Preached on Sunday, April 2, 2017.

 Show me! Watch me!

I’m sure that you’ve read more than a few mottoes on car tags from different states. Each state, as you know has a brief saying on their car tags that captures something special about their people, their land or their heritage.

For example one of our Alabama car tags says, “Sweet Home Alabama”.

The Illinois car tag says, “Land of Lincoln” to honor Abraham Lincoln, our 16^th President who was born in that state.

The North Carolina car tag says, “First in flight” because Wilbur and Orval Wright made the first successful airplane flight in that state.

Then there’s the Florida tag that says, “The Sunshine State”

The Wisconsin tag that says, “The Dairy State”

And the Missouri tag that says, “The show me state”.

Now it’s easy to figure out why Florida is called the Sunshine State ...

and why Wisconsin is called the Dairy State …

but why do you suppose that Missouri is called “The Show Me State”?

It’s because, over the years, the people of Missouri have developed the reputation

of being hard to convince of anything new.

They generally won’t believe in something until you show them and prove it’s true.

You may remember the old Tide detergent commercials on TV where the guy

is telling a woman that Tide can do a better job of cleaning her family’s clothes ... and she stubbornly says,    “You’ll have to show me … I’m from Missouri!”

In other words, she wasn’t going to believe that Tide was a better detergent until

this guy showed her results that she was able to see with her own eyes.

Sure enough in the commercial she gets to see her clothes looking clean & bright

and so she finally admits, “OK, I’m convinced!”

Somehow, I feel that Missouri isn’t the only place with cautious and discerning people. In fact, I believe that “show me” people live in every state in America and in every country of the world.     I believe that we ourselves are part of this group!

You see, there’s something in our human nature that makes us want to

see things  with our own eyes before we believe that they’re true.

It’s been this way throughout Salvation History and that’s why God ...

performed so many miracles.            He showed the people His mighty power ...

so they would come to believe in Him and follow His guidance.

In our First Reading today, God says through the Prophet Ezekiel, “Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them.”

What an incredible statement!         How could that be possible …

that a person would rise from the grave and be alive again?

That would have to be a mighty miracle ... performed by a mighty God!

Which is precisely what God wanted them to understand … that when you see the dead rise from their graves, then you’ll know that I am your All-Powerful God!

And God assured the people that He would perform this miracle.

He said, … “I have promised and I will do it, says the Lord.”

The Jews meditated on those words of Ezekiel for some 500 years as they continued to wait for it to happen … they waited for that proof of the All Powerful God.

Finally, along comes Jesus and He shows them that mighty power...

by opening the grave of Lazarus and having him rise from the dead!

Jesus even predicted this miracle before he performed it ... saying in John’s Gospel      , “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God,

  that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

While we say, “Show me!”

God says, “Watch me!”

God wants us to believe in Him.

Jesus says today, “I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe.”

And yet, rarely do we honor His desire … rarely do we give Him our full trust.

How sad this must be to God … who throughout time has given us

countless examples of His steadfast love and His mighty power ...

and still ... with the coming of each new generation ... we do not believe.

Our unbelief is enough ... to make Jesus cry.

And indeed Jesus did cry as John notes ... “Jesus wept.”

And you might say ... well Jesus was weeping

over the physical departure of his friend Lazarus,

              or Jesus was weeping

over the grief suffered by Mary and Martha.

I’m sure that’s true ... but I think Jesus was weeping for other reasons too!

I believe Jesus was weeping over our lack of trust … recall how the disciples ask,

 “the Jews were just trying to stone you and you want to go back there?”

I believe Jesus was weeping over our lack of faith … recall how the people ask,

“could he not of done something so this man would not have died?”

I believe Jesus was weeping over our lack of hope … recall how Martha warns,

“Lord, by now there will be a stench.”

Why was Jesus weeping?     Because we’re such obstinate, “show me” people,

we’re are so fickle and half-hearted in putting our faith in God.

Unless we see great miracles over and over, we withhold our belief in Him.

Fortunately in our Gospel today, John gives us some glimpses of ...

the kind of faith that God wants us to have in Him.

Both Martha and Mary make the same great profession of faith saying,

 “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

These women had seen the mighty deeds that Jesus had done … and therefore, they had complete confidence that He could do anything He wanted to do.

Listen to Martha, who after her brother’s dead 4 days in the tomb, says to Jesus,

“Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

Wow! What trust! What marvelous appreciation of the overwhelming power of God!

That’s what God wants. He wants us to be assured that He is on our side

and that trusting Him is the very best thing that we could ever do..

If hearing the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead, shows God’s power, then why would we not believe that God can do everything else He said?

For example, through the Prophet Ezekiel, God said,

“I will put my spirit in you that you may live.” 

So God promised to send His Holy Spirit to dwell in us.

And in our 2^nd  Reading, St. Paul declares that accomplished ... saying.

“If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also”

God gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of our Baptism.

That’s when he fulfilled His words, “I will put my Spirit in you!”

And each time we receive another Sacrament, such as Holy Communion, Holy Confession, Holy Anointing, Holy  Confirmation Holy Orders or Holy Matrimony,

God continues to put His Holy Spirit in us.

The bottom line is: God is trustworthy ... God keeps His word!

In our Gospel, Jesus proclaims, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” 

And He showed this to be true when after three days in the Tomb,

He raised Himself from the grave …

proof positive that He truly is the Resurrection and the Life.

When we say, “Show me!”

God says, “Watch me!”

God wants us to believe in Him and He’s given us ...

 plenty of evidence ... all throughout the Bible to show us ...

That He is the All-Powerful God.

That He loves us and will never leave us

That He will forgive us when we repent of our sins.

Today He shows us that He can give life to our dead bodies.

Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,

and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

What a marvelous promise!

And what’s required?    Belief!

Do you really believe in God … that God can do anything and everything?

You know, you may want to be cautious in your dealings with other people.

Sadly in this world, there are many people who try to con you in one way or another and so we may not have full and immediate faith in them.

That brings out “the Missouri” in all of us as we say, “Show me and I’ll believe.”

But that should never be the case in our dealings with God.

God will never try to con us into doing something that isn’t good for us.

He has one desire … that we believe in Him so that we live with Him forever!

God is All- Powerful; he is all-Loving, He is ever-Merciful.

And he’s given us countless proofs of this in His Book, the Bible.

Today, Jesus  demonstrates all three of these attributes ….

We see His power in raising a man from the dead

We see His love for the mourning Sisters, Mary and Martha,

We see His mercy in telling the people, Untie him and let him go free!

God is our loving Father … Jesus is our merciful Savior.

So, let’s approach Them often in prayer.

And when we do, let’s recall the Missouri motto and

be sure to say,       “Show me, Lord.”

Not in the arrogant sense of ... show me … and then I’ll believe,

But rather, in the trusting sense of  ...show me …

because I truly believe that you can do anything and everything …

and I can’t wait to see how your power will show up in my life!