John 11:1-45
On this Fifth Sunday of Lent, we have the beautiful story of Lazarus. This is the third story of our Lenten message from John’s Gospel. The Samaritan woman, the man born blind and Lazarus are stand-ins for us. In these very special engagements with Jesus, we witness an underlying message of sinful humankind’s salvation. We are invited to see our call to new life in their encounter with Christ.
Water, light and life in these three stories are the basic elements that Jesus uses to draw us into the depths of the saving mystery. These stories unveil our need for these basic spiritual necessities. The stories are rich in many dimensions of our human experience but especially in the theme of conversion for the Lenten journey
Lazarus is described as the one Jesus loved. We, too, are the one Jesus loves. We are invited to let the story open us to the presence of divine love in our life. One passage can unseal our eyes and heart to this love of Jesus for us. “When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Sir, come and see.’ And Jesus wept.’” (John 11: 33-35)
“Jesus wept” lends itself to many interpretations. The following is especially beautiful. Jesus was encountering in the death of Lazarus the universal reality of death and evil. It would be this very same face of sin that would shortly draw Him to the Cross. But it was more.
Just as Jesus wept for Lazarus, He weeps for each of us and the people of all time as we encounter the consequences of sin and death. No injustice nor any expression of evil is free of this divine compassion. Whether it is the horror of war or the hatred of prejudice or the ravages of disease and poverty, they all touch the heart of Jesus. God has an answer to the great mystery of evil and death. Jesus entered into it. This is part of the deepest truth of the Passion and Death. But this was not the end. ln Lazarus, God shows that Jesus can bring life even in death.
Jesus showed that more powerfully in his own death. He went far beyond weeping. He shared and embraced death and all of evil to show the victory of life and love in the Resurrection. He passed through it with a transforming love. In the Resurrection, God has the last word on all death. It is the Easter Alleluia!
We have many tombs in the journey of life that make us feel like the dry bones Ezekiel refers to in the first reading. It may be the paralyzing hostility within a family situation. It may be the empty house of a new widow or widower. Often it is the life-draining consequences of the abuse of alcohol or drugs or more often, the destructive relationships that flow from these addictions. Then there are the abuses surrounding various manifestations of sexuality outside the socially accepted norms or racism or poverty or gang violence. They all are the tombs we experience. They come in all different sizes and durations but they all feel like death. To all of these, Jesus speaks the word to us, “Come out, for I am the resurrection and the life!”
Every time we celebrate the Eucharist and our salvation is proclaimed once again, Jesus has the same message for us. “Come out!” We are being called from our sinfulness and our self-sufficiency. We are being called to a new life that will pass through death to life eternal!
Indeed, we need to come out. We need to experience the conversion of this Lenten Season. We need to accept the power and beauty of the Gospel so we are part of the solution not the problem. We need to cast off the bondage of the death-cloths of our addictions and sin so we are free to walk with Jesus.
The victory over death needs to be embraced and acclaimed again. That is the goal of our Lenten journey. The eyes of our heart must see that not only does Jesus weep for us but we must realize what Psalm 56:9 tells us. He “put my tears in your bottle. Are they not counted?” Indeed, He counts our tears and reaches out the saving hand that is our assurance of the “resurrection and the life.”
