5th Sunday of Lent

Right now, we are living through dark and troubled times.  Our lives have been turned upside down.  Things we have taken for granted have been stripped away.  Nothing is “normal.”  Some  people are calling the coronavirus an invisible enemy and have likened our reaction to the virus as warfare.  As in all wars, there is collateral damage.  Thousands of people have lost their jobs.  Their fears and anxieties are not about toilet paper, rather they are worried about how they will feed and support their children, keep a roof over their heads and protect themselves and their families from harm.

In the midst of the turmoil we are living, our Church calls our   attention to the story of the Death and Raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45.  St. John’s story about the raising of Lazarus unfolds like a Greek drama.  The characters are Jesus, Thomas, Martha, Mary, and, of course, Lazarus who is silent.  And there are two choruses:  the disciples and the Jews.  However, unlike Greek drama this is not the story of a tragic fall.  This story is about death and life, transformation, the glory of God and resurrection.  It also is a story about great, overwhelming, unceasing love; God’s love of Jesus and God’s love for us.

St. John tells us that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5).  He became “perturbed” and deeply troubled when he saw Mary weeping and he wept when he saw Lazarus’ tomb.  He raised Lazarus from the dead out of love.  But he also performed this miracle to demonstrate to the disciples, his followers, Martha, and Mary and all the people around them the Glory of God.  He told his disciples before they journeyed to Bethany “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” (John 11:4).  And just as with the Samaritan woman at the well and the man blind from birth, this miracle caused “many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done” (John 11:45) to believe in him.

For the disciples and many others, belief came as they witnessed the miracle of Lazarus or they experienced the miracle of sight, or of healing.  For us, belief in the Resurrection is an act of absolute faith.  It transcends time, history, and the limitations of our physical world and our physical selves.  It is the great mystery of    Christianity.  As we complete the final days of Lent and prepare ourselves to enter into Holy Week, let us join with Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and the entire communion of saints declaring “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (John 11:27).  And, please join together in prayer for all our families, our community, our State, our Country, and our World that we can feel the loving presence of Christ in our lives and believe in the comfort of the Resurrection.

God of life,
you want us to live and to be happy.
Your Son Jesus assures us:
"I am the resurrection and the life."
Do not let your life die in us.
Draw us out of our graves
of sin and mediocrity and fears.
Let life triumph in us
even in our uncertainties and trials
and make our hope contagious for others.
You have destined us for life without end
through the firstborn from the dead,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.