Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 9, 2008 - Year: A
Ezek. 37:12-4; Rom. 8:8-11; Jn. 11:1-45
Those who believe in me, will live.

First Reading...
"Thus says the Lord God: 'I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,' says the Lord." [Ezek. 37:12-14]

Second Reading...
"Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you." [Rom. 8:8-11]

Gospel Reading...
"Now a certain man, Lazarus, was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, 'Lord, he whom you love is ill.'

But when Jesus heard this, he said, 'This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.' Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this Jesus said to the disciples, 'Let us go to Judea again.' The disciples said to him, 'Rabbi, the people there were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?' Jesus answered, 'Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.'

After saying this, he told them, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.' The disciples said to him, 'Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.' Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.'

Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go, that we may die with him.' When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.' When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, 'The Teacher is here and is calling for you.'

And when Mary heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. Jesus said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to him, 'Lord, come and see.' Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, 'See how he loved him!'

But some of them said, 'Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?' Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, 'Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.' Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' So they took away the stone.

And Jesus looked upward and said, 'Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.' When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him." [Jn. 11:1-45]

D.L. Moody was often heard to say during the closing days of his life, “Some fine morning, you will read in the newspapers that D.L. Moody is dead. But do not believe it, for I shall be more alive that morning than ever before!” If you have Christ in your life as your personal Saviour, you will be like D.L. Moody. If you do not know Christ, all you have to look forward to is fear and despair.

A STRANGE RESPONSE TO DEATH: John 11:1-16
Here is the scene, the picture: Lazarus died in the town of Bethany, which is a village just east of Jerusalem. Jesus was not there, but was over in the town of Perea, which is over on the other side of the Jordan River, quite a long distance away. Perea is near where John the Baptist ministered (John 10:40-42). It is a long, hot, and dusty walk from there to where Lazarus died.

THE PURPOSE OF JESUS: John 11:1-4.
When Jesus heard the news that his friend was sick, his response was very unusual. Jesus said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God.” That answer sounds cold and harsh, and not at all sympathetic. How could God get glory from Lazarus being sick? Here are several possible answers to this:

1. THE MIRACLE WOULD GLORIFY GOD.
Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead and that people would glorify God when it happened since only God can raise the dead.

2. LAZARUS WOULD GLORIFY GOD.
There are no words of Lazarus recorded in the Bible, but his whole life was a message after his resurrection. In fact, after he was brought back to life by Jesus we find the chief priests plotting to kill Jesus because so many Jews became believers in Jesus on account of Lazarus (John 12:10-11). Lazarus was a walking advertisement, a walking sign, that Jesus is God. When the established religion feels threatened, they believe they must kill the new religion...even when the established religion is a false religion.

3. THE DISCIPLES WOULD GLORIFY GOD: John 11:14-15.
Jesus told his disciples that he was glad he had not been present when Lazarus died. Jesus said this so they would get a chance to witness the resurrection and increase their own faith. Jesus let his disciples go through difficult things in order to stretch and build their faith.

Donald Gray Barnhouse once wrote, “I believe that God does this with everyone, with all of us all the time.”

To teach us to trust Him, God puts us in a difficult spot. When God wants us to trust Him greatly, He puts us in an impossible spot. Think about that!

4. THE FRIENDS OF LAZARUS WOULD GLORIFY GOD: John 1:19.
Many of Mary and Martha’s friends came to console them in the loss of their brother. So Jesus knew that there would be a large number of people witnessing the miracle and that they would bring glory to God - and that many of them would be drawn to Jesus as a result of what they saw. Lives are often changed through the experience of another person’s death, and Jesus knew that would happen here.

5. THE CROSS WOULD GLORIFY GOD: John 17:1 and 17:5.
In John 17:1 and 17:5, Jesus referred to the cross as His “Glorification”. Just days after Lazarus’ death and resurrection came His own death and resurrection. Jesus knew that what He was about to do for Lazarus would cause the Pharisees to put Him to death. His death would ultimately bring salvation to the world, and so in an indirect way, Lazarus’ death leads to God’s glory, by leading to the death of Christ.

