Judge wisely the things of earth and hold firm to the things of heaven

Homily for 5^th Sunday of Lent Year A 2014

Ezek 37:12-14 • Rom 8:8-11 • John 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33-45

Introduction

You must have noticed that the gospel passages we have been reading for the last three Sundays of Lent including today have been rather long.  Their length is not intended to keep us standing for long and therefore give us some penance to do, as some people might think.  They are long because they are like those classical movies that tell a complex story, with complex characters and complex themes that cannot be covered in a few words, like twitter, text-messaging or facebook posts.

Scripture and Tradition

These three gospel passages have covered some basic human concerns, thirst, blindness and death; these gospel passages have tried to teach us the truly Christian approach and answer to these basic human needs.

·        Two Sundays ago, in the story of the Samaritan Woman, we heard about thirst, the thirst for ordinary water; and then Jesus spoke about the living water of salvation.

·        Last Sunday, in the story of the Man born blind, we heard about blindness and the need to see again; Jesus gave the man that and more – he gave him clearer eyes of the mind and clearer eyes of faith.

·        In today’s gospel, Martha and Mary are asking Jesus to bring their brother Lazarus back to this life; Jesus does give them that and more.  He teaches about the resurrection that leads to eternal life.

And so, in these and other gospel passages Jesus raises our desire for what is only earthly, to something much higher, the heavenly.

And yet, in raising our desires to the spiritual level, Jesus is not dismissing our human needs.  Both Martha and Mary say to him: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  They miss their brother; they love their brother; they want him with them.  How many of us have not felt the same way, at the loss of a brother, a father, a mother, a child or even a good friend?  A few years ago a good friend of mine, a nun, lost her grandmother.  At the funeral as I was trying to console her, with the simplicity and innocence of a child she said, “I know my grandmother is in a better place, she is not in pain anymore; but I still wanted her around with me”

And so, that is why we heard that “When Jesus saw her [Mary] weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed . . . And Jesus wept.”  Jesus is not oblivious to human suffering and needs.  He grants our needs.  But he grants them only if they are truly good for us and if they serve the greater goal of bringing about the Kingdom of God.  This episode with Lazarus is first of all an occasion to teach about the resurrection, coming back to life with God forever.  And yet he also brings Lazarus back to life, not just for Lazarus’ sake, but so that the people may see “the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

I like sales promotions; I think we all do. I especially like those “buy one get one free” sales or the “two for the price of one” sales.  I go to the store with money just enough to get one item, but I come home with two.  Of course there is a catch with this kind of sale.  In the small print it says, that the second item must be of equal or less value.  So I have since learned that my first item cannot be a cheap, ten-dollar pair of rubber shoes and my second an expensive hundred-dollar pair of leather shoes.

Fortunately for us, what Jesus has to offer, does not have that limitation.  When he gives two for one, the second item is actually more valuable than the first.

·        When feeds the crowds with bread, he also gives them the Bread of Life, which is his Word and himself – the source of everlasting life.

·        When he gives sight back to the blind man, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the crippled, he also gives them an even greater gift – forgiveness of sins and the invitation to eternal life with God.

·        He gives Lazarus back his life on this earth; but then he also gives him and the rest of us an even longer life, eternal life with God in heaven.  For we heard him say: “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.” 

Christian Application

There is a prayer after communion that the priest says during the season of Advent.  He prays that through our celebrating the Eucharist and receiving communion, the Lord may “teach us to judge wisely the things of earth and hold firm to the things of heaven.”  This prayer summarizes perfectly the attitude of Jesus and what should be our own attitude towards the things of earth and the things of heaven.

·        We are to value the things of this world, especially life, like Martha and Mary.  That is why as Christians we promote life, from the womb to the tomb.  We judge wisely that every human life must be protected; the child in the womb and the mother carrying that child; the innocent bystander as well as the criminal gangster who shoots at them; the poor boy who lacks food to eat and the unemployed mother looking to feed her children; the elderly man suffering from terminal cancer and the elderly woman with Alzheimer’s.  Like Jesus cares for Lazarus, Martha and Mary, the blind man, the hungry crowds and all those who come to him with physical needs, we too promote must life, this life.

·        But as we promote this life, our sights are set on the other life; we hold firm to the things of heaven.

o   That is why sometimes we can deprive ourselves in this life, because of the greater reward of the other life.  We fast and abstain from food and drink, to give us a better appreciation of what really matters; life with God.

o   Some of us, religious men and woman, priests, give up marriage – a good thing in itself; we do so to remind ourselves and others of the life with God in heaven, where as Jesus says “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven.”

o   But perhaps the ultimate realization that it is the things of heaven that really count is made by those who give up their lives for God.  They like this life, but are willing to trade it for something higher.

Conclusion

As we continue with our Lenten observance, let us get our priorities straight.  We seek entrance into the Kingdom of heaven; this kingdom is already here in our daily lives, to the extent that we live as Jesus teaches us.  But this Kingdom is also not yet fully complete and that is why, as we live our lives here, we judge wisely the things of earth and we hold firm to the things of heaven.