Fifth Sunday of Lent
Jn 11:1-45
March 26, 2023

Morning prayer this past Monday included a beautiful Intercession that I found especially inspiring.

Help us to welcome spring with attention to Your life-giving Word and its presence in all creation.

Spring is indeed filled with sights, sounds, and smells that inspire a sense of new beginnings…new life…a rising up from the frozen ground. However, the change in seasons is only one of the many ways in which our Creator’s life-giving Word speaks to us.

In fact, God’s Word made Flesh, Jesus, often turned to other aspects of nature to draw attention to some truth which The Creator has revealed. Fr. Richard Rohr has eloquently described how the Lord often relied on nature as “an authority,” going on to say: Nature instructs us everywhere. Look and learn how to see. Look and see the rhythm, the seasons, the life and death of things. That’s our teaching; that’s creation’s plan in front of us.

One exceptionally calming and beautiful instance of The Lord using nature to make a point is found at Matthew 6:25-27.

Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you add a single moment to your lifespan by worrying?

Clearly, we can’t.

We definitely cannot add a single moment to our earthly lives by worrying. But many, if not most, cannot seem to stop worrying about their own death, or the death of loved ones. In spite of the fact that we are completely surrounded by assurances of resurrection, very often we fail to appreciate God’s promise of life after death. And so, death provokes anxiety and fear, leading to emotional defense mechanisms like avoidance and denial. Even Martha and Mary, intimate friends of the Lord, frantically summoned Jesus when their brother fell ill, in hopes of a miraculous healing. You can almost feel their sense of desperation as the drama of this Gospel passage unfolds. The sisters were desperate for a miracle…and they got one…but not exactly what they hoped for.

The sickness and death ended in an extraordinary way with a “premeditated miracle.” Jesus purposefully and intentionally used the death of His friend, Lazarus, to reinforce the message that the Creator signals so clearly through seasons and trees and flowers, signals which are so often overlooked.

The timing of this “premeditated miracle” is a lesson in and of itself. It came even as Jesus was about to begin His final journey to Jerusalem, with the ultimate destination being Calvary. He certainly anticipated the devastating effect His Crucifixion would have upon the disciples. He knew that they would need more than seasons and blossoming flowers to reassure them of His power over death. And so, He gave three simple commands:

Roll back the stone!
Lazarus come out!
Untie him and let him go!

Those three commands will continue to echo throughout the universe until the Risen Christ returns in Glory. Humankind is commanded to Roll back the stone! We are encouraged to remove whatever it is that has us trapped in darkness and unable to see what God has placed before our very eyes. The Lord commands us to roll back those stones which prevents us from moving closer towards our final destination…The Eternal Kingdom.

It is God’s desire that each of us step out into the radiant Light of Christ. We are called to Come out! Emerging from the emotional tombs we find ourselves trapped in, we leave behind all the fear and anxiety that threatens to overwhelm us as we consider the reality of death.

It has been God’s Eternal plan that we shed the fear and sense of doom, confident that when our earthly life comes to an end, something eternal and glorious awaits us. Jesus’s instructions to the “premeditated miracle” in Bethany apply to us today. Untie him and let him go! In other words, we are called to shed those things that speak of sin and death…and replace the burial clothes with our Baptismal garments…the dress code for Resurrection.

The promise that the Creator has placed within nature to instruct and comfort us is magnified by the Raising of Lazarus and then sealed by Jesus Christ, The Savior of the world, Who, by His Cross and Resurrection, has set us free!

We are bringing this Lenten Season to a close. Next week, we will join Jesus of Nazareth as He makes His triumphal entry into The Holy City to face the reality of His own suffering and death. Like The Lord, we should find comfort and confidence in the Creator’s promise of Resurrection. As we begin the last days of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, we might ask The Lord to:

Help us to welcome The Easter Season with attention to Your life-giving Word and its presence in all creation…assuring us that death has no power over those who have come to believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world!

The long, dark, cold days of winter are almost over. The Season of Hope is close at hand…Let us rejoice and be glad!