Sunday of the Fifth Week of Lent A, Jn. 11:1-45
Brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the fifth Sunday of Lent.
The three readings today are centred on the life that God gives to all people. They reveal Jesus as the lord of life. The death of Lazarus, in the gospel of today, can be seen as a symbolic representation of the soul that has died from mortal sin. This is similar to the fact that leprosy, physical ailments and the like are also symbols of sin. For that reason, Jesus’ initial reactions reveal how we should respond to serious sin in our lives.
When Jesus faced the death of Lazarus, “he became perturbed and deeply troubled,”. He wept and cried out in a loud voice. Though Jesus was God, He freely chose to assume human nature. He chooses to experience human emotions and passion to teach us how we should react. Therefore, when we or our loved ones fall into grave sin, it must not be ignored.
Impenitence is a sin by which a person fails to have appropriate remorse for a sin and reacts to it in a dismissive and casual manner. This cannot be our reaction. Thus, let us begin by considering the great value of taking sin seriously, reacting to it with passion and emotion, and crying out to God for forgiveness.
When Jesus cried out, commanding Lazarus to come out of the tomb, Lazarus came forth but was still bound hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. This symbolizes the entire process of confession and the forgiveness of sins. First, no person is capable of confessing their sins by their own effort. It must be that they are moved by grace and the command of Jesus to come forth to show themselves in their bound state to God.
Hence, the obedience of Lazarus to Jesus’ command symbolizes the Christian’s response to God’s call to repentance. When Jesus said: “Untie him and let him go,” this symbolizes the unmerited effect of the Sacrament of Confession and the power it has to release a person not only from their sins but also from the ongoing effects of those sins.
Jesus is not just a human being, but the Son of God who came to the world to spread the Good News of love, mercy, peace and joy. But the question is: Do we have the same strong faith as Martha, Mary, and Lazarus do? Or is our faith filled with doubts?
Therefore, Jesus says to us today and always: “Take away the stone”. By that, He means the stone of sorrow and misery through the death of a loved one, through adversity and misfortune, through weakness and powerlessness, through pains and sickness, through corona virus pandemic and the misuse of power by the politician against the citizens, through the victimization of the less privilege, the orphans and poor ones in our society, through natural disasters and wars, for example in Ukraine, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Nigeria and Africa in general.
However, the stone of selfishness, of self-interest, of indifference, of jealousy, envy and hatred must also be taken away from our lives, and from our relationship with God and humanity. So many stones that with their gravity crush Jesus’ message of love, mercy, peace and joy in us and in the world must be taken away too.
Brothers and sisters, “Untie him and let him go,” says Jesus when He raised Lazarus from the dead. He also wants to release us from the death of our weak faith and commitment to live according to His words and deeds of love, mercy, peace and joy. Therefore, it should be our strength to go with Jesus in all situations of life, and in whatever happens to us.
So let us go with Jesus in all our actions and thoughts.
Let us go to Easter with Jesus, to the resurrection of love, mercy, peace and joy for ourselves and all our fellow human beings.
Let us reflect, today, upon the rich symbolism found in the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
Let us listen to the passionate voice of Jesus who calls us to “Come out”.
What sin is Jesus calling you to be free from? Identify that sin and repent of it with the same passion that Jesus exhibits.
Jesus desires that you be completely unbound and set free. Be open to that grace and do all you can to accept it.
Jesus, you command us, in love, to come forth from all sin. Free us from all that binds us so that we will be set firmly on the glorious road of virtue that leads to eternal joy, Amen.
“YOU ARE THE LIGHT”.