“Raising Humanity from the Dead” – 5th Sunday Lent (A) – 3.26.23

“Raising Humanity from the Dead”

By: Fr. David Schmidt

Church of the Assumption (Regina Coeli Parish) - Bellevue, PA

Mass Readings- https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032623.cfm

In today’s Gospel we have the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

As we engage with this passage, I invite you to see Lazarus as a symbol of humanity. We know the Lord redeemed humanity on the Cross, but humanity still suffers greatly today. We look at the world and we see that humanity has fallen ill and is on the verge of death. In many ways we have already died. This death is a complete self-destruction. We as humanity are destroying ourselves. We have completely rejected God. We have lost the meaning of what it means to be human, and most importantly, what it means to be children of God. And our sins are piling up and it is leading to our death.

We, like Martha and Mary, wonder why Jesus is delayed in responding. Why did He wait two extra days after finding out about Lazarus’ sickness, and let him die? In a similar way we ask, “why is God allowing humanity to destroy ourselves?” We cry out, “Lord, if you had been here we would not be on the verge of death.”

However, what is the answer that Jesus gives? First, He says, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Then, He says to His disciples, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe.”

We see that Jesus has allowed Lazarus to die for a reason. And He is allowing all that we are seeing in the world right now to happen for a reason. He is delayed in responding because He desires to reveal His glory to the whole world.

What He is asking of us is faith. The type of faith Martha and Mary showed Him that even in seeing their brother die, that Christ is who He says He is. Who does Christ say that He is? He says, ““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.” Then He asks her the same question He is asking us today, “Do you believe this?” The hope is that we can respond as Martha did when 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.”

Not only is Jesus asking us to believe that He has the power to raise us from the dead, but most importantly He is asking us, “Do you believe that I love you? Do you believe that even though I allow death to occur that I love you and desire what is best for you? That I will never abandoned you even in death? That it is my love that raises the dead to life?”

We see evidence of His love for us throughout this entire passage. When Jesus is first told about Lazarus dying, they say to Him, “Master, the one you love is ill.” Then it says that Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. He refers to Lazarus as His friend. Then when Jesus sees Mary and the Jews who came with her weeping the Scripture says, “he became perturbed and deeply troubled.” We see the love of Jesus in how deeply He was moved by Mary’s weeping.

Then, in verse 35, we hear the shortest and one of the most powerful verses in the Bible where upon seeing the tomb where Lazarus lay it says simply, “Jesus wept.”

Jesus wept over the death of his friend Lazarus, the one whom He loved. Jesus weeps over the death and destruction of humanity, the one whom He loves.

St. Augustine says, “Why did Jesus weep, except to teach us to weep?” I imagine there are many people in this church who are experiencing deep pain and sorrow in their hearts. Allowing ourselves to weep and grieve in these moments of great pain and sorrow no matter the reason is so incredibly healing for us. It’s OK to weep. It’s OK to be sorrowful. Sometimes we tend to repress our tears because we don’t want to enter into the pain and sorrow of the experience because it’s too difficult, so we don’t allow ourselves to grieve, and we keep pushing forward in our lives repressing this pain and sorrow and brokenness that we have. However, Jesus is saying to us today, “I see your pain. I see your sorrow. It moves to me tears when I see you in your pain. I am with you. Cry with me in my arms. Allow yourself to grieve, so that you may begin your healing journey. May your tears mingle with my tears, and may new life begin to arise in your heart.”

The weeping of Jesus gives us such a powerful glimpse into the heart of Christ and just how much He loves us, and desires to bring us life and raise us from the dead. Jesus doesn’t want death. He never wanted it. When He created us, He created us to live forever. He created us for eternal happiness and joy, not pain and sorrow.

Although death has been brought into the world because of our sin, He seeks to set things right. He set things right on the Cross, in one sense, but He wants to set things right today in our world and in our hearts right now.

Upon weeping, Jesus is questioned by some who say, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Again, we see that Jesus was deeply moved by this question, but in this case it was because of their lack of faith. It was almost as if when hearing those questioning Him He says, “Enough is enough! It is now time for my glory to be revealed!” And He tells them to take away the stone.

There is going to come a point with everything we see happening in the world where God is going to say, “Enough is enough. Now is the time for my glory to be revealed.” And we are going to see Him intervene in a powerful way. Where He is going to raise humanity from the dead. Where He is going to raise His Church from the dead. Where He is going to raise whatever is dead in our hearts to life.

When that moment comes and He says to us, “Take away the stone.” How will we react? Will we believe? Martha questions at first and Jesus tells her as He tells us at this critical moment in human history, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

Jesus then, after praying to the Father, cries out in a loud voice, “Lazarus come out!” He comes to our dead world, and He cries out in a loud voice, “Humanity come out!” It is this same voice that spoke the world into being. It is the same voice that spoke us into existence. It is the voice of the Creator. The voice of our God speaking life into the world and raising it from the dead. It is the voice of God who speaks His life and His love into the depths of our heart.

May we hear this voice today in our hearts. May we believe that Jesus Christ can raise the dead to life. May He give us this faith. And may we see the glory of God be revealed in our lives and in our world as He raises us from the dead.