Today’s readings are taken from cycle A and the raising of Lazarus from the dead from the gospel of John. As the elect of our parish, Stephen, Kitrell, and Bill move closer to union in the body of Christ at the Easter Vigil, the readings invite them and us to reflect upon what it means when Jesus says he is the Resurrection and the Life, and what resurrection means to us.
How many times have we misunderstood what Jesus was saying, especially when it comes to the gospel of John? In our humanity, our human life, we see and hear in human terms, in human realities. The gospel today challenges us to think, speak, even see and hear in a different way.
The gospel of John challenges us to see and hear the Divine Jesus, to recognize him as the Son of God, to see and hear in a different way than we have ever seen and heard before. If we don’t, we miss out on living a life Jesus has laid out for us.
How can we experience God in our lives if we cannot open our minds and hearts, to see and hear him in the very words of sacred scripture? And how can we see and hear Jesus in a way that can transform us? We need to look at life with the eyes and with the ears of faith; to see and hear exactly what it means to live in a different way, living a resurrection life!
I recently ran across a poem that brings the point to mind in how we can experience God. This truly is a way of thinking out of the box, so to speak, about our experience of the Divine, about God. This poem is an old Hindu poem written by Ravindra Kumar Harami.
A child whispered, “God, speak to me.”
And a meadowlark sang. The child did not hear.
So the child yelled, “God, speak to me!”
And the thunder rolled across the sky.
But the child did not listen.
The child looked around and said, “God, let me see you.”
And a star shone brightly.
But the child did not notice.
And the child shouted, “God, show me a miracle.”
And a life was born.
But the child did not know.
So the child cried out in despair, “Touch me, God
And let me know that you are here.”
Whereupon God reached down and touched the child
But the child brushed the butterfly away
And walked away unknowingly!
Is this thinking about God in a different way? Can you see Jesus in his divinity in a different way?
Jesus said to Martha, “Your brother will rise.” Martha responded, “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” What does Jesus do? He wants Martha to understand resurrection in a new way. Jesus says, “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. Do you believe this?”
Jesus wants Martha to know that it is through Jesus himself that Lazarus will rise again, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus is the resurrection. Jesus wants Martha and us to know that for anyone who believes in Jesus’ death, has only the appearance of death, because we live after death. Jesus says; “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live!” In fact, we who believe in Jesus will not die, in the sense that the life we live in Christ Jesus now will continue after death; “Whoever believes in me will never die.”
Jesus is offering us something very special, something that will help us to understand resurrection in a new way. Jesus is saying that resurrection is not just something that happens in the future. Jesus offers it now, to live as he lived, to live a new life in the resurrection. To prove his words to Martha, Jesus raised Lazarus.
Just imagine what a world we would be living in if more lived in this resurrection life, the life of Jesus; loving ourselves, loving our neighbor by clothing the naked, giving drink to the thirsty, to comfort the sick, giving more to the food bank to feed the hungry, to provide or assist those who make available shelter to the homeless, to visit those in our jails and prisons, to bury our dead.
If more people throughout our world took care of their brothers and sisters in need what a world there would be. Just imagine a world free of discrimination, free of murder, free of war, free of anger and hurt, a world free of human trafficking, a world that respects all life from conception to natural death.
Just imagine how this world can be if people would open their minds, hearts and souls to receive God’s spirit. This is what propels us to live the resurrected life! How can we do this without the Spirit living in us?
In our first reading from Ezekiel We hear God’s words, “I will put my Spirit in you that you may live!” And in our reading from St. Paul to the Romans we also hear the words, “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through His Spirit that dwells in you!”
Don’t miss out on the offer from Jesus to us now. Do not waist your time with that which takes you from God. Live a live with Jesus. Live this life now and you will be living the resurrection life. Live life now through the grace freely given by God to us through the sacraments.
This Lenten season is an opportune time to start. In a season that is full of forgiveness and reconciliation, Jesus invites each one of us, whether we
are young or matured, to enter into this life with him. If we live a life in Christ, we have that direct link to God himself. This is what John in his gospel is trying to show us; That through Jesus’ humanity, we have the way of life here and now and through Jesus’ divinity this life we live now will follow through to our eternal live with him in God’s kingdom.
I urge you the next time you find a butterfly on you, think twice about brushing it off for it just might be the finger of God reaching out to touch you!