Identity Markers
Identity Markers
26th March 2023
John 11:17-26
2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:7
Over the recent weeks of Lent, we’ve had readings from John’s Gospel
– as Jesus journeys toward Jerusalem and the cross.
And we’ve heard various encounters Jesus has:
with Nicodemus at night,
with the Samaritan woman by the well
and with the man born blind.
Today, we hear about the encounter Jesus has with Lazarus and his family.
Three things stand out to me in this encounter…
1) The people around Jesus struggle to understand what Jesus is doing.
Actually, this is a common response in all the encounters we’ve heard in recent weeks.
In this encounter, no one expects life to come from death.
No one recognises the anticipated life of the resurrection has arrived – in Jesus.
And of course Jesus doesn’t just proclaim this life – he enacts it (this comes later in this chapter).
In this extraordinary encounter, Jesus lifts Lazarus out of death.
Even then there is not uniform understanding of this miraculous moment.
And my second observation…
2) In response to Jesus raising Lazarus from death, some believed.
but others respond – not with belief – but by plotting to have him crucified.
This story of giving life leads to a story of death.
3) My third observation is that Jesus is troubled by all the evidences of death around him.
He weeps for Lazarus, …but we can imagine that his emotions are stirred up by the threat of death to himself – he is aware of what awaits him.
Jesus encounters Lazarus with life that lifts him from death.
Then, straight away the threat of death is there again – the plot to kill Jesus.
And this threat is very real – we know that in less than two weeks we will remember that Jesus was killed on the cross.
We also know that while his death was real;
it could not overcome the life of God.
This story is a glimpse of the resurrection that is coming to bring life to all.
Do you see how this is an encounter of
death (Lazarus)
life (Jesus raises L)
death (plot to kill Jesus)
life (anticipation of J’s Resurrection)
What does this mean for us…?
Today these readings tell us about our identity.
I see three markers of our identity (I like threes!)
Actually, the FIRST MARKER of our identity isn’t from either of these readings, but from the sacrament of Baptism we’ve celebrated today.
For this baby, and all of us who are baptised,
we have the identity of being claimed by God;
marked by grace.
In her book Wholehearted Faith, Rachel Held Evans describes her baptismal identity:
My baptism reminds me that I am a Christian because Christianity gives me a name that supersedes every other name the world will try to give me. I am a Christian because my baptism has declared that I am a beloved child of God.
There is no failure, no sin, no accomplishment, no success that can change that.
In a culture that prizes independence and individualism, Christianity offers an uncomfortable but necessary and insoluble interdependence.
The Church - by which I mean not just the congregation into which I was baptized or the one that I now call home, but rather the universal Church that shares one baptism - is a whole network of people spanning two thousand years and every continent and culture on the globe, who love and pray and believe on one another's behalf. (Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans, p107)
This marker of our identity is one of origins;
marking the start of our faith journey in the community of faith.
The SECOND MARKER of our identity is the mission in which we are now involved.
This is what we experience now.
And the words we heard read today – of Paul in his letter to Timothy – are ones I used a couple of weeks ago at the closing service for Wadestown Presbyterian Church.
On that occasion, although the local church in Wadestown was closing, we celebrated that our shared mission continues.
Hear again what Paul says:
I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching… always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
So we have a missional identity – one we live out each day.
The THIRD MARKER of our identity is a promise.
Jesus says
“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
We heard these words at the funerals we had recently for Geoff and Malcolm.
They are words that promise us life – resurrection life.
This is a marker of an identity that is eternal.
Do you see how these three markers of our identity have the perspectives of past, present and future?
1. PAST Baptism/Origin
2. PRESENT Living/Mission
3. FUTURE Promised Resurrection life
These are connected.
For example, the 1st marker and 3rd marker are connected in the understanding that our Baptism is a participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Because of Jesus’ solidarity with humanity, we are plunged into the waters of death and raised up with Jesus to new life –
…Resurrection life.
In our journey of faith there is no Dead End.
On Friday I attended a funeral of a dear family friend.
It was a Roman Catholic funeral, and I was very interested in the various expressions of faith that were particularly part of the Catholic tradition.
At the end of the Mass (as well as a very liberal sharing of incense!) the priest splashed water all over the coffin,
as a reminder of his Baptismal identity.
At the point of departure that is our physical death, it is Baptismal identity that matters most.
There is another connection I see:
the 2nd marker and the 3rd marker.
Jesus promises abundant life – this is life for our future, and also NOW.
We practice Resurrection life NOW
…whenever we are involved in hospitality, nurture, sharing, wholeness, and healing.
This is the mission we participate in – how we can live every day.
Later over Morning Tea we will be coming up with new initiatives as part of our St John’s Vision.
This is our Vision for our mission, which Paul encourages with urgency!
This mission was what Paul lived for.
And as Paul came to the end of his own life, he urges Timothy to continue in the mission.
We are all urged to journey forward in this mission.
We have all been called to be part of this mission.
And do you know what we do that marks our calling…?
Baptism.
Our baptism is our calling.
So, today let us respond with joy for the identity we have been given,
and the uncomfortable but necessary and insoluble interdependence.
We put this into practice in our workshop today;
together we discover new ways to live out our mission with the abundant life we have been given.
We now sing about this identity we have, that is active and life-giving…
Sing: ‘Make me a Channel of Your Peace’