Out of Death comes Life

Fifth Sunday of Lent (A)
10 April 2011
St. Hilary’s, Chicago

http://www.usccb.org/nab/041011.shtml


In the past two weeks, we have heard about the great signs of Jesus, which call us to follow him. Today, we have the greatest sign which Saint John reports – the raising of Lazarus from the dead. This is the evidence which should convince everyone that Jesus is who he says he is – the very incarnation of God. God alone can give life, and Jesus restores that life to one who has died.

As human beings, we are constantly fighting death. Think about it. How many of us fear death? We exercise constantly to try and stay healthy to prolong our lives and our quality of life. We try to keep ourselves looking young, inappropriately valuing youth in itself rather than rejoicing in the wisdom and experience which comes with the grey hairs and wrinkles of age. In my generation, we fear commitment, worried that we might not find fulfillment in following a life devoted to one thing, thinking strangely that having all our options open is the equivalent of having every possibility fulfilled. We fear anything which moves us closer toward our end or reminds us of death. We avoid hospitals, nursing homes, taking care of our elders. We don’t acknowledge when we are ill or in need of medical assistance. When we are finally faced with this reality, we try to medicate ourselves so as to prolong our lives. And, as our bodies start to fail, we do everything to shore them up so that we don’t lose the functions which we were once able to do.

And, even in the midst of all these things, still death reminds us that he is ever present. An accident happens to someone whom we love. A friend looses a close relative. Sometimes, even the young face unexpected and unexplicable death. At the seminary, this has been a very present reality to us in the past two years. February a year ago, Thomas Ongige, one of our joyful, young seminarians two years away from priesthood ordination, fell out of his chair before class. He was dead before he hit the floor. This past Thursday, Matt Marshall, twenty-three years old, was working out on the exercise bike as he has been doing regularly. Everything about the day for him was completely normal, until he fell off the bike and was seizing on the floor. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit in the hospital in critical condition, and I ask for your prayers for him, his family, and the seminary as we wait to see what God has in store for him.

No matter how much we run from death, we can never lose him. And, when death appears, we say to God oftentimes, like Martha and Mary, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

What does the Gospel demand of us? We must completely depend on Christ with ultimate trust and hope. Martha, although imperfectly, does this. “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.”

All our being avoids death. We fear it because we know something isn’t right about us dying. And, in one sense, we are right. We weren’t meant to die. Jesus knows this, and he weeps over his friend Lazarus. God does not want us to die and be separated from him forever. We don’t want to lose our loved ones or ourselves for all eternity. And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”

Notice, however, that Jesus did not hurry immediately to Lazarus when he received the news that he was ill. He could have hurried and prevented him from dying, or arrived shortly after his death and raised him as he did others. Jesus waited, so that Lazarus’ death was certain – he was already buried. Jesus waited so that we would know that he is God, and that at the end of this life there is life to come.

Therein our hope lies. Because of Christ; because of the resurrection, we know that death is not the end – that there is life to come. As we profess in the creed – we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

How do we find this life? The context of the Gospel gives us the answer. The Jews are ready to kill Jesus. The apostles know that going to Judea means almost certain death. The raising of Lazarus becomes the last sign – so intolerable to those who hate Jesus that they have him crucified. The path to life is through death – through death with Jesus. As the ancient hymns of Holy Week tell us, “O Crux; ave spes unica – Hail the Cross, our only hope!”

Because our hope is in following Christ, how we live today must change. Thomas’s death was sad, but it was also filled with hope, knowing that he will rise with Christ. Matt has not yet died. We pray most fervently for his healing. However, we also know that he has followed Christ, and that even if he dies today, this is not the end of his life, but only the beginning of the life to come.

So, let us follow our leader in faith. Let us have ultimate hope, so that we can with Saint Thomas say, “Let us also go to die with him.”