Lent 2022

 

Lent 2022: Feeling At Home

 At HomeA Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

The Church down through history has struggled to understand and comprehend the sacred mystery of who Jesus is. The teaching of our Church clearly states that we believe that Jesus is fully divine and fully human at the same time. The four Gospels are not biographies or history texts. Rather, I prefer to call them “faith portraits” of Jesus—revealing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who those early communities of faith believed Jesus to be. They offer us the most accurate appreciation of who Jesus is.

While I stand in awe of the divinity of Jesus, I am often blown away by his humanity, by how much Jesus is like you and me in all ways except that he never sinned. One of the ways that dimension of Jesus stands out for me is in his relationship—indeed a deep friendship—with Mary, Martha and Lazarus, whom we meet again in today’s Gospel. Although today’s text is the most well-known account of Jesus’s friendship with them, I have noticed other scriptural references that give indication of this important relationship in his life. In fact, each of the four Gospels (Matthew 21:17, Mark 11:11, Luke 19:29, John 12:1-11) notes that Jesus went to Bethany early in the week before his crucifixion. Moreover, “Bethany” means the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus where he had so often visited.

It strikes me that Jesus, feeling the growing animosity of the religious and civil leaders of his day and profoundly aware of the movement of his life and ministry toward Jerusalem, was drawn to be where he could feel at home, among friends and be himself with no explanation needed. That was the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany.

How much like us Jesus is. Can you identify with Jesus as those dramatic and powerful days in Jerusalem drew near, wanting to be with Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany? I wonder what those few hours were like for Jesus there. When in your life have you experienced that same profound pull? When and where have you felt at home even in the midst of turmoil in your life?