Unbind Us and Let Us Go

As a hospital chaplain, a counselor, a pastor of a local church, and as just another human being, I'm almost constantly bumping into people, young and old, men and women, believers and unbelievers who are living life bound by the bindings of our culture. In some ways it is inescapable just because we live surrounded by our culture and we continue to be human. And we struggle in life.

The Reverend Nancy Hastings tells of a woman who, “...walked into my office late one afternoon wanting to talk to a pastor. She said that she was worried about her spiritual life.

She was a college graduate that had worked for the same company for seventeen years. She started working at minimum wage. Each year her responsibilities at the job increased. Each year she asked for a raise. And each year she was denied a raise. Her salary increased only as minimum wage increased. Her parents said, "Don't worry, daughter. Work hard. Work honestly. You will reap the harvest of your labors."

She believed that for the first fifteen years. Then she became discouraged. In time the company changed management, and she was part of the group that was laid off. Two years later, she was still looking for work. And now she was also the sole caretaker for her aging parents.

She said that she didn't think God was hearing her prayers. She thought she was surely doing something wrong. Was there a way to pray that she hadn't tried yet, she asked.

Her friends told her that if she prayed hard enough her prayers would be answered and she would live in the joy of the Lord. She said that she had tried to smile and be happy, but she didn't feel very happy. Her friends said that she would receive her rewards in heaven.

Then she said to me: "If this faith stuff doesn't have something to do with receiving on this side of life, then I'm not interested.

"If it doesn't have something to do with some justice on this side of life, then I'm not interested.

"If it doesn't have something to do with some peace on this side of life, then count me out."

Then she concluded her story by asking: "Just where is God anyway? If I could just see some evidence, maybe I could believe. Is God too busy for the likes of me?"”

Perhaps it is a pill or alcohol that is legal or illegal, we go to most any length to have our lives feel good, happy, and to have some meaning. Often, we say that a life of faith is the answer and we can finally have meaning. Too often, along with that comes a faith that is unable to tolerate the struggles any more than culture does. This tends to lead to interesting ventures of faith that result in making God in our own image rather than inviting the Spirit to mold us into who God would have us be. Most of the time it is so subtle that we walk right past and don't notice. However, once in a while what we see and our eyes are opened for at least a little while.

Mark Buckner, in an article in Christianity Today shares such a moment. “Recently I saw a portrait of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane was the place where Jesus prayed in deep anguish, his sweat like drops of blood falling to the ground. The writer of Hebrews, in all likelihood referring to this moment of reckoning and wrestling, says that Jesus "offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death" (Heb. 5:7). In fact, Hebrews implies that for Jesus, crying and weeping were as habitual as praying—that this was Jesus' oft-struck posture "during his days on earth."

That painting I saw gives not the slightest hint that any of this is so. Behind Jesus, in the backdrop, is an idyllic (and lakeshore!) Jerusalem. Jesus' face, in angled profile, is coolly serene, aloof almost. His eyes have a far away, dreamy look. His body, perched on a rock, is held with prim straightness. His hands rest on his lap like the front and back covers of a stiff-spined book laid open, face down.

The artist has managed somehow to make those hands look both boneless and rigid, soft as dough and brittle as porcelain. Could these hands cut dovetails and mortise joints, wield the saw and plane and hammer, touch lepers' sores and blind men's eyes, braid and lash a whip, spread wide to grasp nails? No, not these hands. These hands are good for petite point or finger-wagging but not much else. Behind Jesus' head, encircling his sleek, smoothly combed hair, is a piercing-white light.

Jesus is perhaps contemplating. Or he is posing, in a stilted way, for a portrait, maybe this one. Or he is daydreaming. But one thing the portrait could never make you believe is that Jesus is weeping, or even capable of such a thing.”

There are all sorts of folks suffering in this world and we have this tendency to give easy answers. We too often offer a Jesus who is all smiles and never cries. We want a Jesus who has no wrinkles in his face and no harshness in his voice when we cry out to him. Perhaps it frightens us that Jesus would turn and say harsh things to Peter; he may have even screamed at him. Often times, we suddenly feel helpless when there are tears. And when we feel uncomfortable we tend to give quick and easy answers in order to feel better ourselves.

A couple of weeks it was my privilege to take part in the licensing process for men and women who desire to serve United Methodist Churches without the benefit of seminary. This was a week of intensive training covering many areas of the structure and expectations of our tradition. It included role playing where one student would be the pastor and others would either observe or participate as other persons in the situation.

I'm sure it will difficult to believe but my favorite was the situation of a hospital visit. “Mother” of a family was hospitalized, spouse, daughter and son-in-law were visiting when the pastor entered. The pastor's visit was interrupted by a nurse doing rounds and then the doctor doing rounds.

The first visit was a breeze because the nurse obviously had no other patients and was in no hurry. The doctor was polite and took time to answer questions and gave good news of no serious illness. The pastor was challenged by the interruptions of the nurse and doctor but it was a time of celebration.

Many of you will remember Wes Savage in his toddler days in our parsonage. Wes was in my peer group and played the part of the doctor in the second round of a hospital visit. I tried to get his attention to go into the room and just announce the mother is dying and won't last long but he was across the room and misinterpreted my hand signals. He did make the situation more serious and one could quickly see the strain that resulted and the change in the level of certainty on knowing how to respond.

At this point, we Christians are tempted to share a few Bible verses and tell those in the crisis that God is with them and all will be okay. Well, in one sense I suppose that is accurate but in the “right now” sense, it isn't.

People are looking for a God in their lives right now. Martha and Mary make it clear that they know there will be a time when their brother will rise from the grave. They are certain that there is God out there in the future. What they desired, and missed seeing, is God being with them in the moment. “If only you had been here this would not have happened.” “Yes, I believe that on that day my brother will rise from the grave.”

You know, we are told that Jesus cried, I'm not sure whether it was because Lazarus had died or because everyone had missed who he is -- even those closest to him in daily life. His tears could have been shed because he understood that as soon as he raised Lazarus his life was doomed. Or, they could have been tears of joy. The joy of knowing that he is going to call Lazarus up from the grave through the power of God. They could have been tears of joy knowing that where Jesus is he makes a difference.

The Rev. Dr. B. Wiley Stephens, senior minister of Dunwoody United Methodist Church in Dunwoody, GA., states, “Our Gospel reminds us that Jesus still shows up and Jesus makes a difference. Our story is one about when Jesus intrudes into death and brings life. He will not be held off or jerked about by death. His strong voice brings life. Whenever and wherever it shadows our arrangements with death in all our defeats, our surrenders, our fears, Jesus brings a new strength by his very presence. The timing for an Easter story such as Lazarus coming forth from death seems all wrong. Shouldn't we wait until Easter? But the reality is we can't wait. Whenever Jesus shows up, the dead come to life. Things open up and there is Easter.

Lord, we pray, unbind us and let us go. As my friend Rev. Reagin Brown says, “The thing that is so important about Lazarus is that he knows the joy of not fearing death. He has faced death, experienced death, and through the power of God overcame death.

“Can These Bones Live”, Nancy Hastings, General Board of Discipline, Preaching Helps.

“Jesus Wept,” Mark Buchanan, March 5, 2001, "This article first appeared in (insert date) issue of Christianity Today." (GBOD, preaching helps.)

“Whenever Jesus Shows Up,” The Rev. Dr. B. Wiley Stephens, Dunwoody United Methodist Church, Dunwoody, GA., (GBOD, preaching helps.)