As I sat down to begin work on this homily I was torn between Jesus’ weeping and the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Like everything I prepare to talk about, something else seems to come into play-the last three weeks where we have heard the Gospel of John. They are the longest gospels that we will hear all year, yet they reveal to us a great deal about the true nature of Jesus and his mission and sacrifice.
Two weeks ago the Samaritan woman at the well was transformed by the encounter with Christ who revealed that he was the one who will quench our thirst through the life giving spring of the Father’s Spirit. Then last week Jesus reals that he is the Light of the World who will open our eyes as he did the blind man’s, in order to see the truth of the Father’s love.
Finally, today we hear Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in order to reveal the fullness of the Father’s power and glory by overcoming even the finality of death itself. These three weeks have guided us into the mystery of our Redemption in order to prepare Jesus’ passion, death and Resurrection as the act of our salvation and ultimately the glory of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
From our gospel today from John we hear of Lazarus, Martha and Mary who knew Jesus well. Martha and Mary even profess Jesus as the Christ and seem to understand a great deal of his teaching. Yet they still don’t fully get it!
They knew that Jesus could heal their brother and prevent him from dying but as is often the case, Jesus doesn’t necessarily do what we might expect. The raising of Lazarus was viewed as another impressive miracle like the others they had come to know and obviously expect.
Jesus’ time with them was nearing the end and he knew their understanding of His mission was incomplete. Jesus used this occasion to deepen their understanding by showing them the Power and Glory of the Father. By the raising of Lazarus from the dead Jesus showed them that he had the power over death and that his will was the will of the Father’s.
This act however, would also lead to an active pursuit of Jesus as a danger to the Jewish people by the Jewish leadership. This one act from Jesus seemed to harden the Jewish leaders hatred for Jesus and so led to the ultimate glorification of God through Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection and the final and total conquest over death.
This became the fulfillment of God’s promise to make things right once again as he has done throughout human history. God says in Ezekiel, “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.”
Ezekiel, a prophet during the exile in Babylon in 597 BC, told his people that God had not forgotten them and that he would restore them to what they were meant to be not just what they are. They will know that he is God by putting his Spirit within them as he promised. Isn’t this the same for us? Isn’t our actions for good prompted by the Spirit that lives in us? You Bet!
Jesus’ identity as the Son of God with power given to him by the Father has been challenged as far back as Jesus’ time on earth. We, as Christians, know who he is but do we open ourselves fully to him? Do we say, with conviction when prompted, our belief in him and who he is? Or do we allow ourselves to be taken back by the things of this world? It is hard but our reward is life everlasting with Jesus. What is better than that? I would say that the fight against all that would keep us from him is worth the fight!!!!
When we open ourselves to the Spirit of God we are able and willing to defend our faith. Robert Ingersoll, the famous agnostic who died in 1899 traveled back and forth across America attacking all religions especially Christianity, maintaining that we could know nothing about God or a future life.
In one of his lectures he tried to show that the story we just proclaimed in the gospel was a fake miracle, planned to build up the popularity of Jesus. Lazarus “made believe” he took sick, “made believe he died”. His sisters “buried him” in a cave and called Jesus. Lazarus was to stay in the cave until Jesus called out, “Lazarus come forth!”
To strengthen his story Ingersoll then asked, “Can anyone here tell me why Jesus said “Lazarus, com forth? Why didn’t he simply say “come forth?” A little old man stood up and gave him the answer. “Yes, sir, I can tell you. If my Lord had not said Lazarus, all the people buried in this cemetery would have come forth to meet their Savior”.
Ingersoll later admitted that that the old man’s statement really stumped him because it came from a deep faith, which you and I and all Christians share, that Christ died for all and that all will rise at the call of Christ to be judged for our eternal destiny.
The fact that Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave is but one theme. The point I think is not that Jesus can raise this person or that person, like our friends, our loved ones, our spouses, brothers, sisters, mother and father, but that Christ can and will raise every dead person back to unending life.
The story today emphasizes that the heavenly Father gave to His Son, Jesus, the power to give life, the fullness of life. What the prophet of God tells the people of God in today’s first reading, Ezekiel is telling you and me today: “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.”
St. Paul brings this out even more clearly in the second reading; “In the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will bring your mortal bodies to life also through the Spirit dwelling in you.”
This seems to be a challenge for us because of all the evil that surrounds us , however, there is more good than evil and so we seem to overcome it. Jesus continues to glorify the Father by guiding us to Him so we may honor the Father as well. Though we are busy people and Lent is familiar to us, we must take the time and be willing to encounter Jesus one on one, as the woman at the well and the blind man.
For several weeks now we have tried, like Lazarus, to be special friends of Christ, to have his Spirit in us. We look forward two weeks to Easter, when Christ will rise from the dead, a pledge and promise that you and I will rise. In a few moments you will see Father Rick drop a piece of the Sacred Host into the precious blood to symbolize the resurrection as he prays these words; “May this mingling of the body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.”
May we all look forward hopefully to the hour when Christ will call out to every one of us, “COME FORTH”.