Fifth Sunday of Lent
Last Tuesday, Bob Trangenstein, my American dad passed away. I call him my American dad, because his home is where I spent my first Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States. Since then, I have spent every holiday there. Bob’s death came very quickly. It was barely six months back that he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Bob’s funeral is the closest I have come to burying my own parents. Weeks before he died, he had gotten very frail and I had to the opportunity to take him for a small walk. During that walk, he made told me that something has been bothering him and offered to make his confession. I really thought very highly of Bob, but it is then that I really got to know how good of a person he was. He had let the smallest misdeeds get to him. At the end of the walk and before we went into the house, standing on the sidewalk, I gave him absolution. I also reminded him that our God is a good, kind and loving God. I could see the immediate relief on his face. Later, he told numerous family members about the peace that had come over him since the reconciliation. He told me that he was ready to die.
Here are my three points for today.
1. What if? The fact that Bob died in peace, means a lot to me. It is important to me that my own parents too depart this world in peace. Is there anyone for whom that is not important? The fact that someone can die in total peace is the greatest gift that Christ has given to the world. And for those of us who remain, to have the hope of meeting our loved ones’s again, it is the other greatest gift of Jesus. I am every grateful that people took the time to record the experience of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. For a moment imagine that this story was not included in the gospels? For that matter, imagine that resurrection and eternity were not part of Christ’s ministry? What would that mean for life? What would it mean for us to be permanently separated from each other? What would it mean that our loved could not die in peace? What would it mean that we do not know reconciliation before we die? All glory, honor, praise and worship be to Jesus Christ, who by his death and reconciliation, gives us eternal peace.
2. No One Knows Us Like God. As you know, we are reflecting on Lazarus’ story because we are following the Year A readings. On the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sunday of Lent we reflect on the stories of the Samaritan woman, the man born blind and Lazarus to help our catechumens reflect on their own faith journey. Besides the messages of these stories, I greatly appreciate the humanness of these stories. Perhaps, in today’s story we can identify with the grief of Mary and Martha. Perhaps, we can appreciate the friendship that Jesus had with this family. Perhaps we can appreciate that Jesus himself was perturbed and wept. In this way, God identifies with our human condition. However, God did not merely identify with us. Jesus went beyond weeping with Mary and Martha. Jesus’ grief went beyond the death of his friend Lazarus. Jesus took death upon himself. By absorbing death into eternity, Christ transformed death into life. By his death and resurrection, Jesus transformed humanity into divinity, mortality into immortality. Today, I am grateful to God for not only identifying with our human condition, but transforming the very meaning of human life and death.
3. "Yes, Lord, I Have Come to Believe." For those of us who have lost a loved one, perhaps, we understand the significance of the life-giving work of Christ. This may seem redundant, but, I found praying certain parts for today’s scripture readings together to be very reassuring. And I hope you find it reassuring too. So hear this from today’s first reading from Ezekiel: “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them…. I will put my spirit in you that you may live…. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.” Hear this from today’s second reading from Romans: “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.” Finally, hear Jesus in today’s gospel reading as he speaks 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.” In response, I want to join Martha in her response to Jesus as she says, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” This very confession of faith is our hope, our resurrection and our life.
- Fr. Satish Joseph