Help 'im Up, Houston!

If you’re in Houston this week there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll attend the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at least once. And when a cowboy falls you’ll probably hear Rodeo Hall of Fame announcer Bob Tallman tell the crowd, “Help ‘im up, Houston!” In response the crowd will cheer and clap for the recently unseated cowboy as he dusts himself off and puts his hat back on. Knocked in the dirt and likely a little sore, the cowboy is reminded by the crowd, “This ain’t your last rodeo.”

This week’s Bible reading has a “Help ‘im up, Houston!” moment. It’s the story of Lazarus, who got sick and died. Word was sent to Jesus to come and heal him, but Jesus slowly rustled up his disciples and moseyed back to Bethany. Because Jesus didn’t gallop over quick enough, Lazarus died before he got there. When Jesus finally made it to Bethany, Martha (Lazarus’ sister) accosted him before he could even throw his hat in the door. “Lord,” she said, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Mary also knew that Jesus could have healed him and gives the same tongue lashing to Jesus. But he doesn’t simply want to heal Lazarus, he intends nothing less than to resurrect him from the dead. Jesus tells them to open up the tomb and then shouts, “Come forth, Lazarus!”

In rodeo speak, that’s “Help ‘im up, Houston!”

Jesus proves the power of God, and he reveals an ulterior motive – he is trying to get his followers to do some “outside the grave” type thinking. The sisters wanted a healing but assumed that a dead Lazarus was a done Lazarus. But Jesus illustrated that there’s more to life than meets the eye. He simultaneously decries the anemic view that we should live any way we like because - after all - “you’ve only one life to live.”

He also illustrates to us modern readers that by second-guessing God’s delays we betray our willingness to settle for something less than the great miracle that God wants to make of our lives. God wants to do more for you than “Help ‘im up, Houston!” God wants to resurrect our spirits to live life fully and victoriously in the here and now and in the hereafter.

If you’re in Houston this weekend, join us for worship. And be sure to wear your finest rodeo outfits for Rodeo Sunday. Worship starts at 10:45 and we’ll enjoy some blue grass, Southern gospel, and down right toe-tapping worship tunes. Don’t forget to change your clocks before bed Saturday night – spring forward!

Hangin’ in there for 8,
Pastor Gary

Not a Sermon – Just a Thought is a weekly column written by me, Gary Long. I’m the pastor of Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. To subscribe or unsubscribe contact me at glong@wmbc.org. You can read more of my musing on life at my blog, Life to the Lees.

John 11.1-42
The Death of Lazarus
1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
4When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
7Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
8"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"
9Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."
11After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
12His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
Jesus Comforts the Sisters
17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34"Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39"Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
40Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."