5th Sunday of Lent - Fr. Leo
Two weeks ago I spoke about the spiritual life being a sharing in the paschal mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. In today’s gospel there is more of a focus on the resurrection. Lazarus has already died and Jesus raises him from the dead. As the certainty of Lazarus death is confirmed by Jesus waiting to go, and then arriving four days after the death, so too belief in the resurrection is affirmed in Martha’s testimony that she “has come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the one to rise from the dead.
Jesus prays aloud so that all will know it is his relationship with the Father, in the Holy Spirit, that is at work in the miracle about to happen. Jesus calls Lazarus from the tomb and all witness his bodily resurrection from the dead. Jesus confirms faith in the ultimate resurrection from the dead through the raising of Lazarus to life. This passage was written to bring us to the same affirmation of faith Martha made. We are called to affirm our belief in Christ as the God of the living, and the dead, who also rises to life again.
This is what makes us Christians, isn’t it? The whole point of our faith is believing that we participate in God’s life forever, even after our bodies die. We don’t have the luxury of witnessing a miracle, but then again, perhaps we do. The earth with its cycle of seasons witnesses the paschal rhythm year after year. The words of scripture and of the mystics resonate with a part of us that reason alone can not confirm, but faith does. Here we may even make room for those who seem to have the gift to communicate with those who have passed-over, as they like to say.
Bottom line, affirming our faith in the resurrection changes the meaning and purpose of our lives. We are not here for ourselves to grab all the fun we can buy. We are here to live the incredible experience of God’s love which is always active and a giving of ourselves to others. When we are able to do so, our lived faith/love, brings us a joy that is timeless, even now before we enter the fullness of joy in eternity.