Do You Believe This?

 

5^th Sunday of Lent

Cycle A

This is one of the most emotional gospel passages. We can feel the anguish and confusion in Martha and Mary’s exclamations, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” “Where were you, Jesus, when we needed you the most? We thought you loved Lazarus, and us. Don’t you know that with our brother gone we have lost everything? You were there for the blind man and for so many strangers, why not us? We thought we were special to you. We have been faithful to you when others have fallen away. We love you so deeply, why have you abandoned us?” Everyone around them was weeping. Jesus was weeping. It says he was perturbed, deeply disturbed. This wasn’t just a random scene that Jesus came upon. This was a planned event. Jesus knew that they needed him, yet he chose to delay in order to what, make a point?

 

It can seem like that sometimes, can’t it? So many times in our lives we feel that our prayers are not answered, that God is far from us. Where is he when we call out to him in our distress? Why does he delay? It seems that the darker our suffering the further he can be from us. Why doesn’t he do something? I know that he can. I know that he loves me. Why doesn’t he show it? He told us to ask and we shall receive, to be persistent in our prayers. Where is the answer? So many times, it doesn’t make sense to us.

 

But there is always an answer, and it is simply, trust me. You do not see the entire picture yet. Trust me. I know it is painful. It is painful to me, too. Trust me. We will never really know the reasons behind God’s actions. After all, he’s God and we’re not. And he doesn’t act on our timeline or desires. But like Martha and Mary, because we believe we are willing to accept what is and our own limitations of understanding, even when it’s hard, even in the face of death. It may not make sense, Lord, but even then, I accept it because I have that ultimate belief in who you are and what you have promised me. This pain will end, and I will rise.

 

 “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?”

 

Each and every one of us will be faced with that ultimate question of our belief. Either it will be when someone we love is suffering, or at the end of our own lives. How will you answer? “I don’t know” is not an answer. It’s not what you know, it’s what you believe. Do you believe in eternal life and that Jesus is the way to obtain it?

 

This is really what it’s all about. It is the core question of our existence. This is why we are Christians. Christianity is not just a way of living; it is our hope. It is the hope in the resurrection that guides us and drives us. It is what gives us our true purpose in life. If this life here on earth were all there is, why bother? If all we have is the struggle and suffering of this world and then eternal oblivion, why would we ever strive to be better, to love one another, to change things? The belief in eternal life is deeply embedded in each human being because we are created in the image and likeness of the eternal God. It’s the most natural belief in the world.

 

I mean, can you imagine what chaos the world would be in if no one believed in eternal life? If no one had come to show us the way and to give proof that there is more than just this life alone? You think it is bad now, there would be no order, no self-control. Everyone would just be in it for themselves, living for pleasure and power.

 

But that’s just one aspect of it. Can you imagine the despair that the world would be plunged into if there were not this hope that ultimately goodness, peace and justice awaits us? How could you live with yourself if there was never any hope of redemption, of forgiveness? Jesus death on the cross redeemed us and gave us the possibility of heaven. His resurrection showed us what that heaven would be. We see too truly the results of sin. It’s one thing to know our sins are forgiven, it’s another to see the result of that forgiveness.

 

“I am the resurrection and the life.” Life is the core of our faith, of who we are as human beings, because we were made to live, and to live fully. Do you ever ponder what’s at stake here? Do you see the hope in those words?

 

And it is not a false hope. God himself deigned to take on our life, to become man, not because he needed or wanted to experience humanity, but because he wanted us to experience divinity. He wanted to show us the reality of life, life here on earth and in heaven. And it is that reality that can help us accept the temporary pain and suffering we experience so often here. But even more, he wants us to fully experience the joy and love and peace and justice that is also a part of life.

 

This morning we will be calling forth our elect and candidates for the third scrutiny. The past two weeks and today we have heard in the gospels

three stories with the common theme of calling forth. Jesus asks those who he encounters to do something for him. “Give me a drink”. “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam”. “Lazarus, come forth”. All of our elect and candidates have expressed the feeling that are here because they have been called. Something you cannot fully express has drawn you to the Catholic Church. Over the past several months you have seen that seed grow into fuller understanding, and I think you now have a clearer idea of why you were called. You are called to the waters, your eyes have been opened, and you have hope in Jesus as the resurrection and the life.

 

Jesus knew Lazarus. The woman at the well was never named, nor was the man born blind. Lazarus was named. As are his sisters, Martha and Mary. Why is that? Because for Jesus it was personal. These were not some anonymous people who he met along the way. Martha and Mary asked Jesus to come. Jesus loved this family very much. He knew them by name. That’s important, because when we can put a name to someone they become familiar to us, more important to us.

 

You are also loved very much by Jesus. He knows your name. He knew it before you were even created. He has carved it into the palm of his hand. For Jesus, it’s personal. Your life is personal to him. He weeps over your pain and rejoices over your successes. And like Lazarus, he has called you forth to new life. He unbinds you and sets you free.