We’ve
come to the fifth Sunday in Lent. Next
Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week and our entry into Easter. It’s time to begin our intensive preparation
for the celebration of Easter. Today,
all three readings speak of death and life. They want to prepare us to celebrate Easter. And we need that preparation.
The
Church is being a good pastor for us, because – much like the disciples in
Jesus’ day – we do tend to miss the point. We miss the point of Easter because we run
from death. We fear death. We resent it. And we question it – why death? Why should I have to die? And yet we know each of us must and will die.
The gospel
account of the raising of Lazarus intends to take up our question of death. The story comes at the conclusion of what is
called in the gospel of John “the Book of Signs”. Signs are works done by Jesus which point to
the way God is present among us. They
point to the way God is dealing with us now.
In the
Lazarus story our questions, our fearful resentment of death find a voice in
Mary. Mary – whose love for Jesus is
true and deep – this same loving Mary can also reproach Jesus for his delay in
coming to Lazarus. “Lord, if you had
been here, my brother would not have died.” We should hear Mary speaking with a certain
edge to her voice. She is crying for her
dead brother. And Jesus joins her in her
tears. In the face of death faith does
not despair – yet it is also no stranger to tears. Death is real and so is the suffering it
causes. It is only right to grieve and
cry in death’s presence.
What
have we to look forward to in death? Let
us not be afraid to reflect on our dying. As we enter into the process of dying, we know
eventually all will be taken from us. The cosmetics of life we have valued so
highly: the stuff we’ve accumulated –
our silly pretensions to importance – our ceaseless busyness – all will be
taken away. And finally, finally we will
have only ourselves – relieved of the sham self we have shown to others. It will be death’s gift to us that we finally
come to ourselves honestly – we finally come to our true self – the self born
of God and returning to God. There we
will be able to say “yes” – able to say finally, fully and gratefully “yes” to
our true self – our eternal self.
In
celebrating Easter we will celebrate the feast of the Paschal Mystery. The Paschal Mystery is the absolute core
conviction of Christian faith. It is our
basic take on life. For us it is the
shape of all reality. Paschal Mystery
says that all our dying – all our deaths and diminishments of whatever kind –
all our dying is leading us into deeper, fuller, richer life. Each day, every day and that final day we die
– to beget new life. Each day, every day
and that final day we die – into life, into new life. And all this is God’s doing. God takes our dying and shapes it into
something life-giving – for ourselves and for others.
To our
catechumens and candidates – to all of us Jesus puts today the same question he
put to Martha: “Do you believe?” “Do you believe that everyone who lives and
believes in me will never die?” That
question is being put squarely to us today. Do we believe in Paschal Mystery? Do we really want Jesus-style resurrection –
his new life? It only comes from our
dying. We call it “everlasting life”,
“eternal life”. We pray for it
fervently. But do we want Jesus-style
new life? It only comes from our dying.
Are
we prepared to celebrate Easter?
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