Dear friends, Here is my homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Some years ago in Canada, I use to watch a television program called ‘You Only Live Twice’. In each episode a person, at the moment of their death, was given an opportunity to go back in time and change the course of their life. They did not go back as themselves, but as another person, to influence them to make a decision that could and would change their life. I remember one particular episode in which a woman was hit by a garbage truck, as she was distracted crossing the street, as she had just been told that she had lung cancer and had only a short time to live. She went back in time as the guidance counselor of her high school. There, she – the guidance counselor – had herself – the student – suspended from the basketball team for smoking. The mother of the student, also a heavy smoker, came in to tell her that she was dying of lung cancer. Instead of worrying her children with the truth, she told them that she was off for a few days to a spa, when actually she was in the hospital having chemotherapy. The guidance counselor was shocked, as her mother had never revealed that before her death. She brought the two of them together – her mother and herself, as a teenager – and finally the mother revealed to her daughter that she was dying of cancer. Through their tears, they each promised never to smoke again. Then the episode jumps to the future, and because the daughter had stopped smoking she got home at the normal time, not having to go to the doctor’s (because she didn’t have cancer). She was surprised to find out, on returning to her husband and children, to hear the voice of her mother, who lived with them. Her life – and her mother’s – had been changed by ‘Living Twice’. I thought of that today, as Lazarus, in our gospel (John 11:1-45) was able to ‘live twice’. Our gospel is very dramatic, sharing in the grief of Martha and Mary at the death of their brother, and their trust in Jesus, that “whatever you ask of God, God will give you”. Indeed, Jesus did fulfill their hopes, and brought their brother, Lazarus, back to life. How dramatic those simple words of Jesus, “Lazarus, come out!” And, indeed, he did! Just as last week when he revealed his divinity through the healing of the man born blind, this week he reveals his divinity through the resurrection of Lazarus. This resurrection from the dead also prepares us for his own resurrection from the dead. He tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life”. He assures her – before he raises Lazarus – that “Your brother will rise”. She understands this, in the context of her Jewish faith, that this will be in the ‘here after’, but Jesus proves her wrong and brings him back to physical life. The tomb will not keep him at this time, but he will resume his life, and his resurrection will bring many to believe that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world”. That is what Martha and Mary believed from their personal relationship with him, and now all their family and friends, and all the people of Bethany have had a revelation of his divinity as the Messiah. Today Jesus says to us, “Come out!” He calls us to new life, and to come out of our tomb – our tomb of complacency and mistrust, of hatred and jealousy, of fear and anger, of lies and hardness of heart. This is the continual call of Jesus during our Lenten journey – to change and renewal, to transformation in Jesus Christ, and a new life. We are no longer dead to sin, but have come back to life in him. This conversion comes about by knowing, loving and serving Jesus. Our personal relationship with Jesus is the key to sharing in his resurrection and life. We will not come to that life by accident, but only by our intentional seeking out of that resurrection and new life in union with Christ. In the First Reading from the Prophet Ezekiel (37:12-14), God speaks (through the prophet) about raising up people from the dead. He goes on to say that “I will put my spirit in you that you may live … thus you shall know that I am the Lord”. Once again, new life will be the sign of God’s divine nature. Our Second Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans (8:8-11) echoes that faith in new life in God as Paul writes that “the spirit is alive”, and “will give life to our mortal bodies … through his Spirit dwelling in us”, that same Spirit that “raised Jesus from the dead”. Paul’s own experience of forgiveness of God and being called to be an apostle was sure proof for him that there was new life in Christ. He was now dead to sin, and rose with the risen Jesus he encountered on the road to Damascus. On this Fifth Sunday of Lent the Word of God surrounds us with promises of new life and resurrection. This is our destiny and fulfillment. Through our Baptism in Jesus we already share in that life. Just like the episodes of ‘You Only Live Twice’, we are given a second chance, or a hundredth chance, as God shares his life with us. Jesus wants to continue revealing his divinity in and through us – by our transformation and conversion during this Lenten journey. Just as Lazarus was raised to new life Jesus calls us – in these remaining days of Lent – to listen attentively to his call, have courage and trust in him, and through his grace respond to his call, “Come out!”
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 18:34:21 +0000
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