Lent-5 Sunday Year A
Lazarus is raised from Dead
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
If we focus our attention on Martha’s words and actions in today’s Gospel, we can learn something about prayer, faith and life.
Prayer is not saying a lot of words to persuade God, or to control God, or to change God. Prayer, rather, is an expression of our relationship to God, an expression of loving trust and mature dependence upon the One we call "Father." Prayer, then, is conversation or dialogue with God. Martha teaches us something about prayer – she shows us that prayer flows from ordinary events in life, the nitty-gritty of life, and is expressed in our words and feelings. Her brother Lazarus is sick; along with Mary her sister, she sends a message to Jesus in simple words: "the one you love is ill." Then, when she meets Jesus, four days after Lazarus has died, her words again are direct and simple: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Notice there is nothing fancy, elaborate or elegant in her words, just the thoughts of her heart being expressed to one she knew would understand.
What is faith? Is it only the mind saying "yes" to doctrines? Or, rather, is it the total person – total you, total I – saying "yes" to God as He shows Himself to us in Christ? Faith is the loving obedient surrender of ourselves to the Father in whom we hope and trust. Our lives are constantly driven by hope in some form or another. If prayer is an expression of our relationship to God, then prayer is also an expression of our faith. And Martha teaches us something about faith. She believed that the Lord would help her brother – so, she sent a simple message: "the one you love is ill." And, even after her brother died, she continued to believe and to trust: "even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." She understood that faith is a process of believing: "I have come to believe…." And all this, before she had seen Jesus raise her brother to life again.
Prayer and faith are realities that are lived in this life and that lead us to fullness of life. Martha teaches us something about life. She understood what so many of us, centuries later, fail to understand: that life is not ended by human death – "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day." She understood that somehow and in some way, Jesus was and is connected with life in all its fullness. Her intuition was confirmed by the words Jesus spoke to her: "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die."
When Martha objects to the opening of the tomb she is expressing the common view that this is now a hopeless situation. G.K. Chesterton once said, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.” In traditional Jewish mentality bringing back to life a person who is already four days dead and decaying is as unthinkable.
This miracle is a challenge to never give up hope even in the hopeless situations in which we found ourselves as individuals, as a church or as a nation. It is never too late for God to revive and revitalize a person, a church or a nation. But first we must learn to cooperate with God. Let God be in control.
If we allow our God to do His will He will do it great. Martha and Mary let everything in His Hands. Doing God's will is a lot like dancing. I know for sure most of you except me are good dancers.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.
Let us take the word Guidance. It starts with G. let’s put G for God and the following syllables are U and I. 'God, 'U and 'I dance.' Then it becomes Guidance. God, you, and I dance. Let God Lead our life our movements. Put your trust in Jesus and let him in control. And He will give us Guidance.
Let me ask one more question! How can we cooperate with God so as to experience God’s resurrection power in our lives and in our world? Well, everyone knows the answer already: faith. But that is not the point that John makes in this story. In fact there is no one in the story, not even Mary or Martha, who believed that Jesus could bring Lazarus back to life after four days dead. No one expected him to do it, so expectant faith is not the emphasis here. Rather the emphasis in the story on how we cooperate with a miracle-working God is placed on practical obedience and doing God’s will. Remember the word GUIDANCE. God U and I dance.
To effect the miracle, Jesus issues three commands and all of them are obeyed to the letter. That is how the miracle happens. Let’s us go back to the story. First, “Jesus said, ‘Roll away the stone.’ … So they rolled away the stone” (verses 39-41). Did the people understand why they should do this heavy work of rolling away the tombstone to expose a stinking corpse? You bet they didn’t. But it was their faith in Jesus expressing itself not through intellectual agreement with Jesus but through practical agreement with him, through obedience. Why didn’t Jesus command the stone to roll away all by itself, without bothering the people? We don’t quite know. All we know is that divine power seems always to be activated by human cooperation and stifled by non-cooperation. As C.S. Lewis said, “God seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures.” God will not do by a miracle what we can do by obedience.
The second command Jesus gives is directed to the dead man: “‘Lazarus, come out!’ and the dead man came out” (verses 43-44). We do not know the details of what transpired in the tomb. All we know is that Jesus’ word of command is followed by immediate obedience. Lazarus gropes his way out of the dark tomb even with his hands and feet tied up in bandages, and his face all wrapped up. Even a man rotting away in the tomb can still do something to help himself.
The third command again is addressed to the people, “Unbind him, and let him go” (verse 44). Even though Lazarus could stumble himself out of the tomb, there was no way he could unbind himself. He needs the community to do that for him. By unbinding Lazarus and setting him free from the death bands the community is accepting Lazarus back as one of them.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, Many catholic individuals and communities today have fallen victim to the death of sin. Many are already in the tomb of hopelessness and decay, in the bondage of sinful habits and attitudes. Nothing short of a miracle can bring us back to life in Christ. Jesus is ready for the miracle. He himself said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Are we ready to cooperate with him for the miracle? Are we ready to roll away the stone that stands between us and the light of Christ’s face? Are we ready to take the first step to come out of the place of death? Are we ready to unbind (i.e. forgive) one another and let them go free? Are we ready to dance with our God?
