Word to the Wise
Sunday, April 6, 2014 - 5th Sunday of Lent - A
[Ezek 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; John 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45,47]"Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?"
Little did the crowd know that Jesus would indeed "do something" for his friend, Lazarus! Neither did his disciples know! We have the advantage of a reader who has eavesdropped on Jesus' earlier conversation with the disciples in which he said, after hearing that Lazarus was critically ill, "This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." The disciples have trouble understanding what Jesus has in mind. Finally he has to say to them: "Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe."
Little did Mary, Lazarus' sister, know of Jesus' plans to "do something" for Lazarus. Like the disciples earlier, she has to work her way through what she is experiencing with Jesus, and is the one to hear Jesus 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. Do you believe this?" Mary, at least, makes the profession of faith that the apostles will not make until Jesus' resurrection! "Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world."
Little did Martha know about Jesus' plans! She is scandalized by Jesus' command to open the tomb: "Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days." Jesus has to say to her: "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?"
We have heard all these conversations and then we hear what Jesus "does" for Lazarus! What do we "make" of it? Can we accept that Jesus does indeed have the power of life and death? Lazarus will eventually "die" again! But what Jesus is offering is a total victory over death - a new life NOW through faith in him which is not ended by human death. His question to Mary is his question to us: "Do you believe this?" The events of Holy Week will help us to answer the question. AMEN
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