Raising of Lazarus by Di Buoninsegna
Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent - March 9, 2008
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Romans 8: 8-11
John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45
Artists in the 14th-15th centuries frequently painted scenes
of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
And why not!
Here’s a great with a fine cast of characters -
and more detail than the gospel usually gives us.
We learn of Jesus’ special friendship
with Lazarus, Martha and Mary.
We hear Martha’s grief in her conversation with Jesus.
We see Jesus “perturbed and deeply troubled”
by his friend’s death.
We learn that Jesus weeps over the loss of Lazarus.
If John’s gospel were a contemporary tabloid,
you could imagine a front-page title:
JESUS RAIDS TOMB!
An intimate, behind-the-scenes look:
Jesus, his friends and his feelings!
An intimate, behind-the-scenes look:
Jesus, his friends and his feelings!
What we do see is Jesus taking charge of a situation
that appears to be impossible, unresolvable,
a closed case: Lazarus is dead! and it’s been four days!
Still, Jesus instructs the bystanders to “take away the stone.”
And the gospel reports Martha’s very practical response:
“Lord, my brother was buried four days ago.
If you open the tomb, there will be a stench.”
A stench!
In those old paintings of the raising of Lazarus,
artists often depicted bystanders literally holding their noses,
or covering their mouths with hands or veils
as if nauseous and about to be sick.
The Resurrection of Lazarus by Giotto (and see here, too)
The evangelist and artists want to make sure
we know that Lazarus is truly dead:
that what Jesus is doing here
is not simply waking someone from a deep sleep or a coma.
No.
Jesus is messing with death.
And it smells bad.
Jesus had already given sight to the blind,
hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute,
strong limbs to the lame and clean skin to the leprous
but this is something altogether different:
Jesus has the power to give life to the dead.
He has power over what stinks in our lives and in the world.
He has power over what makes us sick to our stomachs.
He has power over the stench that rises from death inflicted
by acts of terrorism, by acts of war,
by acts of abuse and prejudice.
And Jesus has power over whatever entombs
and holds us bound.
He has power of the impossible and the unresolvable.
We are thousands of miles away from Bethany
and some 2,000 years away from this scene in the gospel
but the Lord is as close to us
as he was to Martha and Mary and Lazarus
in their time of grief and loss.
He wants to roll back the stones that keep us entombed,
and to untie the bonds that keep us down:
he wants us to live.
Lent is a time for us to open ourselves
to the love Jesus has for us.
As Lazarus and Mary and Martha were his close friends then,
so are we his beloved now.
As Jesus wept for Lazarus,
so does he weep for us.
So much does he love us that he gave his life for us
that we might live.
The life he promises
is the life we share at this table,
at the altar of Eucharist.
The One who has power over death
invites us to share in the sacrament
which is his life among us.
-ConcordPastor
I went to mass this weekend, having preread the readings and all of the reflections on them from the links you provide here in the blog. Nothing seemed to move me. I understood the raising of Lazarus as a sign of Jesus' coming victory over death but only on an intellectual level only.
ReplyDeleteThen I read your homily. I opened the blog and read it when I had just discovered evidence of an ongoing problem with one of my children. The situation 'stinks'.
Which is why your homily finally brought home to me the real power of Jesus. Thank you for your words of hope. I will reread them often.
Praise God, anonymous, for the mysterious ways in which God mixes the Word and words and images in the imagination and heart of a preacher such that someone listening or reading finds comfort, challenge and hope.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why Martha and Mary would be so happy to have Lazarus come out of the tomb back to life. I cannot understand why people would want to exhume Padre Pio. Is there a good explanation?
ReplyDeleteI was at a Mass this week-end where you did not preach, so I was anxious to read your homily...as ususal, it did not disappoint and helped to shed a new light on scripture that is so familar...
ReplyDeleteWhy is it we have such difficulty allowing the Lord to "roll back the stones that keep us entombed". It is just so hard to surrender...
We attended a Mass where you didn't give the homily, and my kids had some complaints about the sermon. I turned it around on them and asked them what they would have said, and that led to a wonderful discussion on the reading that lasted much, much longer than any homily. We all got a change to 'preach' to that reading, and it was a real learning experience for all of us.
ReplyDelete