I guess we're here this evening with mixed feelings. For many of us we will be here with feelings of sadness, maybe with feelings of anger. Many of us will have treasured memories. Most of us, if we are not here for a specific bereavement will nonetheless have memories of someone who was very important in our lives.
  It was at this time of the year- actually at the end of August, that my Gran died, many years ago now. I remember Gran as a very kindly lady who always had time for me. I always loved being in my Gran's home. She was also a lady of deep Christian faith. I recall still the plaque she had hanging on the wall. Some of you will probably know the words:
       I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, "Give me a light, that I may tread
       safely into the unknown". He said to me, "Put your hand into the hand of God. That shall
       be to you better than light and safer than a known way"
I don't know what occasioned those words of Henry Scott Holland. Had he faced a bereavement and life seemed to him very uncertain and very threatening? Or maybe he faced his own end; and the death of another always reminds us of our own mortality. That surely is why we fear to face the thought of death. Modern crematoria are so designed that the last thing they will remind us of is the fact of death and mortality!

The death of someone close to us may also make us feel very angry. We may not always ground that anger. But it may well be directed at God. That will be so, especially, if our lost one was young or met their death in tragic circumstances or after much suffering. "Why?", we want to shout out. "Why, God?" "Why did you let this happen?" "Life is nor fair"

           This evening's reading from the Bible is about someone who has died, and had died at a young age, and reading from the context, someone who had died after a sudden illness. Lazarus was very sick are the opening words of the 11th chapter of John's Gospel. His sisters Mary and Martha send for Jesus, but before Jesus arrives, Lazarus is dead. In verse 21 we would have read of Jesus first encountering Martha who bursts out to him: Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. She's angry and she's blaming Jesus. Then at the start of tonight's reading we heard of Mary uttering the selfsame words.
  Verse 35 brings us the shortest verse in the whole Bible. Jesus wept.
  The first thing I would want to say tonight is that if you are feeling angry at God; if you feel that God doesn't care about your situation, then here we see clearly that God does care. The Scripture offers us no explanation of Jesus' tears. They perhaps remain reticent on purpose and their may have been a whole gamut of reasons behind those tears. But they do show us a God who cares. Jesus may have been touched by the sadness and anger of Lazarus' sisters; he may have been touched by the fact of death and of the destruction of human life. Jesus himself maybe was angry. But I would remind you again of those two simple words: JESUS WEPT.
  The Greek philosophy of the day was of a God without emotions and without empathy for human beings, a God distant from his creatures. That's a philosophy we have largely inherited. The Bible shows in Jesus a God of deep emotions. Jesus knew compassion, indignation, sorrow and frustration. Let's not be afraid to address our true feelings to God. Let's not be afraid to get real with him!

Now we come to the tour de force of John's portrayal of Jesus. We have seen One who could turn water into wine at a human celebration- Jesus was no 'killjoy' or 'spoilsport'. We have read of One who could heal the paralytic and the dumb. That's wonderful, but we are left with One who has no answer to life's biggest question. Death. Death is, if you will, seen as a full stop. For many death is the end. Curtains, we think. And so far Jesus' miracles have done nothing to counteract such thinking. Jesus may have said to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever believes in me will never die, but they remained just words. But. But now Jesus asks to see Lazarus' tomb and then asks that the gravestone be rolled way. They are all shocked. Lazarus has been dead several days and there will be a stench of death. But, they obey and Jesus cries out Lazarus, come out. And we're told that Lazarus came out, still wrapped in his graveclothes. We're not told of any reactions,. What gasps must have gone round.
  But the point is that Jesus shows that-as has been put: Death is not a fluster but a comma in the story of life. There is a life beyond death. Lazarus may just have been restored to life to die later again, but the Christian message is that Jesus is the 'Resurrection and the Life'. He goes on to command that Lazarus be freed from his grave clothes.
 
  Take off the grave clothes and let him go
   Jesus Christ didn't just raise Lazarus back to life. He was sure he was set free to live. He wants to set us free. He wants to set us free from death and sin. he wants to set us free of our fears, he wants to set us free of whatever holds us back. Remember his compassion, his anger at the havoc and distress death wreaks in human lives. Death still remains an event we all have to face; equally bereavement and loss remain part-and-parcel of human experience. But he longs to set us free, and to ensure us that he is with us in our sorrows. The Christian God is no absent God, no remote or distant or unconcerned God. And as we thought a moment ago, he is the Resurrection and the Life.
 
This is the ultimate Christian hope Jesus Christ there is life beyond; a life where we can be set free from all that has encumbered us in this life. It's a life where sin and death are conquered. It's the fact of the Christian Gospel. The Christian Gospel presents us with Jesus Christ. It presents us, in hi, with victory first over sin  and then over death. It's never too late to claim. As Jesus was dying on the Cross one of the robbers hanging beside him turned to Jesus. Lord,he said, remember me when you come into your Kingdom. Today Jesus replied, (today) you will be with me in paradise.

May we all tonight, find a fresh hope and perspective. If need be, may we get real with the God who has compassion and tenderness toward us. May we put our hand in his that we may find light for our path and a safe way through life's journey.
 
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