Homily Lent 5A: Jesus calls us out of the cave of sin; the Church unties us

Homily for 5th Sunday of Lent Year A 2017 

2Ezekiel 37:12-14; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45

Introduction 

This is the third Sunday in a row that we read another long gospel, in fact, about six to seven minutes long.  The reason for the long reading is not to keep us on our feet longer and give us some penance to do; rather the long readings are like those old classical movies that tell a complex story, with complex characters and complex themes, that cannot be covered in a few words or paragraphs, like we do on twitter, text-messages or face book posts. 

Scripture and Tradition 

These three gospel passages have covered some basic human concerns: thirst, blindness and death.  Jesus has used these basic concerns as signs of our spiritual dysfunction, our need for spiritual healing. 

• Two Sundays ago, when the Samaritan Woman asked for water, Jesus offered her the living water of salvation as the answer to a much deeper human thirst for fulfilment, for God. 
• Last Sunday, when the Man born blind asked for the ability to see, Jesus gave him physical sight, but also clearer eyes of the mind and clearer eyes of faith, much needed aids to human spiritual blindness. 
• In today’s gospel, when Martha and Mary ask Jesus to bring their brother Lazarus back to this life, he does that, but he also uses the occasion to teach about the resurrection that leads to eternal life. 

In all three situations, Jesus seems to be offering a two for one price promotion.  Such deals are good, since with the same money, I take home two packs of soda, two pairs of shoes, two shirts.  Of course in the case of Jesus, the second item, the spiritual one, is more valuable than the first. 

And so Martha says to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  She and Mary 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 then the shortest verse in the Bible tells us: "And Jesus wept.”  Jesus is not oblivious to human suffering and needs; he feels our pain, understands our needs.  In the case of Martha and Mary, he even did something about their pain.  He prayed to his heavenly Father and with his power commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb.  Jesus brought their brother back to life.   

And yet just like with the Samaritan woman, or the man born, the physical gift is not main point of the story.  This miracle of Lazarus' resuscitation is a foretaste of the greater miracle of the resurrection, as Jesus promises: "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." 

And so much like the thirst of the Samaritan woman, or the blindness of the man born blind, Lazarus' death is also a metaphor for our own death in sin and his resuscitation a metaphor for our own salvation. 

Christian Application 

In the gospels, Jesus raises three people from the dead: 

• the young daughter of the synagogue official (Mk 5) 
• the young adult son of the widow of Nain (Lk 7) 
• and now Lazarus, a grown man (Jn 11). 

St. Augustine observes that these three deaths represent three different levels of spiritual disorder in us human beings. 

1. The death of the young girl, who is still at home, metaphorically represents the first beginnings of sin in us. 

2. The death of the young man, an older son, metaphorically represents the sin that has made its way into the world. 

3. And now the death of Lazarus, a grown man, and one who has been dead for four whole days, represents sinking deep into sin, spiritual death as it were. 

But there is good news.  In the same way that Jesus intervenes in all three cases, he does the same for us.  Let us focus on the three things he does for Lazarus, the same things he does for us when we are spiritually dead: 

First we heard that: "Jesus wept."  He wept not only for his dead friend Lazarus, but also for friends Martha and Mary, who had lost their brother. 

In the same way Jesus viscerally feels our spiritual death, our sinfulness.  Like the other time he wept in the gospels, over the sinfulness of Jerusalem, Jesus weeps when we are spiritually dead, when we no longer love God and our neighbour.  Perhaps if every time we sin we imagined the tears of Jesus, we might not take our sinfulness lightly, but might be convicted to conversion. 

Second, we heard Jesus ask Martha and Mary: "Where have you laid him?" And they showed him the cave where Lazarus has been laid. 

Jesus too looks for us sinners.  He acts like God in Genesis who looks for Adam and Eve when in shame they are hiding from him. He looks for us with the words of the Church's preaching, the words of our brothers and sisters who pray for us and fraternally correct us, and the words he whispers to us in our personal prayer.  He wants to raise us to a new spiritual life.  Just imagine Jesus looking for you and me, in whatever cave of sin we are hidden! 

Finally, we heard that when Jesus got to the tomb he gave three commands: 

• Despite the protestations from Martha about the stench of the corpse. Jesus commanded: "Take away the stone." 
• And when they did so, he gave another command: "Lazarus, come out!"  And indeed: "The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth." 
• And then Jesus commanded them: "Untie him and let him go." 

Jesus continues to issue these three commands today with regard to sin and forgiveness. 

• To each of us individually he addresses the command: "Lazarus (or whatever your name is), come out."  And so, whatever sin we find ourselves in, whether it is addiction or occasional sin, a break in our relationship with God or with our neighbour, or even just a sense of shame and hopelessness, the Lord commands you and to come out. 
• The other two of the commands Jesus addresses to the Church ministers.  "Take away that stone" and "untie him and let him go" refer to the Church's ministry of reconciliation, where through her preaching she takes away the stones that prevent us from hearing God's invitation of love, and through her sacraments she unties us and lets us go, pardoned and in peace. 

Conclusion 

And so let today's gospel inspire us to listen to God's Word of invitation, as well as to use those means he has left us, to get back to him, to get back to life.  While it is Jesus himself who heals when he says "Lazarus, come out", it the ministry of the Church to let him out, untie him and let him go. 

What the Lord gave Lazarus, a second shot at life was good.  But it was only temporary, since Lazarus died again.  What the Lord gives us when he heals us from sin, is much greater.  He gives us a shot at life with God forever and ever.