to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The child may then be anointed with oil by dipping a finger in the oil and applying it to the child’s forehead while saying:
You are blessed by the Holy Spirit and beloved as the Father’s own child in Christ forever. Amen.
The officiant may then lay hands on the child’s head or shoulders and bless the child in prayer.
Sample prayer:
Father in heaven, we thank you for our adoption as your children through your Son Jesus Christ. Today we rejoice with [parents’ or guardians’ names] and their family in the life of [child’s first name]. Thank you, Father, for giving us [child’s first name]. Guard him/her from danger and evil. May the Holy Spirit assure him/her of your everlasting love and of his/her place in your Son’s resurrection and ascension.
We pray for his/her parents/guardians, that you would bless them and their extended family with assurance and faith to raise [child’s first name] in the nurture and admonition of Christ, to know the gospel and rest in your love and power. All this we pray in the name of Jesus our Savior and life, giving glory and thanks to you always. Amen.
If the blessing takes place during the worship service, the officiant concludes by asking the congregation to support the child as a part of the church family.
Officiant asks the congregation: “Do you receive [name of the child] into the fellowship of the Body of Christ here at [name of the congregation]?”
Congregation responds: “We do.”
Officiant asks: “Will you love, uphold and support [name of the child] in his/her life in Christ?”
Congregation responds: “We will, in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Officiant states: “[Name of the child] we praise God and give thanks for you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
SONG
COMMUNION
It’s easy to get distracted by casual or unplanned things and allow our focus to get off Jesus. This is what was happening in the church in Corinth. Paul addressed several issues with them and then he came to the Lord’s Supper, telling them their focus wasn’t where it should be. He reminded them what communion was all about.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, [a]“Take, eat; this is My body which is [b]broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
The bread symbolizes Jesus’ body — a body he gave for us, and a body he invited us to be part of. You are part of the body of Christ; the church is the body of Christ. When we take the bread, we acknowledge who we are.
The cup symbolizes his blood, which represents the new covenant he has invited us into. This covenant is eternal.
Paul reminds us that partaking of these elements is a proclamation of Jesus’ death and all it means. This is something we need to preach until he comes.
BLESSING OF EMBLEMS
PARTAKING OF EMBLEMS
SONG
OFFERING
Key Point: Regular giving is simply following an instruction. Giving in love demonstrates the heart of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Invitation: May God help us see others through his eyes, giving us the desire to give so others may know him.
When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he reminded them to set money aside on the first day of each week in proportion to their income so that their giving could be a blessing to others. And that’s the key to giving — being aware of the needs of others. In this same letter Paul reminded the believers to give in love.
1 Corinthians 13:3-7 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
It’s one thing to give because we are instructed to give, or because we believe it is expected of us: it’s quite another thing to give out of love.
Paul is reminding the church in Corinth, and us today, that we are called to love others. Father, Son, and Spirit love everyone — with no exception. Jesus died for everyone — with no exception. The plan of salvation is offered to everyone — with no exception. Sadly, many still live in darkness, not realizing they have already been included in God’s love to the world. Love compels us to give so there are means to help others see and live in their true identity. May today’s offering provide opportunity to share his love and life with all — those living in the light and those still living in darkness.
COLLECTION OF OFFERING
Offertory Music
BLESSING OF OFFERING
CLOSING SONG
CLOSING PRAYER
BENEDICTION