FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
26 MARCH 2023
The
Prophet Ezekiel addresses a people who have no hope. They are as good as dead. The Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and their
temple. Now, they are in exile. There is no hope that they will return to
their homeland. Ezekiel uses two images
to describe their situation. He compares
them to a bunch of dried bones scattered in the desert. But he says that God can bring these dry dead
bones together, connect them with sinews, cover them with flesh, and breathe
new life into them. Today, he compares
them to a dead body in a tomb. He
insists that God will open their graves and have them rise from them. God fulfilled this promise when King Cyrus
the Persian conquered the Babylonians and allowed God’s people to return home.
When Jesus
enters Bethany, his good friend Lazarus is in the same shape. Lazarus has been dead for four days, and
there is absolutely no hope for him.
Despite his love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, Jesus does not go to the
home where they had provided hospitality to him. Instead, Martha comes to him and chastises
him. That’s what we can do to good
friends who let us down! She tells him,
“Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary also comes to Jesus and asks the same
question. However, there is a difference
between Martha and Mary. Martha is the
practical person. She just wants to know
where the heck was he! Mary is more
contemplative. Her question is
deeper. She asks, “Where are you when
evil happens?”
Jesus
becomes perturbed and deeply troubled and asks the question, “Where have you
laid him?” In other words, Jesus signals
that he goes with us to those most desperate situations and places. He does not rescue us. He accompanies us. He walks with both Martha and Mary to the
tomb and commands Lazarus to come out.
Lazarus comes out, bound with burial bands, with his face wrapped in a
cloth. He resuscitates Lazarus and gives
him back to his sisters. Lazarus must
die again. This miracle points to his
own death and resurrection.
It is
tempting to believe that Jesus Christ will rescue us from all the terrible
things in life as long as we give our lives over to him as disciples. But today’s Gospel demonstrates that this is
not true. Faithful disciples are subject
to the same difficult situations in life that everyone else endures. But Jesus, who calls Lazarus from the tomb,
dwells with us and knows our suffering.
Jesus is
the Father’s Only Begotten Son, in whom he is well pleased. However, that relationship will not protect
him from the horrible fate that awaits him.
It will not protect him from a mock trial and a painful death. But his Father will raise him from the
dead. He will emerge from the tomb. Lazarus comes out bound in burial bands,
because he will need them again. When Jesus
is raised from the dead, his burial bands will be laid carefully aside, along
with the cloth that had wrapped his face.
He will never need them again.
During this
past year, our Elect have grown in faith, becoming more convinced that the Lord
will stand by them in all of their trials.
Today, we pray the third Scrutiny over them at the 10:00 Mass. We pray that whatever still entombs them will
be taken away. They are in the final two
weeks of preparing to enter into the watery tomb with Christ to rise with him
to new life.
We join
them in renewing our faith that the Lord dwells with us, even into the darkest
of times, even into death itself. Please
come to the Lenten Penance Service on Tuesday.
Like the public Scrutiny, there is strength in numbers. We can admit the times we have allowed sin to
separate us from the love of God. We
will emerge one with the Lord from the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We will be unbound by our sins and ready to
renew our baptismal promises and share already in the resurrection and the life
that Jesus promises to Martha.
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