Fifth Sunday of Lent
(Homily based on Year A readings)
Last Wednesday, I had an unusual funeral. I was burying Paul West, who leaves behind his 82 year old wife, Tee. Had Paul made it to June of this year, they would have been married 50 years. Since I did not know Paul and Tee, the bereavement couple had given me extensive notes on Paul. Based on that information and the Scripture readings, I had prepared a nice homily. But when time came for me to deliver the homily, I realized that Tee could not hear me unless I spoke with her real close, one on one. To make matters even more difficult for me, her grief was so overwhelming that I realized that my homily would be ineffective. Quite to my own surprise, the homily turned out to be a personal conversation with Tee. While my theme for the homily was “care,” Tee said to me that between Paul and her, it was not just about care, it was about “love.” When I said to her that I am sure there were difficult times through which they must have loved each other, she said to me, “It was not hard at all.” But she also understood that love and care would mean something totally different from now on. I said to her, “Tee, but God takes “care” of Paul in death. Only God, I said, could love and care for us beyond our death.” I saw the relief on Tee’s face, as she nodded her head in faith.
At the very beginning of today’s gospel, Lazarus is described as “one Jesus loved” (Jn 11:2). While this may seem to be insignificant information, it is my contention that this is the most significant piece of information we might have in the passage. In fact, Jesus love for Lazarus is reiterated twice more in the passage. In vs 5, the author tells us very clearly, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister and Lazarus.” (Jn 11:5) Again, in vs 35 Jesus stood perturbed at the tomb and he wept for Lazarus. And people said, “See how he loved him.” (Jn 11:36). Jesus’ command to Lazarus to come out of the tomb, then, was an act of love. God loves us in death; God loves us beyond death. God’s love is life-giving beyond death. God’s love can save us beyond death.
I am often surprised how many people, even though they peripherally believe in life after death, at the same time have lingering doubts about their loved ones that have died. Today’s reading offer us reasons for our continuing hope in life after death. In the following three points I would like to focus on the hope that God offers us in this life and beyond.
a) The first reason for our hope comes from today’s first reading. God says to Ezekiel, “I will put my spirit in you that you may live…” (Ezek 37:14). In other words, our hope in life beyond death depends on our understanding of human life. Human beings are not mere biological organisms. They carry God’s spirit in them. Human life is holy and sacred because it is infused with the spirit of God – not in some superficial temporary way, but in an integral way. And this why God loves us because we are part of God’s very spirit and God’s being. God loves us beyond death because God has put God’s spirit in us. I am inviting all of us who have lost someone we love to entrust this person into God’s hands believing that they are united once again with God’s spirit and being. Our human limitation does not allow us to love people the way God can love them beyond death. With faith in God’s love we must set our loved ones free.
b) Paul, in today’s second reading, contrasts between life in the spirit and life in the flesh. Life in the flesh, for Paul, means that a person chooses not to allow God’s spirit to dwell in them (Rom 8:8). Living in the flesh, then, is the refusal to give human life it complete worth. Living in the flesh is to see human beings merely as biological organisms. But living in the spirit is to perceive of ourselves as being bearers of God’s spirit. This means treating our own bodies and other bodies with respect. It means to recognize ourselves and the other as sacred.
c) I would like us to focus on the following words for a moment. Jesus said to Martha, “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?”She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” (Jn 11:24-27)The question this gospel raises is, “What about those who do not believe in Christ as God? Does God love them beyond death too? My answer to that question is this. In each religion there is belief about life after death. In each religion, salvation means different things. For us Christians, salvation means a new existence in the presence of God. For Hindus and Buddhists salvation means escaping the cycle of birth and death. In Islam, salvation is to enter Paradise. In my own life, I refuse to make a judgment about people of other faith. If they have lived a good life, salvation, as they believe in it will be theirs. But for me, for me, my salvation comes only from Christ. I look forward to being loved beyond death by the God who created me, redeemed my in Christ, and promises me resurrection and eternal life. For Martha, for me and as it is for you, salvation is only in Christ. Standing before Christ, today I confess, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
Today, each one of us stands before Christ like Martha and Mary did. Christ will come to us in bread and wine. We bring before Christ those that have died. Perhaps they believed in Christ, perhaps they did not. But it is to us that Christ asks, “Do you believe?” We say “Yes!” Yes to being loved beyond death; Yes to life beyond death; Yes to God beyond death. Let our communion with God be an expression of our faith. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph