Today’s scripture passages brought back a memory of a situation a couple of years ago. I was working on a homily one evening when all of a sudden the lights went out. Of course, you never know how long the power will be out. However, it was early enough that it was still a bit light out. I had a sense of urgency as I really was trying to complete my homily that night. I believe it was a Tuesday or Wednesday, but I lost my power and all my notes were in a file in my computer.
This was really driving me crazy because of my need to finish the homily mid-week so that I could take the rest of the week to fine-tune. This power outage was a real pain on my plans. I tried to write under candle power but the flickering drove me nuts. Made a mental note: Need a generator, need paper copy of notes! Needless to say I was not making any progress and now was becoming much more anxious about my self-imposed deadline.
I went outside to get some air and to see what was up. I noticed a couple of houses down the street had lights and turned around in a hurry to hopefully see light coming from my windows, but instead, I saw complete darkness.
The power eventually comes on but by that time my head is not in the right place to write a homily. And so, I head off to bed hoping for a better tomorrow. Of course, I was unable to work on the homily the next day for I had to be at the Church after work to conduct a baptismal preparation class. Will I ever find the time?
By the next day, I believe it was Thursday, you can imagine my anxiety and my urgent need to get this homily done. I worked on it for hours and I didn’t like the outcome. Another night, no progress! That darn power outage really messed me up big time.
Early the next morning, about 2-3 A.M., the Holy Spirit finally bangs me on the head to help me see that, far from being the problem, the power outage was my homily. I remember those days because I was somewhat in the same predicament for this homily this weekend except it was lack of time, which made me feel that I was in darkness.
The gospel today is all about death and darkness. In remembering back to that night, the Good Lord gave me a power metaphor that tied directly to today’s gospel showing me that I was searching far beyond what was in front of me.
We don’t appreciate the light until we are in darkness. We cannot rise if we have not fallen. We cannot have a resurrection without the cross, and therefore, we cannot have Easter Sunday without Good Friday. However, the gospel takes us further than the darkness of death. It also spoke about patience, courage and faith.
Lazarus is dying and Jesus delays. That may have surprised us and most likely surprised Martha and Mary. Why did Jesus delay going to Lazarus? Clearly he loved Lazarus and his sisters very much. Why would He let him die? God had a plan and everything would happen according to that plan. We call that Patience.
When Jesus does finally go to Lazarus, that decision surprises His Disciples because the last time Jesus was in that area, the Jews tried to kill Him. In fact, so certain are the Disciples that Jesus will die if he goes, they decide to go with him so they can all die together. We call that courage.
Before they get to the village, Martha comes to greet Jesus. She professes a clear and committed belief in life after death and the power that Jesus has as God’s Messiah: We call this faith.
So we have three great virtues: Patience, Courage, and Faith! However, Jesus would not die that day because that was not in the Father’s plan. What was in the plan was giving everyone then and now, a clear demonstration of God’s power over life and death. When the stone was rolled back, Jesus calls Lazarus out of the darkness into the light, out of death back into life. And it amazes all those who were there. The gospel does tell us that many came to believe in Jesus.
To be clear here, Lazarus does not experience the resurrection. He is brought back to life by Jesus, but he will die again. Here’s one observation amongst the scripture scholars and worthy of note: Lazarus comes out of the tomb with his burial cloths still on him, because he will die again. But when Jesus rises from the dead, the burial cloths are left behind in the tomb because he will never experience death again.
One of the important insights I have learned about the power outage that night long ago and the gospel today is preparation. We are now entering into the fifth Sunday of Lent, a time of preparation. But what exactly are we preparing for? That Jesus Christ gained for us our salvation from sin and death through his death and resurrection.
But we are also very much preparing for our own resurrection. And, as I eluded to earlier, there cannot be a resurrection without death. We must die to ourselves and Lent is a time we learn what that means and how to do it. We try with different ways to develop self-control and self-mastery. We die to ourselves in order to open ourselves for something greater.
We use our short time on earth to help us learn how to live in eternity with God, and during Lent we intensify that effort. Off course, the Spirit is at our sides helping us along the way. We use Lent; to help us separate the important from the merely attractive; to help learn to tell the difference between what is real and what is artificial; we use Lent to learn how to put eternity in front of temporary.
Throughout Lent we are challenged to tune our hearts to the voice of God and learn to obey this voice with ever-increasing discipline and commitment. We are asked to place trust in God. The Israelites in our first reading were feeling abandoned and forgotten. But God spoke to let them know that he is their strength and protection. God said he would bring them back to the land of Israel and said he would put his spirit in them that they may live. “I have promised it, and I will do it, says the Lord”. God was in control, they just had to have faith in that.
The story of Lazarus is about the reality of death-a death we will all face eventually. But more, it is about helping us to see that the author of Life is always in control, and that even when we don’t understand, our faith will lead us to accept God’s will with patient courage. How can we not have faith in our faith. The letter of St. Paul to the Romans shows us that that if we have faith in God we will have life in the Spirit.
I can’t help but think that the Spirit of the living God gave me the opportunity to experience, although in a very small way, the darkness that accompanies death. I found myself unprepared. The power outage was not devastating, it was a mere inconvenience. So, fortunately, my lack of preparation did not have grave consequences as it did not have for this homily, I HOPE!
But death is a whole different experience. Unlike Lazarus, our deaths will most likely be a one-shot deal. And lack of preparation can have eternal consequences.
It’s the fifth week of Lent. The readings clearly focus on death- yes, in preparation for Good Friday.
But also in preparation for that day, which may well come upon us with the suddenness of a power outage, when He will call us to Himself to give account of how we lived our lives. And it will be on that day that He will give us our eternity, what we have chosen throughout our life, be it the darkness or the light.