March 29—5th Sunday of Lent

Ezekiel 37:12-14

Psalms 130, Response: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Romans 8:8-11

John 11:1-45

As we enter this final week of Lent, we reflect on one of the most powerful passages in scripture. It confronts us with the mystery of death and the mystery of the Resurrection. It is one of the deepest mysteries of our Christian faith: Life does not end in death.

This Gospel confronts us with the innate paradox of life and faith.

At a time when we are witnessing so many deaths all around us—some in a very personal way—and hear the projections of more deaths ahead, I pray our reflections this Sunday will help us draw strength to face the challenges ahead, and act with discerned faith, hope and love in the days to come.

There is an important detail in the exchange between Martha and Jesus when he arrives at the wake of her brother Lazarus.

Martha greets Jesus with, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

To this Jesus replied, “Your brother will rise.” And Martha said, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11: 21-24)

Here you have a very human paradox. On the one hand, Martha expresses a very human feeling, “if you had been here . . . ” Knowing the miracles, the healing Jesus performed, why did he not come and heal a close friend?

Still, it was in the midst of this questioning, this human pain and perhaps even disappointment, that Martha enters the depth of her faith in Jesus and in God.

Depth and fullness

Death brings us to the threshold where human strength and power ends, and the depth and fullness of God’s grace begins. This often comes to us when a loved one passes away.

Martha confronts Jesus with the human “If you . . . ,” which I think allows her to reach this threshold and confess that she believes in the Resurrection and the faith that whatever Jesus asks of God, God will grant.

Jesus went through the same threshold in the Agony in the Garden when he expresses his “if”—“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me…” (Luke 22: 42)

At the threshold of his own death, Jesus goes through the same paradox that Martha went through.

Are we at this threshold? I would say, “Yes.”

There are many “ifs” going around us now in this pandemic, and social media has become both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is there are alternative platforms to send out information at greater speed, and we know the younger generation is much more present in this platform.

The curse is the reliability of the information and our ability to discern true from false. This can either sharpen or cloud our sense of responsibility to make the right choices, and more so the accountability for the choices we make.

Invest in truth

We cannot come to the threshold of our “ifs” in the same way Martha and Jesus did if we do not personally invest in the truth of our experience and situation. For this we need personal discernment, responsibility and accountability.

Jesus, fully human, on the eve of his death on the Cross, first asks his Father with his “if,” which brings him to his choice to offer to his Father everything: “Not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22: 42)

We are at the threshold of our personal faith in the midst of this pandemic and the attendant crises. The deaths and the sufferings all around us are tragedies we collectively experience, but the greater tragedy is if we do not out of this better—more compassionate, humbler, with a deeper faith in God’s providence, with greater hope in the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection, and with a greater love that comes from this mystery that will inspire us to live a better life and to build a better world.

The story of this encounter between Martha and Jesus does not end here. It simply brings us to the threshold. Jesus asks that he brought to the tomb of Lazarus

In the midst of all the weeping and the pain of death, Jesus himself weeps, then he acts. He asks that the tomb be opened, prays to his Father, and with authority, “cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” (Luke 11: 43)

This is not the only time Jesus raises someone from the dead. He raised the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8) and the son of the widow of Naim (Luke 7). Both of these episodes he did quietly, the former very privately.

But in the raising of Lazarus, he did so very publicly to show the power of God’s love and compassion. The Gospel of John presents the miracles of Jesus as exhibiting the power of God’s mercy and compassion.

Pivot miracle

Scripture scholars consider this miracle of the raising of Lazarus as the pivot miracle, the seventh miracle in the first part of the Gospel of John known as the Book of Signs (John 2-11).

Our experience now of this pandemic and the resulting crises is our collective threshold, our collective pivot point. It comes at a season, the season of Lent, when we prepare to remember in a special way the central paradox, the central mystery of our faith, the Cross and the Resurrection.

This mystery surpasses all miracles. It is the final and definitive message and revelation of God. It is our faith and hope in Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection that will make us act in love now and more so when we begin to rebuild.

We are in self-quarantine, separated by lockdowns all over the world, but it is also an opportunity to be deeply united in faith, hope and love. And yes, an opportunity to begin to rebuild now—first in ourselves and in the families, the communities we live with in the midst of this crisis.

Jesus tells Martha right before he raises Lazarus, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (Luke 11: 40)

We pray for one another this Sunday and in the days leading to Holy Week, that we may all believe in the power and love of the Cross and Resurrection.—CONTRIBUTED