6. THE DELAY OF JESUS: John 11:5-6.
Jesus started by saying something unusual to the disciples and then continued by doing something unusual when he postponed His visit to see about his friend Lazarus’ condition. John says that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, yet he stayed two more days in Perea without going to Bethany. No priest friend today would be able to get away with that!

When there is a crisis and the priest is called to offer support, there is no way he could wait two days and then show up at the hospital. Yet somehow Jesus did not go to be with his friend, even though Jesus loved Lazarus and the family.

The reason, of course, was that Jesus knew what He was going to do when He did arrive. By postponing an immediate answer to their need of the family, Jesus was able to arrange an even greater demonstration of His love.

Think about this: Sometimes the love of God is delayed for our own ultimate benefit. First, delays in expressions of God’s love can allow time for us to think things through more clearly. For example, we have asked God for something and the answer is delayed. Then we have time to reflect on the situation and by doing this we can gain more understanding and a more clear way to proceed.

Second, delays can help confirm our faith. It is easy to trust the Lord when we have everything we need. But when God’s answer is delayed it causes our faith to be stretched - and that is a good thing.

Someone wrote this:

We need to interpret circumstances by the love of Christ,

And not interpret the love of Christ by circumstances.

The Jews in the time of Jesus had a tradition, a belief that at death a person’s spirit remained close to the body for two days; after that it left. Jesus may have been allowing that two-day period to pass so there would be no question about Lazarus’ death. There is no Biblical support for that belief, of course. But perhaps Jesus did not want superstition or tradition to get in the way of what He was planning to do.

7. THE PRONOUNCEMENT OF JESUS: John 11:7-16.
Another strange turn of events happened when Jesus tries to explain it to the disciples. He says, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” The disciples were worried about Jesus going near Jerusalem since the Jews wanted to persecute Him.

They thought Lazarus would be fine by himself if he was just sleeping, so why risk a confrontation with the Jews? But then, after a discussion, Jesus puts it to them plainly: “Lazarus is dead.” He wanted the disciples to see the resurrection (verse 15) so off the Bethany they went.

A SORROWFUL RESPONSE TO DEATH: John 11:17-37
In the middle section of this story, we see Jesus’ strange response to death replaced by a sorrowful response.

THE SORROW OF THE SISTERS: John 11:17-32.
Mary and Martha have very different personalities, and you can see that here as well as in Luke 10:38-42. Mary is relaxed, Martha is consumed with concern. She is nervous about everything. Martha accuses Jesus of letting Lazarus die needlessly - she says that if Jesus had come earlier He could have healed him before he died. But Jesus tells her that Lazarus will live. Martha then goes to call Mary, who has been waiting in their house. When Mary came to where Jesus was, she said the same thing Martha did - that Lazarus would not have died if Jesus had come sooner. Mary is sounding like Martha, and Martha is sounding like Mary. The two sisters were consumed with grief, and they are very upset and confused as to why Jesus had not come sooner to care for their brother. They say that Jesus has let them down. Many people today say the same thing...That they called on Jesus but He did not do things the way they wanted Him to, so they were no longer going to believe in Him ...You have probably talked to people like that. As Mary and Martha said, and as many people today say, there would be no grief if Jesus would just come when I call Him. He should do what I tell Him to do.

THE SORROW OF THE SAVIOR: John 11:33-37.
Now, the next thing that follows right after the sister’s grief, is a scene that can touch our hearts in a special way. What is it? Well, it is the sorrow of the Saviour. Jesus experienced sorrow, which is a very human feeling. One translation says that Jesus “groaned in the spirit”. This means He was deeply troubled. He was agitated, which is to say he shook with emotion. This is a picture of Jesus feeling intensely sorrowful because of the grief of Lazarus’ family and friends. It was their grief that prompted His own.

And verse 35 shows in the most direct way possible the sorrow Jesus felt over the whole situation: “Jesus wept”. Literally, the test implies that Jesus burst into tears. He identified with the loss of His friends and their extended family. The New Testament says we are to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15), and bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). Suffering of our own helps us identify with the suffering of others, which is another reason not to resist the troubles God brings into your life.

Jesus is called “the suffering Servant” because He had a heart easily broken by the needs of other people.

