This is the last sermon I’ll be preaching during our Spiritual Boot Camp. The Spiritual Boot Camp does continue next week, on Palm Sunday, with a very special musical celebration.
I do hope you have been following along at home, praying ten minutes each day, and doing the other exercises. If you have, your faith has grown and deepened during this season of Lent. I am sure of that. If you haven’t, it’s never too late to start.
Like so many other things in life, spiritual growth does not occur along a straight line. It’s not a smooth, steady progression. The path meanders, there are hills and valleys… and there may come a time when you feel like you’ve hit a wall.
For those working for better physical fitness, hitting the wall means that, for whatever reason, you’ve stopped making progress. Maybe you’re on a diet, and you’ve lost three pounds each week for the past five weeks. But now, in week six: nothing. And the week after that, you even gain a pound. You’ve hit the wall.
Or maybe you are training for a marathon. I have no experience in this, but I’ve heard from those who have: in a long race, it may happen that you are going along wonderfully, but at some point during the race you hit the wall. You’ve run so long, you’ve depleted your body’s store of energy in the form of glycogen. All of a sudden, you can’t even walk, let alone finish the race. You’re done. It’s over. There’s nothing left.
Like a marathon, a spiritual journey is a long-distance event. And we see in the Bible that, so often, there comes a point when sojourners on the journey hit the wall. And when they do, it all comes crashing down. Everything seems to have come to an end. There appears to be no way they could go on.
This happened to the people of Israel. The people of Israel had hit the wall. At one time they were a great, mighty nation, but no longer. Their life was gone.
They said, “We are nothing but dry bones. Our hope has perished. We are completely finished.”
Ezekiel, like many prophets, spent much time challenging, confronting, and condemning. But now, with Israel having hit the wall and losing all hope, was the time to provide hope and comfort.
God showed Ezekiel a valley of bones. Dry bones. Bones with no life on them. Bones which had had no life for a very long time.
Just like Israel.
God said to Ezekiel: “Can these bones live?”
Ezekiel didn’t see how. It looked to him and to everyone else that the end had come for Israel. But who was he to tell God no? He replied, “Only you know, God.”
God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones: “Speak your word of prophecy to these dusty, dry, lifeless bones! Speak to the wind! Prophesy to the Spirit!”
Ezekiel did as God commanded. Could life come back to these dry, lifeless bones? Look! They’re rising up! The bones are coming together! Muscle tissue is stretching over them! Organs are appearing! flesh is covering it all up! They are rising, they are standing, a massive army of living, breathing human beings!
And God said: “THIS that you see is the house of Israel! I will put my breath in you and YOU will live again!”
Even when it seemed that Israel had hit the wall, that all progress was lost, that no amount of work was going to make the future any better, God intervened to say, “I will restore you! I will bring you back to life! A new day is coming, and I will work anew in you.”
Israel may have hit the wall, but God has the power to break through that wall, so that you can keep going.
There are many stories like this in scripture: Abraham and Sarah thinking they will never have children; Joseph being thrown in jail in Egypt; Moses and the Hebrews caught between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s approaching army. Time and again, God’s people have hit the wall, reached a dead end, seeing no way forward, yet God makes a way.
In the gospel of John, there is a story about a certain man named Lazarus, who was ill. He was lifted up in the joys and concerns, but the illness kept getting worse. Mary and Martha, his sisters, sent word to Jesus. Perhaps Jesus could do something, come and say a prayer over Lazarus, and help him get well.
When word reached Jesus that Lazarus was ill, Jesus delayed going. “The illness isn’t fatal,” Jesus said. Lazarus won’t die.
Several days later, Lazarus died.
“But Jesus, you said…”
“I know what I said. Come on, Let’s go see Lazarus…”
By the time they got there, Lazarus was not only dead; he had been in the tomb for four days! Martha went out to meet Jesus as he arrived. She said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”
This is a wall that certainly seemed insurmountable. But perhaps Martha had heard stories, like the one about the valley of dry bones, and knew that nothing was impossible, because she then said to Jesus: “Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, the one who is coming into the world.”
