As part of our everyday life, we use pairs of monosyllables: love and hate, laugh and weep, work and play, war and peace, and more. But one pair of monosyllables has brought recent fears: fear of pandemics, fear of terrorism, and fear of the destruction of our country—life and death. It is on life and death that today’s readings focus. More importantly, life through death. “Whoever believes in Me, though he dies, yet shall he live.”
The Gospel story invites us to walk alongside a grieving sister. Many of us have experienced the loss of a deeply loved pet, the loss of a dear friend or relative, and, in this community, the loss of a beloved chaplain. Beyond the reasons we grieve lurks death, which is all around us as relationships die, communities die, and dreams die. Grief is real and painful.
In our Gospel reading, a brother is close-to-death ill, so Mary and Martha send for Jesus to save their brother Lazarus. But Jesus doesn’t immediately show up. Jesus shows up four days later, and Lazarus has died. And Jesus is met with, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” A very familiar response! We ask God for help—perhaps to get into a program of our choice, perhaps for healing a broken marital relationship, perhaps for reconciliation and healing in the world and in our Church. We sometimes plead with God and are disappointed… “Lord, if you had only done what I asked you to do.”
In this Gospel story, Jesus does not apologize for His delay. He speaks a word of promise: “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 Jesus joins the sisters in their grief, and along with His friends, Jesus weeps! Jesus asks to have the stone removed, saying, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” He leads Lazarus out of the tomb with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The tomb could not hold Lazarus, the tomb could not hold Jesus, and the tomb cannot hold us. And the tomb should not hold those who are struggling to inch their way into the light. “Help me…unbind me…give me a new chance at life,” they say. Do we see some of these people in our soup kitchen every Wednesday? Do we see them in our neighborhoods? Do we see them in our refugees? Are they in the pew next to us?
There is a beautiful housing community in Washington, D.C., for the wounded and suffering, called Lazarus House. It is a home where lives are restored. Countless men and women, with the help of visionaries like us, have left their tombs and returned to life as parents, grandparents, employees, leaders, and instruments of healing for those coming along behind them.
Where do you see someone struggling to come out of their tomb? What binds them to death and prevents them from living abundantly? How can you be the hands of Jesus to give someone a new chance at life? And what do YOU need to let die so that you can come out of your tomb? Hear Jesus calling, “Come out of there!” Jesus is weeping for all of us to receive His love and forgiveness… He is always offering us a new chance at life. And we never have to be there alone.
When Lazarus stepped out of the tomb, there were his friends—his community. They were on hand to help him get out of his burial garments. They were there to support him and love him. We’re all here to show the love of Jesus and to show others that they are not isolated and alone. We are here to help each other into the family of God. Jesus is standing by our side, with tears streaming down His face… welcoming all of us back to life! “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus says to you and through you. “Whoever believes in Me, though he dies, yet shall he live.” Now and into eternal life.
