Stones have fascinated us since the beginning of time. They make up the bulk of the earth’s crust. The earth’s mass comprised primarily of igneous rocks, such as granite and basalt, consists of minerals, such as silicon, oxygen, iron, aluminum, magnesium, and others. Most land rock is granite. Most oceanic rock is thicker basalt. These rocks comprise 95% of the earth’s substance. The surface yields sedimentary rock, primarily such as shale and limestone, which make up the remaining percent.[1]
From the beginning of time, humans have been fascinated with rocks –with the earth’s yields of gemstones, fossils, rock types, and magma. They collect rocks. We build with rocks. We take the minerals of the earth and examine them, explore them, compare them, display them. They reflect for us our history –a planet made of particles from the universe cast and formed with fire.
And from out of all of this –life.
It’s no wonder then that we witness to life’s key moments, to our faith, and to our history and our stories with stone! Think about it.
We erect monuments. We create remembrances with tombstones, ossuaries, and buildings. We express ourselves in art with sculpture, mosaic, and architecture. We build homes with mortar, brick, and stone. We raise up altars and attach meaning to gemstones and rock formations. We explore geology. We climb volcanoes. We trace the history of our humanity through time etched and layered in rock.
We look to archeological scientists to tell us where we come from and how we lived in our past. Our rocks are our witnesses.
It’s no wonder then that those who lived in biblical times looked to rocks as their witnesses as well –to their God, their faith, their actions, their testimony.
Our earliest Jewish ancestors built altars made of rock piles. They placed stones upon graves for the purposes of remembrance. They built slabs for their threshing floors and stones for their temples and synagogues. Even the ten commandments were written, etched into stone.
Rocks could signify God’s intervention and help. To this we raise our “ebenezer”! They witnesses to the entry into the promised land. They witnessed to the death of Abel. They witnessed to our covenants with God.[2]
And they witnessed to God’s art of resurrection!
In the story of Lazarus’s death, we note that he has been buried in a cave with a heavy stone (lithos) covering and sealing the entrance. The sealing stone witnesses to the death of the family’s loved one. Even then the large “cemetery” stone can’t completely hide the stench of death emanating from the cave after four days, as the body began decomposing in the hot, humid, middle eastern climate. It blocks us off from the harsh reality of death.
What does Jesus say?
“Remove the stone!”
You might imagine people gasping, horrified at what they will find –and smell—inside! Martha immediately protests perhaps in a strained whispering voice –but Lord, he’s been death already four days! The smell! It’s already SO bad!”
Jesus replies, “Didn’t I tell that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?”
Probably holding their noses, several of the men go up to the cave and roll away the stone!
Then after a prayer to God, Jesus shouts in a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out!”
Now, this is pretty interesting, the scripture’s exact words here are these:
“The dead man came out……his feet bound and his hands tied, and his face covered with a cloth.”
“The dead man came out.”
It doesn’t say, Lazarus was resurrected! It doesn’t say, he came out alive! It doesn’t say, all of a sudden, he lived! It says…. “the dead man….came out.”
Actually, the Greek says, “having been dead, he came out.” That’s a little better, right?
Then Jesus says, “Unbind him and allow him to go.” That’s the Greek translation.
“Unbind him. Allow him to go.”
In other words, the stone rolled away has witnessed to God’s miracle of life –Lazarus, dead behind that rock in that stone cave for four days now has emerged. He has come out of that place of death and darkness.
And we know he was dead. Hence the gospel writer tells us about the stench!
Yet now….he emerges from that place of death and comes back into a place of life! The stone rolled away has released him. The stone is our witness.
But now, we must also release him.
We must release our grief, our understanding of death, our conception of Lazarus as dead and gone, all that binds us up to a finite and determined world, we must release all of that. And let him go.
Just as that rock served as a symbol for us of the finality of death, loss, grief, and pain. The stone rolled away now stands as a witness to God’s grace, intervention, and miraculous power over life and death –a power we will witness again in Jesus’ own resurrection!
The rock is our testimony. Jesus is who he says he is. And God’s supernatural acts can remove any barriers in front of us, any preconceptions of our belief systems and what we consider immovable and unchangeable. God can move a mountain if God wishes.
The rock is our testimony!
Today we celebrate the memory of all saints who came before us –all those we remember in our histories, our lives, our families, our stories. They’ve loved us and taught us, guided us and molded us. They’ve been the foundation of our churches and have served as living, spiritual stones to God’s own Temple.
Every one of them has been raised up by Jesus’ promise of resurrection! Every one of them serves as living witnesses to God’s eternal power!
They encourage us to unbind our hearts from thoughts of endings, death, finality, and grief and to open our minds to the truth of the gospel! God is a God of resurrections! And nothing in this world can keep God from doing the miraculous work that God intends.
[You may hand out small stones of witness.]
So today, I invite you to raise your stones in witness to God’s amazing resurrection promise! To God’s grace, love, and miraculous intervention!
Hold them tightly in your fist and feel the strength of God’s power within you and around you!
May your eyes be a witness to the miracles all around you!
And may you let go of your understanding of death as final, and embrace the life and hope that Jesus offers!
Now---open up your hands! Feel the freedom that God’s love offers you.
Your life has been redeemed!
The stone…is your witness!
[1] Bruno Venditti, “Visualizing the Abundance of Elements in the Earth’s Crust,” World Economic Forum, December 14, 2021, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/12/abundance-elements-earth-crust/#:~:text=The%20Earth's%20crust%20comprises%20about,sandstone%2C%20and%200.25%25%20limestone.
[2] See Kari Wiseman, “Monuments of Stone as a Silent Witness,” SnapInspire, May 15, 2019, https://snapinspire.com/monuments-of-stone-as-a-silent-witness/.