HOMILY FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT A
Most of us know what it is to sit at the bedside of a loved one who is dying and feel utterly helpless. You want to do something — anything — but there is nothing to be done. You watch the people you love weeping, and you weep with them. Or perhaps you remember a time when it was you who were inconsolable, and someone stood beside you in your grief. That experience of loss, of standing in the dark not knowing what comes next, is exactly where we find the disciples, Martha, and Mary, this Sunday. And it is exactly where Jesus meets them — and where he meets us. We are Lazarus, Martha, and Mary — we know death, grief, and the tomb.
Today's Gospel is full of references to Jesus' own death and resurrection. Notice three connections. First, Mary is the one who will anoint Jesus and wipe his feet with her hair before his burial. Second, the disciples warn Jesus about the danger of returning to Judea. And third, Thomas predicts that they will "die with him" if they go back into Judea. The details too — the stone rolled away, the cloth that covered the face, and the burial cloths — will all reappear at the empty tomb. The raising of Lazarus is a prophecy of what is coming. In these readings this Sunday, we are being quietly prepared to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Like the Samaritan woman and the blind man in recent Sundays, we are Lazarus. We are dead in our sins, in our fear, in our hopelessness, and in our despair. The people of Israel in exile were like a people "in the grave". The great prophecy through Ezekiel was that they would be raised from their graves and given new life — and we need that same raising. There are parts of our lives that are crying out for resurrection and new life.
Like Israel, like Lazarus, Jesus wants to free us from the bonds of fear, sin, and death. St Paul, in the second reading today from the Letter to the Romans, says that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to us who were once dead in sin.
Jesus Comes With Love
Today's Gospel, as well as being a lesson in faith, reveals heart-warming characteristics about the person of Jesus. Jesus comes to us as he came to Lazarus — with love, tears, and power.
Firstly, Jesus is someone who has deep friendships. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus are close friends of Jesus - people with whom he is intimate and whom he loves. It is especially touching that Martha describes Lazarus as "the one whom Jesus loves." In the same way, we are the people whom Jesus loves. He comes to us in our trials and sufferings too, to help us and give us strength.
Perhaps the most touching thing about today's Gospel event is the human emotion in Jesus. The sight of Mary's tears causes Jesus great distress, and twice the text says that he was deeply moved. And then comes the shortest verse in the Bible, as if to give it emphasis: "Jesus wept". Out of love for Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, Jesus wept. As a human being he wept with them; as God, he was about to heal their hurt and give them hope. Our tears and sorrow touch his heart. In our times of suffering and difficulty, he is with us.
Jesus asked Martha if she believes, and she responds magnificently: "Yes, Lord! I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world." This is the great confession of faith which, in the other Gospels, is made by Peter in the name of his fellow-disciples, but here is made by a woman, a friend of Jesus. In Martha's faith, we see the same thread running through the past two Sundays. We are called to make the same profession of faith in Jesus.
Baptism and New Life
Each of the encounters we have read about over the past few Sundays is meant to teach us something more about Baptism. In the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus promises to give living water, an image of the Holy Spirit. In the curing of the man born blind, Jesus gives the light of faith. And today, in the raising of Lazarus, Jesus promises new life, life in abundance.
Lent has always been, from the earliest days of the Church, a time of preparation for Baptism. This is not only for those being baptised at Easter — it is for all of us, so that we might grow into the fullness of what baptism means. Even those who practise their faith can easily forget what their baptism really means. This Easter we will all be invited to renew our baptismal promises and reclaim our baptismal identity.
In Baptism, the Spirit of God comes to live in us. Baptism is a personal encounter with Jesus. In it we are joined to his death and resurrection, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We become temples of the Holy Spirit. We are given the pledge of eternal life. God lives with us and in us, and we become his sons and daughters by adoption. Part of renewing baptismal grace in us is being conscious of the Holy Spirit living within us. Are we aware of the dignity that this gives us as human persons and as sons and daughters of God?
In Baptism, we are given the light of faith. We have been enlightened by Christ, and we are seeking to respond to that light and live it out. Our Lenten journey is about letting that light shine more fully in everything we do.
In Baptism, Jesus gives us his own life — not a diminished, half-hearted version of life, but life to the full. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and life to the full, life in abundance." This abundant life begins now and comes to its fullness in eternal life. In today's Gospel, Jesus says that he is the resurrection and the life, and that through belief in him we will receive eternal life.
Jesus loves each of us as he loved Lazarus, and like Lazarus, he calls us out of death and into new life. Are we aware of the abundant life which God has called us to and given us in Baptism? Let's consciously hope for its fulfilment in life for all eternity with God. Are we mindful of those known to us who have passed from this world and who now share in the fullness of life with God? Let's renew this appreciation now and prepare to commit ourselves to this vision of faith again this Easter.
"Unbind him. Unbind her. Let them go free." Jesus speaks the same words over us that he spoke at the tomb of Lazarus. He has given us new life in Baptism — not a life of just getting by, not a half-life of fear and routine, but abundant life, resurrection life, life in full. And the question Jesus puts to us today is the same one he put to Martha: "Do you believe this?" This Lent, let that question do its work in us. He has already called us out of the tomb — and this Easter, let us say yes.
