Lent 5A

    Because I split preaching pretty much evenly with my colleague here at ECLC, I often don't repeat the same texts every three years. But for some reason every time the Lazarus story has come around here, it's been my turn to preach, it seems. And so it is again this year.
    The sermon I won't be preaching, because I'm getting tired of it: Lazarus dies twice, and so do we. It's one of those sadly ironic pieces in John that no sooner has Lazarus been raised from the dead, people are ready to kill Jesus, and Lazarus again too. Of course, as far as we know Lazarus isn't killed off, but we have to assume that, at some point, he does die again.
    What would it be like to die twice? We have to hope that Lazarus' first experience with dying and being called again to new life would give him confidence as he faces his second death. He's done it once. He knows that's not the end of the story. He knows that Jesus will call him forth.
    And so it is for us. We are baptized into Jesus' death. We've already died once in those waters, so we can face our second death with more confidence. Yes, we will die, but we know that is not the end of the story. Christ will call us forth again.