April 10th, 2011: Gospel Reflection I

The Raising of Lazarus

John 11:1-45

   Today’s Gospel is surprisingly relatable to our lives and offers us a challenge.

   Jesus is moved to tears of sadness for love of his friend. His friend Lazarus is dying and he goes to visit him. Unfortunately, Lazarus had died before Jesus arrived and so Jesus comforts his family. Most of us can place ourselves in Jesus’ shoes: comforting those who are mourning (it’s one of the corporal works of mercy…if this is a new phrase to you it is worth googling!).

   Yet Jesus knows that death is not the end of life, it is entrance into everlasting life. We sometimes get stuck in end-oriented thinking and Jesus is trying to break that thinking: if death is not the end to life then we have to think differently about both death and how we live our life.

   Jesus’ intention is to:

      1. Bring healing and love to Lazarus and his family

      2. Show God’s power and love made present in Jesus

      3. Foreshadow his own resurrection

    He accomplishes all three by raising Lazarus from the dead.

   We are not called to raise people from the dead, but we are called to be agents of transformation through our interaction with others. We are called and commissioned to walk with others through the Paschal Mystery (the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus) that is made present in each of our lives. Each of us will encounter sufferings and deaths in our lives. The response of the Christian is to place our faith in God’s abundant love (like Martha and Mary in today’s Gospel), unite those sufferings and deaths to Jesus’ Paschal Mystery and to rise with Jesus, as Lazarus did, a new creation. Transformed.

   There is no resurrection without death, no transformation without suffering. To be a Christian is not to avoid suffering and death but to emerge risen and transformed. Sometimes this means taking a difficult look at our lives to see the parts that we need to let die or being heroic in walking with others through their sufferings without losing faith.

Van Gogh's depiction...a bit classier.