Good Shepherd Catholic Parish

The Fifth Sunday of Lent, 3 April 2022

          Peace be with you on this, our celebration of the Mass for the 5^th Sunday of Lent, 2022.  So, just in case you didn’t know, the longest continuous narrative in the Gospel of John is Jesus’ Passion narrative.  When everyone comes to Mass on Good Friday, we’ll get to hear it.  Well, it just so happens, the second longest narrative is the raising of Lazarus.  Now I just read the abridged shorter version however, for a couple of reasons, and one of them is NOT to get you out of Church earlier.  First, everything I needed for my homily was covered in the shorter version.  And second, in my many, many public speaking classes I’ve been taught, at about 9 to 10 minutes max, I’ll start losing people’s attention, unless I have visual aids.  Maybe that’s why guys like Joel Osteen have those big jumbo-tron screens instead of a crucifix behind them.  Oops, can I say that?  Sorry Joel.  Of course, at times as I look out there, I think I start losing some folks in about 10 seconds.  Regardless, here I go.  Wake up everybody for about 7 more minutes.

OK, so, there is a bit of Biblical trivia in this reading we just heard today, that is very important.  Everyone should go home and mark John 11:35 in your personal Bibles.  Why?  Because it is not only important in what it says, but it is the shortest verse in the whole big Bible.  “And Jesus wept.”  In many translations it’s only two words, simply, “Jesus wept.”  We’re going to talk more about the shortest verse in the Bible but first let’s lay out some background.

Today’s Gospel is a crescendo, so to speak, of the readings from the last two Sunday’s.  Even though we’re technically in the Year C cycle we have the option of using Year A readings during the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent.  Some scholars consider these three specific readings the best in the whole liturgical year.  The story of the Samaritan woman at the well, the story of healing the man blind from birth, and now the raising of Lazarus.  These are all stories that can be viewed as metaphors for God’s loving willingness to heal all our own spiritual disfunctions.  Living water for our spiritually thirsty souls, light for our spiritually blind eyes, and ultimately, resurrection and life for the spiritually dead.  There is a catch to all of God’s wonderful mercy and healing portrayed in these stories however, and it is a catch many so called Christians in our modern society either consciencely or unconsciously just can’t get past.  We must push our big, inflated egos aside and embrace the real cornerstone of true Christian spirituality.  In this modern world where it’s all about me, mine, and self, we must admit to our own spiritual helplessness.  Friends, the cornerstone of true Christian spirituality is this, I am incapable of saving myself.  I need a savior.

In today’s Gospel reading we see our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ at His most human.  “Jesus wept.”  Then, suddenly, we see Him at his most divine.  By His own power as the second person of the Blessed Trinity, He raises the long dead, stinking, rotting Lazarus from the tomb.  Anyone have a King James Bible at home?  Go read verse 39.  I love it.  It tells us, “He stinketh.”  John makes it perfectly clear.  This was not just a resuscitation; this was a resurrection.  And this is the greatest sign of who Jesus is.  The most undeniable proof of His Divine Sonship until He rises from the dead himself on Easter morning.  There is a big difference between Lazarus’ resurrection and Jesus’, however.  The Lord is raised to eternal life; Lazarus is raised to earthly life.  Lazarus will die once more on earth, but the Lord Jesus Christ will never die.

Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and we read that Lazarus comes out, bound hand and foot.  Well now, this begs a simple question; if he were bound hand and foot, how exactly did he come out?  According to Saint Bernard, Lazarus just floated out.  Then the Lord says these simple words: “Untie him and let him go free.”  With this in mind, what exactly is the Lord Jesus saying to us today?  Saint Augustine uses this scene as a symbol for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  The same Jesus Christ, who is fully human and fully divine is calling to us, beckoning us to come out and let Him untie us and let us go free from sin.  Let’s ask ourselves, what is tying us up and refusing to let us go spiritually free?  I’d venture to guess it is sin.  Jesus wants us to be free from sin, so He offers us the beauty of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

My sisters and brothers, in today’s Gospel we have one of the most concise definitions Christ gives of himself in the Bible.  “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.”  Oh, it is so very, very easy to read these words and simply say, “I believe” but in saying those words we must also reflect.  Don’t forget that cornerstone of Christian spirituality I gave earlier.  I am absolutely incapable of saving myself.  I need a savior.  We cannot sincerely embrace this attitude without surrendering to our Savior and turning loose of ego.

Let me suggest a simple meditative exercise.  First, as much as it might hurt, recognize that sin, is spiritually turning away from God’s eternal desire for our friendship.  Then remember verse 35, “Jesus wept.”  This is Jesus Christ, both human and divine, at his most human, weeping because of a friend’s death.  This is literally God weeping.  Now imagine God weeping in sorrow because of all sin and death.  God is weeping in sorrow over our sinfulness because sin always has a spiritual dimension and spiritually sin is freely turning away from friendship with God.  So, I say to myself Paul, next time I feel trivial about some “little” sin I’ve committed, I’m going to imagine God weeping over my “little” sin.  Wow, that hurts.

Friends, everybody is to some degree spiritually dead.  Today we see however, Jesus can and will call us back.  It doesn’t matter how spiritually dead we may feel.  So, put your own name in the place of Lazarus.  Then hear Jesus say “Bonny, or Fred, or Mary,,, or Paul, come out – untie him and let him go free.”