Of all of God’s many qualities, the one that seems to stand out the most in Scripture is his faithfulness. God never turns his back on his people; He is always working to fulfill his promises to them. He never forsakes them, no matter what sort of trouble they get into.

Think back to the stories you remember from Sunday School, stories from Genesis and Exodus. Stories of God’s grace at work, keeping his people safe. What’s the first time God’s people get into trouble? Ah, we know this story well: the apple, the snake, they disobey by eating. You remember how that story ends? Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden for their sin, but then in a very subtle way, God shows his grace by creating garments for them to wear. Next example is just a few short verses later. Cain murders his brother Abel, and yet in spite of this horrific sin, God places a mark upon him so that all who see him will not harm him.

The stories continue. Noah and the flood, where this remnant is preserved against this epic disaster. Moses, sent by God, to Egypt to liberate his people from bondage. God’s intervention in the battles to conquer the promised land, and then later in the reign of Saul, David, and Solomon. God’s prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, and so forth. Throughout all these stories a consistent pattern emerges. God’s people get into trouble, sometimes they are merely the victims of misfortune, victims of the evil of other men, more often it’s their own fault. They lose sight of who they are and who they are meant to be and ill consequences come upon them. But regardless, God then acts.

God acts. He sends to them a liberator, a prophet, one who has come to rescue them from their dilemma. This man comes and speaks God’s word, reminds the people that they have not been forsaken, even if they deserve it. He brings a word of hope, of liberation, and works to bring the people back to God. God never abandons them. He always sends somebody.

The vision in Ezekiel that we have as our first lesson is a wonderful metaphor of this very pattern. Ezekiel is taken to a valley of dry bones. Like the people of Israel so often in their history, there is no more life, no more hope. It has been driven out, taken away, by the evil of the world. So God says to Ezekiel, “Prophesy! Speak my word to these dead and hopeless bones and watch what happens.” And so Ezekiel speaks the word of God, and the bones come together, flesh comes upon them, and they stand as men. God says again, “Prophesy! Prophesy to breath! To life! And watch what happens.” So Ezekiel speaks the word of God again and life and hope come.

This is what God has done since the dawn of time. Sending people, his chosen ones, his prophets and apostles to speak a word of life, hope, and liberation. Telling the people that he has not forgotten his promises, that he will not, nor will he ever, abandon them to their fates.

And so we come now to Jesus. The people had been waiting for a long time for God to do what he has always done. Israel had not been an independent kingdom for nearly 500 years. They had passed from one tyrant to another, from the Assyrians to the Babylonians to the Persians to the Greeks and now the Romans. The people were waiting for one like Moses, one like Isaiah, one like David to come and set them free. And so along comes Jesus.

There are many who recognize that God has once again done what he has always done, sent his chosen one to speak and bring life, hope, and liberation to the people. Jesus is that chosen one, but there are some who get glimmers that while this is indeed the liberating prophet, God is also doing something new here. It’s what God’s always done, and yet it’s something completely different.

These few get these glimmers and hints from stories we’ve already heard this Lenten season. Last week, for instance, in the man born blind. Jesus heals a beggar of his blindness and the man, filled with joy, becomes bold enough to proclaim God’s grace and mercy to the Pharisees, to the rich and the powerful. A beggar does this!

Before that we heard the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus gives her a gift of teaching, and she is so empowered that she goes back into the city, to the very people she comes to well at mid-day to hide from, and proclaims Jesus. A Samaritan woman, one with 6 husbands and lovers, does this!

And then, before that, at the opposite end of the spectrum, we find the Pharisee Nicodemus. He too receives a gift of teaching, and it amazes and astonishes him. Here, the wealthy and powerful scholar, one of the elite, is left speechless in amazement before Jesus.

What picture begins to emerge from just these three encounters, to say nothing of the dozens of others left unspoken? In the days of old, God worked to save his chosen people, the people bound to him by promise and covenant. Yet that covenant contained within it a provision, that from the chosen people would come a blessing upon all the world. Could Jesus be the fruition of that? Could he be the one sent to save not just the Israelites and their descendants, but the whole world? Could this be the liberator of not just one portion of humanity, but of all of it?

It’s starting to look that way, isn’t it? This Jesus goes to anyone and everyone, to beggars and outcasts to the high and mighty, and gives all of them his gifts of healing and teaching, his word of hope, and life, and liberation. But what has he come to liberate them from? What is the enemy that plagues all of humankind?

A demonstration of not just who Jesus came for, but what he came to rescue us from is in order. And opportunity arises in the illness and sudden death of one of Jesus’ closest friends, Lazarus.

This is probably among the hardest things Jesus ever did, to wait until Lazarus was dead and buried, to not go to him immediately and reach out with his healing touch. But he knew he had to, to drive home to all who would witness it the true reason he had come. When he arrives at Bethany, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days and immediately he has to deal with Lazarus’ angry sister. “If you had been here…” begins the accusation.

But Martha is among those who have gotten glimmers of Jesus’ true purpose, glimmers that have shown to her that he is like the prophets and liberators of old, and yet also something different. So she softens the blow, “if you ask, God will give you whatever you want.” She knows that something is going to happen.

“I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus says next. Here are those words. Words of power, words of hope, words of freedom and liberation. These are the words that make dry bones dance. And to give proof of their truth and power, they are followed by another set of words. “Lazarus, come out!”

Lazarus, come out! And he does. Dead for four days and yet he lives again. The witnesses, people from throughout Bethany and nearby Jerusalem are amazed. They start to realize that indeed God has sent his liberating prophet, that God has done what he has always done, and yet here in this Jesus is something completely new. For God has not sent Jesus to save the Jews from the Romans, which would have been like the old prophets. No, this God has sent Jesus to save all of us from the power of death.

“I am the resurrection and the life.” Lazarus, and his friends and family, receive a sign that points to the truth of these words. A miracle, Lazarus lives again. And yet Jesus will go from this place into Jerusalem, where in just a few short days, he will be taken, tried, and executed. The same fate as so many prophets before, but again, this time God is doing something new. I am the resurrection and the life, and on the third day, he proves it again.

Since the dawn of time, God has worked to save his people from the calamities of the world and of their own shortsightedness. Countless prophets have been sent among them to proclaim words of life, hope, and liberation, words that give life to the dry bones of our lives. Jesus can be counted among their number, yet he is also something completely different. For he is the Son of God and he has come to liberate us not from some worldly tyrant, nor is his liberation limited to a fragment of the human species. This time will be different. He has come to save us all from sin and death.

I am the resurrection and the life. Amen.