This is a remarkable statement of faith, and it comes at a moment when faith must have been hard, a moment when faith had hit the wall. In the Disciples of Christ church, we place a great emphasis on Peter’s confession of faith, when Jesus asked “who do you say that I am,” and Peter responded, “You are the Christ.” Why don’t we give equal attention to Martha’s confession of faith, given here, in a most difficult moment?
It was a dangerous confession to make. Just days before, after Lazarus had fallen ill but before Jesus had made his way to him, Thomas - one of Jesus’s disciples - said that if Jesus was going to Bethany to be with Lazarus, that he and the other disciples should go to, to die with Jesus there. Bethany, for whatever reason, was a dangerous place for Jesus to be - and a dangerous place for anyone to confess him as the Christ, as God’s son.
Her brother was already dead. Jesus could have saved him if he had arrived earlier, but he didn’t. Yet even now, Martha confesses her faith in him, and places her trust in him.
“Whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
She wasn’t going to let no wall stand in the way of her faith. Not even death would keep her from believing in power of God to give life. What remarkable faith! What remarkable courage!
Martha went and spoke privately to her sister Mary, “The teacher is here and he’s calling for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. He hadn’t entered the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and leave, they followed her. They assumed she was going to mourn at the tomb.
When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” The same words that Martha had spoken to him.
When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They replied, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus began to cry. He was human, after all… and filled with passionate love for all. Bystanders said, “See how much he loved him!” But others couldn’t see past the wall, and said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Jesus was deeply disturbed when he came to the tomb. It wasn’t that he couldn’t see past the wall. It’s just that this was a very emotional moment, for him, and for people he cared about deeply. Death, life, and love were all coming together in this moment in a powerful way.
The tomb was in a cave, and a stone covered the entrance. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”
Martha said, “Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.” Was she now doubting? She believed that anything was possible, that whatever Jesus asked of God, God would grant. I suppose it’s easy to say, in a general sort of way, “anything is possible,” but a lot harder to say that “this is possible.” It’s one thing to say “any obstacle can be overcome;” it’s something else to believe that “this particular obstacle can be overcome.”
Jesus reminded her of her own courageous faith, and the promise he made to her. He said: “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?” So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me.”
Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his feet bound and his hands tied, and his face covered with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”
There will always be obstacles to overcome in life. Whether it’s dieting, or working out, or pursuing a deeper faith.
There will be times when it feels that you’ve hit the wall. You’ve pushed and pushed, tried and tried, and you’ve got nothing left to give. The wall won’t budge.
According to buildingmuscle.com, there are several things you should remember when you hit the wall:- Put things in perspective. Remember how far you’ve already come! Remember what you’ve already accomplished that, at one time, seemed impossible. Jesus had to remind Martha of the faith she already possessed when he said, “Didn’t I already tell you?” And when we read stories like the raising of Lazarus, or the valley of dry bones, it helps us remember that God’s power can help us break through any wall or obstacle in our path.
- Identify what it is that is causing you stress. Many of the things that cause us stress are distractions from what we really need to focus on. How often do we get worried and worked up over the wrong things! Time spent in quiet prayer and meditation will help us sort out such things.
- Don’t forget to rest your muscles. Maybe you’re trying too hard! Muscles actually grow in the rest after a workout, not during the workout itself. When it comes to faith, there is a reason why God commands the Sabbath. Our minds need a time of rest from all the worry and work that keeps us preoccupied.
- Maybe you’re trying to do too much too fast? Having the love of Jesus, or the faith of Martha, may be too big a step from where you are now. But if you can take baby steps, and work on being just a little more loving, a little more faithful, each day, you’ll see progress.
- Learn from your mistakes. Some people look forward to their mistakes, because they see every mistake as an opportunity to learn something new! The Disney movie Meet the Robinsons makes this point very well. They celebrate each mistake made as a wonderful thing, because from their mistakes they learn a better way to move toward their goal.
So even when you hit the wall, and it seems you can’t go any further: don’t stop! Trust in God, trust in yourself, and keep going.
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