A SUPERNATURAL RESPONSE TO DEATH: John 11:38-46
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus displayed both that He was human and that He was God. His humanity was show in His having the same emotion that His friends had. But He does some more human things. You see, He does things that any human could do, right up to the time He gets to the point where human power stopped. Jesus approaches the scene like you or I would. First, He tells the bystanders to take away the stone covering the tomb. Could He have moved it with a wave of His hand? Yes, but He did not. He does the same thing when He instructs those standing by to take the grave clothes off of Lazarus. Could He have raised Lazarus right through the grave clothes? Yes, but He didn’t. You see, Jesus’ miracles are never flashy or showy. They are always easy for us to understand.

In this Gospel, we learn that Jesus does not do for us what we can do for ourselves, but He does do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

So let us look for a moment at Martha, who is always the person who is concerned with details. Martha steps in to warn Jesus that there will be a stink if they take away the stone. She tells Jesus that Lazarus has been dead for four days. How often do we give God advice about things which He has exhaustive knowledge about? If we would just obey Him it would demonstrate greater faith than when we remind Him of this or that.

Martha has no idea what Jesus is doing. She probably thought Jesus just wanted to see His friend Lazarus one last time. In that sense, warning Him about the smell and condition of the body makes some sense. But she should have known by this time to trust Jesus and wait to see what He had in mind. Especially since Jesus tells her it is the glory of God that is about to be revealed (Verse 40). In any event, Jesus tells the people to move the stone and they did.

Next, Jesus stands before the opened tomb and called Lazarus from death back to life: “Lazarus come out”. And the once-dead friend of Jesus walked out of the tomb. Some Bible scholars say that if Jesus had not mentioned Lazarus by name, ALL the people in the tomb would have come out!

This was a very great miracle - the miracle of resurrection. WE know that in the time of Lazarus, dead people were “mummified”. That means that he was wrapped in strips of linen cloth all around his body, with embalming spices being enclosed within the wraps of the cloth. The body would be placed in the tomb on a shelf along with others buried in the same tomb. Lazarus would not even be able to see since his head was also covered with cloth wrapping. He somehow made it outside of the tomb still wrapped in the grave clothes - at this point Jesus gave instructions to unwrap him and “let him go”.

Someone once said two of the greatest things God gives Christians to do are:

1. To remove the stones from in front of the grave, and
2. To remove the grave clothes from those resurrected from death to new life.

Removing the stones is a symbolic way of saying to remove the obstacles to a person’s faith. For example, answering their questions, being their friend, and in all ways smoothing their path to Jesus.

And removing the grave clothes is helping that person; our friend or our family-member; to take off their old person and put on the new. God gives the new life, but our part is to help them as they move from spiritual death to spiritual life.

So now, before closing our homily on the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection, we need to look again at the part of this miracle that spans the centuries to our time today. This message is as valuable to us today as it was to those people standing right there and who saw Lazarus walk out of the grave. In verses 25 and 26, Jesus said:

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though they die like everyone else, will live again. They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish. Do you believe this?

Jesus originally asked that question to Martha. But right now, He is asking you the same question. This is the most important question in the Bible. It is the most important question you will ever be asked. It is true that we will die a physical death, but Jesus is talking about spiritual life and death. You will die physically, but if you believe in Jesus you will never die spiritually. You will live forever in heaven with Jesus.

If you have read this story and you want to live forever, then right now ask Jesus to come into your life; tell Him that you have sinned, and are sorry for your sins. In the best way you know how, ask Jesus to come into your life and give you the free gift of eternal life.

The miracle that will happen in your life is the greatest miracle of all...you will move from death to life, and you will be “born again” into eternal life with God. If you have never trusted Jesus, you can do it today.

Today's Gospel reading sends out two messages to those who hear it. First of all, through our living faith in Jesus, all our physical bodies will be raised in the final resurrection. Secondly, especially now with the approaching of Easter Sunday, we are called to symbolically resurrect from sin to grace by partaking in the Sacrament of Confession to cleanse our souls so they may be pleasing to God, now and forever. Therefore, let us march forward faithfully in our blessed hope, knowing that those who believe in Jesus, will live.

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