HOMILY LENT SUNDAY 5-A
Rising With Lazarus
(Ezekiel 37:12-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45)
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The prophecy of Ezekiel in the first reading is very striking and significant, for it is this prophecy that is fulfilled by Jesus in a way known only to him and to God the Father.
Ezekiel prophesies that God will raise God’s people from their graves; that he will fill them with God’s Spirit, and that he will place them on their own soil. Unknowingly, he also sets the stage for that pattern that Jesus portrays in the Gospel of John for the healing journeys that will help us all build up the Reign of God here on earth, each in our own unique way.
We know that the first two elements of that prophecy were fulfilled in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost. The third part of that prophecy is more nebulous and less clear, but it was fulfilled nevertheless in the reality of the establishment of the Church here on earth as the harbinger of the Reign of God that Jesus came to inaugurate. That Reign of God, flowing out of the ministry of the Church, is our “soil”, our true homeland.
What the gospel does is to build on that prophecy in a unique way that also spells out how the reign of God will be built up, and that is through individual and communal healing journeys. The bottom line for us is to pray for the faith to make our own healing journey that will deepen within us our own experience of the reign of God among us.
The pattern begins with Jesus waiting for Lazarus to die, an act that surely surprised the disciples, who would have expected him to hasten to the side of his dying friend. The reason Jesus waits, however, is to demonstrate the he also waits for us to be ready to heal, to hit bottom for some, or to realize our powerlessness to change ourselves for others.
Then Jesus strengthens the faith of Martha, not only in the resurrection of the dead, but that something could happen to her brother that day, if she believed in Jesus. Thankfully, Martha steps up to the plate and exclaims (at that moment as an equal to St. Peter), “You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” This whole exchange is symbolic of the desire that Jesus has to strengthen our faith in the healing process that he continually invites us into.
Then Mary comes out and Jesus commiserates with her and feels her pain, to the point of tears. And that is what Jesus does for us. He doesn’t necessarily take our pain and suffering away – he is present in that suffering and experiences it with us. Our pain and suffering connect with the pain and suffering of Jesus, and becomes redemptive suffering if we can accept that pain and suffering without bitterness or resentment, as Jesus did.
When Jesus asks where they have put Lazarus, John has the crowd quote back to Jesus the very words Jesus spoke to the disciples when they first met him and asked him where he lived, to which he replied, “Come and see.” The implication here is that as Jesus at the beginning showed them were God lives (in Jesus incarnate), now they are showing Jesus where humanity lives (in the valley and shadow of death).
When they arrive at the cemetery, Jesus orders, probably the men, to take away the stone. He could have done that himself with a flick of his finger, but does not, to symbolize that Jesus works best through the community. When we participate with faith in any kind of program designed for our healing and growth, the activities loosen up the stones that we have built around us, and get us ready for deeper healing that only God can work within us.
That is why the next step is up to Jesus himself, who prays to the Father with absolute faith and trust, and then cries out, “Lazarus, come out.” This symbolizes the times in our lives when we have done all that we can do to heal (inner child and family of origin work, therapy, counselling and spiritual direction) and can do no more. It is then, when we have exhausted our resources, that we can pray with faith and God heals us from deep within, calling us to come out of our spiritual cages. Thomas Keating calls this stage divine therapy.
Lazarus came out of the tomb at the bidding of Jesus, but he wasn’t finished yet. He hobbled out, still wrapped in the shroud, stinking and smelling of death and decay. So, Jesus commands perhaps the women this time to unbind him and let him go free. This is what Jesus does to us as well, through the community. After a healing takes place, we are turned over to the community to keep on growing and healing through prayer, celebration, sharing, affirmation, fraternal correction, etc.
So, we see how Jesus has fulfilled the prophecy through the raising of Lazarus, even before he fulfils it in a different way by his own death and resurrection on the cross. The first fulfilment is especially for us to take note and pray for the faith to make our own healing journey through the pattern that Jesus gave us through the raising of Lazarus. We are Martha and Mary in that story, and also Lazarus in need of healing and being raised up to a new life in Christ.
The Eucharist that we celebrate now is itself part of the fulfilment of the prophecy of Lazarus. By our participation in the Liturgy of the Word, we learn more about the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. And by our reception of the Body and Blood of Jesus risen from the dead, we are raised up with him, forgiven and healed, to that new life that only he can give us.
So, in the end, let us pray for stronger faith to follow Jesus through our own healing journeys to a share in that eternal life here and now that Jesus shares with the Father who raised him, and Lazarus, from the dead.
