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Unity Church of Castro Valley

Sunday Message for March 11, 2007

Tender Anger

Today is the third Sunday in Lent and I thought I would talk about one of Jesus’ greatest miracles, the raising of Lazarus.  Actually there are three separate occasions where Jesus raised people from the dead.  In Luke 7 it tells of him raising the son of the widow of Nain, in Matthew 9 he raised the daughter of Jairus, and in John 11 he raised Lazarus.

LAZARUS

While Jesus was in Perea He received word from His beloved friends, Martha and Mary, that their brother Lazarus was sick.  (John 11:4) “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," and He remained in Perea two more days.  Then, knowing that Lazarus had died, Jesus and His apostles went to Bethany.

(John 11:17-22) “When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him."

This is so interesting, because it shows us how close Mary, Martha, and Jesus were.  No one else in the Bible spoke to Jesus in this manner.  Martha had just lost her brother and she was angry.  She wanted to know why he didn’t show up and heal Lazarus so he wouldn’t die.  She wanted to know why he didn’t come when he got their message.

And yet, all the Bible commentary just passes over this verse as if it were not important.  Or, as if they don’t want to look at it.  There seems to be precious little safe space in which to let our anger dance.  Jesus’ inaction in the face of his friends’ pain made them angry.

The pain and anger in the words of Martha and Mary, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” echo the pain and anger we feel when people in power fail to respond to those who cry for help.  Her words echo the pain and anger we feel when those who bear the power of life let suffering continue.

The question is never whether anger is right or wrong.  Anger – like any other emotion – is, and it is always a sign of something deeper.  Given appropriate expression, anger tells us about injustice, loss, grief, and damaged relationships.  It tells us about ourselves.  Given appropriate space, it opens a path toward change.  And as Martha and Mary discovered, it leads to resurrection.

You probably know someone, or maybe you yourself, have been angry because someone died.  I know how Martha felt, I was angry when my brother died.  Why did they find him unconscious?  Didn’t anyone notice when he didn’t come down for meals?  Where was the nurse that was supposed to come by?  And most of all, why did God let him die – why couldn’t he be healed?

And we have a situation right now where those in power failed to respond to those who need help with the shoddy outpatient health care at Walter Reed and many of the VA hospitals.  We are righteously angry at this situation.  And we need to let that anger lead to a resurrection of the system.

Jesus said to Mary and Martha, (John 11:23-26) “Your brother will rise again. 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."

Then Jesus went to the tomb; it was a cave with a stone lying against it.  Jesus had them take the stone away and he said, (John 11:41-43) "Father, I thank you for having heard me. 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." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"  And Lazarus was resurrected

So we need to roll away the “stone” in any situation; the stone that holds the sleeping life of Truth.  Even in our anger, we must call the presence of God in prayer.

We have a right to be angry about injustices – but we also have the right to move into a solution.  The energy generated from the anger can be the energy we use as we move into a positive solution.

Jesus told those around him to take the burial wrap off of Lazarus.  And we must ‘loose and let go’ of everything that is holding us back from the positive solution.

In Spirit all things are fulfilled now.  The moment a positive concept enters the mind, the thing conceived is consummated through the law that governs the action of ideas.

So regardless of outer conditions, we can affirm the completeness of the positive solution.  We can resurrect the situation when we lift our consciousness and say, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me”

This is a great prayer!  Jesus’ faith was so strong that he gave thanks before he ever saw the results. “Thank you Father, I know you always hear me.” And then we can state with great certainty that the solution can now come forth.

So we need to express our anger – but then we also need to move into the solution.  We need to loose and let go of the old situation and move into what we truly want to see.

We get more return from spending our energy on resurrecting a situation than we could every get from holding onto the anger and resentment.  Allow your life to be less about the crucifixion and more about resurrection.  Thank you God, for I know you always hear me.

SCRIPTURE: John 11

REFERENCE: Your Hope of Glory Elizabeth Sand Turner; Sacred Journeys Jan L. Richardson

Last updated March 11, 2007