FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT homily

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT – A: 10th April, 2011

Ez. 37:12-14; Ps. 129; Rom. 8:8-11; Jn. 11:3-7.17.33-45

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

The gospels recount three instances when Jesus raises the dead to life: Luke reports the raising of the young son of the widow of Nain (Lk. 7:11); both Mark (5:22) and Luke (8:41) also narrate the raising of the dead daughter of the synagogue official, Jairus; John alone records the raising of Lazarus. Of these three stupendous miracles, the raising of Lazarus is doctrinally most dense for it describes the very mission of Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, and who came that we may have life and have it more abundantly.

John observes that Jesus loved Martha, her sister May and Lazarus. We note in this statement the humanity of Jesus. He had friends. He loved and that is why he could also weep. He felt the sorrow of Martha and Mary at the loss of their brother, Lazarus. Jesus is not insensitive to our grief, not indifferent to our struggle and not immune to our pain. He suffers with us. What strikes us is that when Jesus learns that Lazarus is ill, he does not rush to his aid but stays on where he is for two more days before visiting him. We at times like to programme Jesus and want him to act instantly to help us. He will come to us – and his coming is as certain as the dawn – but in His time.

The miracle of raising Lazarus provides the context for a very dense and deep teaching. Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Jesus asks Martha and us too. He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. He came to offer us eternal life, life that does not know death, life that never ends. At times, mistakenly, we think that eternal life is a kind of bonus which will be ours when we have died. Eternal life is a gift that Jesus offers us here and now, at the present moment, if we live and believe in Him. Even if we die, we will live because the eternal life that Jesus offers us goes on for ever. That is the guarantee that Jesus offers us for in Him as St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Christians at Rome, we have been justified. This is the hope that we cherish and cling to for the Spirit who raised Jesus, whom we have received at baptism and who dwells in us, will give life to our mortal bodies.

How are we raised to eternal life? The Preface of today gives us the answer. “Christ gives us the sacraments to lift us up to everlasting life.” We were born dead with original life. In baptism we were born again and raised to new life. As we grew in age, we faltered, failed and fell. Wounded spiritually by sin, we are healed through the sacrament of penance when we make our confession. There is an interesting detail worth noting in the resurrection of Lazarus. He emerges from the tomb live but with his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. St. Augustine has an illuminating comment on this when speaking of sacramental confession. It is God who by forgiving us restores us to life but it is the Church to whom Jesus has entrusted the sacraments that unbinds us and sets us free. We are a fortnight away from Easter when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. By a humble and honest sacramental confession may we be lifted up to everlasting life and be set free from the bonds of sin. Amen.

[St. Tudwal Church, Barmouth – Msgr. Alex Rebello (635 Words)]