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
If we focus our attention on Martha’s words and actions in today’s Gospel, we can learn something about prayer, faith and life.
Prayer is not saying a lot of words to persuade God, or to control God, or to change God. Prayer, rather, is an expression of our relationship to God, an expression of loving trust and mature dependence upon the One we call "Father." Prayer, then, is conversation or dialogue with God. Martha teaches us something about prayer – she shows us that prayer flows from ordinary events in life, the nitty-gritty of life, and is expressed in our words and feelings. Her brother Lazarus is sick; along with Mary her sister, she sends a message to Jesus in simple words: "the one you love is ill." Then, when she meets Jesus, four days after Lazarus has died, her words again are direct and simple: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Notice there is nothing fancy, elaborate or elegant in her words, just the thoughts of her heart being expressed to one she knew would understand.
What is faith? Is it only the mind saying "yes" to doctrines? Or, rather, is it the total person – total you, total I – saying "yes" to God as He shows Himself to us in Christ? Faith is the loving obedient surrender of ourselves to the Father in whom we hope and trust. Our lives are constantly driven by hope in some form or another. If prayer is an expression of our relationship to God, then prayer is also an expression of our faith. And Martha teaches us something about faith. She believed that the Lord would help her brother – so, she sent a simple message: "the one you love is ill." And, even after her brother died, she continued to believe and to trust: "even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." She understood that faith is a process of believing: "I have come to believe…." And all this, before she had seen Jesus raise her brother to life again.
Prayer and faith are realities that are lived in this life and that lead us to fullness of life. Martha teaches us something about life. She understood what so many of us, centuries later, fail to understand: that life is not ended by human death – "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day." She understood that somehow and in some way, Jesus was and is connected with life in all its fullness. Her intuition was confirmed by the words Jesus spoke to her: "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die."
When Martha objects to the opening of the tomb she is expressing the common view that this is now a hopeless situation. G.K. Chesterton once said, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.” In traditional Jewish mentality bringing back to life a person who is already four days dead and decaying is as unthinkable.
This miracle is a challenge to never give up hope even in the hopeless situations in which we found ourselves as individuals, as a church or as a nation. It is never too late for God to revive and revitalize a person, a church or a nation. But first we must learn to cooperate with God. Let God be in control.
If we allow our God to do His will He will do it great. Martha and Mary let everything in His Hands. Doing God's will is a lot like dancing. I know for sure most of you except me are good dancers.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.
Let us take the word Guidance. It starts with G. let’s put G for God and the following syllables are U and I. 'God, 'U and 'I dance.' Then it becomes Guidance. God, you, and I dance. Let God Lead our life our movements. Put your trust in Jesus and let him in control. And He will give us Guidance.
Let me ask one more question! How can we cooperate with God so as to experience God’s resurrection power in our lives and in our world? Well, everyone knows the answer already: faith. But that is not the point that John makes in this story. In fact there is no one in the story, not even Mary or Martha, who believed that Jesus could bring Lazarus back to life after four days dead. No one expected him to do it, so expectant faith is not the emphasis here. Rather the emphasis in the story on how we cooperate with a miracle-working God is placed on practical obedience and doing God’s will. Remember the word GUIDANCE. God U and I dance.
To effect the miracle, Jesus issues three commands and all of them are obeyed to the letter. That is how the miracle happens. Let’s us go back to the story. First, “Jesus said, ‘Roll away the stone.’ … So they rolled away the stone” (verses 39-41). Did the people understand why they should do this heavy work of rolling away the tombstone to expose a stinking corpse? You bet they didn’t. But it was their faith in Jesus expressing itself not through intellectual agreement with Jesus but through practical agreement with him, through obedience. Why didn’t Jesus command the stone to roll away all by itself, without bothering the people? We don’t quite know. All we know is that divine power seems always to be activated by human cooperation and stifled by non-cooperation. As C.S. Lewis said, “God seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures.” God will not do by a miracle what we can do by obedience.
The second command Jesus gives is directed to the dead man: “‘Lazarus, come out!’ and the dead man came out” (verses 43-44). We do not know the details of what transpired in the tomb. All we know is that Jesus’ word of command is followed by immediate obedience. Lazarus gropes his way out of the dark tomb even with his hands and feet tied up in bandages, and his face all wrapped up. Even a man rotting away in the tomb can still do something to help himself.
The third command again is addressed to the people, “Unbind him, and let him go” (verse 44). Even though Lazarus could stumble himself out of the tomb, there was no way he could unbind himself. He needs the community to do that for him. By unbinding Lazarus and setting him free from the death bands the community is accepting Lazarus back as one of them.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, Many catholic individuals and communities today have fallen victim to the death of sin. Many are already in the tomb of hopelessness and decay, in the bondage of sinful habits and attitudes. Nothing short of a miracle can bring us back to life in Christ. Jesus is ready for the miracle. He himself said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Are we ready to cooperate with him for the miracle? Are we ready to roll away the stone that stands between us and the light of Christ’s face? Are we ready to take the first step to come out of the place of death? Are we ready to unbind (i.e. forgive) one another and let them go free? Are we ready to dance with our God?
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment