What shall we do with death? John 11 and the raising of Lazarus

What do we do with death?
In my household, murder mysteries make popular tv viewing. What the murder mysteries do is fictionalise death - and by the reactions of the other characters, they imply that death doesn't matter.
On the other extreme, our culture sanitises death, pretties it up, and pushes it so far from our awareness that we can pretend that death doesn't happen.
We will do almost anything so that we don't have to deal with death.
When Jesus encounters death, in the person of his friend Lazarus, he doesn't pretend it doesn't matter, and he doesn't pretend it doesn't happen. He deals with it. He faces it head on and overcomes it.
And so the raising of Lazarus points to exactly what Jesus came to do: he came to deal with death. His own death and his resurrection proclaim the truth that for all who believe in him, death is not the worst thing that can happen. It's just a sleep. Not the end of existence. It has no ultimate power.

What shall we do with death? Put our trust in the one who has overcome it.

This sermon was preached on the fifth Sunday in Lent, April 6, 2014, at St John's Southgate.
It can be listened to in conjunction with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link.

Enjoy!