Fifth Sunday of Lent

Today's Readings

THE STORY OF THE RAISING OF LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD IS UNIQUE TO JOHN’S GOSPEL.

ALL WE KNOW ABOUT LAZARUS IS TOLD US BY JOHN, AND HE SUPPLIES US ONLY WITH THE BAREST INFORMATION.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CURIOUS AS TO WHAT LAZARUS EXPERIENCED DURING THOSE FEW DAYS WHEN HE WAS DEAD?

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO DIE? WHAT DID HE FEEL OR SEE OR HEAR?

DID HE GET A GLIMPSE OF HIS LOVED ONE WHO HAD ALREADY DIED?

UNDERSTANDEABLE QUESTIONS, BUT ST. JOHN HAS THIS STORY AT A STRATEGIC PLACE IN THE GOSPEL. IT IS THE FINAL AND MOST NOTABLE OF THE MIRACLES OF SIGNS, WROUGHT BY JESUS.

LAZARUS’S STORY IS CLEARLY INTENDED TO BE READ AND UNDERSTOOD IN THE LIGHT OF JESUS’ OWN RESURRECTION.

THERE’S SOMETHING OF A RELUCTANCE TODAY TO TALK MUCH ABOUT LIFE BEYOND DEATH.

PERHAPS THERE IS AN UNDERSTANDEABLE RELUCTANCE TO USE THE “PIE IN THE SKY WHEN YOU GO TO HEAVEN” TRADITION, THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO CONSOLE MEN AND WOMEN WHO WERE TRAPPED IN ABJECT AND MISERABLE LIVES.

BUT THIS “CONSOLATION” OF A BETTER LIFE IN THE NEXT WORLD, SEEMS TO CONSIDER HUMAN LIFE, AND THE CONDITIONS IN WHICH IT SHOULD BE LIVED BY ALL, TO BE CHEAPENED AND DEGRADED.

OF COURSE THERE IS THE MORE PREVALENT BELIEF TODAY THAN IN THE PAST, THAT THIS LIFE IS ALL WE HAVE AND THAT WHEN WE DIE, THAT IS OUR FINAL EXIT. AS BUGS BUNNY SAYS, “THAT’S ALL FOLKS.”

SOME MIGHT SAY SUCH A BELIEF IS NOT WITHOUT ITS VIRTUE, BUT IT FALLS SHORT OF CHRISTIAN CONVICTION, IN ITS SENSE OF THE INFINITE VALUE WE PLACE UPON HUMANITY, THE DEEP MYSTERY WE FIND IN LIFE, AND THE ELEMENT OF TRANSCENDENCE WE SENSE IN OUR BEING.

CAN WE EVER TRULY STATE, “MY LIFE IS COMPLETE, FULL, PERFECTED.”

DO WE NOT, SENSE AN INCOMPLETENESS, AND INDEED INCOMPLETABIITY OF OUR LIVES?

POETS HAVE WRITTEN OF THE DEEPEST HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS NOT HAVING ENOUGH TIME.

THINK OF COUPLES WHO HAVE, AFTER 50, 60 OR 70 YEARS TOGETHER, REMARKED THAT WASN’T SUFFICIENT TIME FOR THEIR RELATIONSHIPS.

SO, IMAGINE OUR RELATIONSHIP AND TIME WITH GOD.

CAN WE EVER POSSIBLY THINK OUR TIME HERE IS EVERY COMPLETE, FULL OR SAITISFYING?

WE “SEE THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY.”

WE DO HAVE THE HOPE OF FULL FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD, BEGUN NOW BUT TO BE COMPLETED IN THE FULLNESS OF GOD’S TIME.

Father Richard Long

Catholic Chaplain and Professor

Brooklyn College