5th Sunday of Lent

Today’s gospel begins by relating that a certain man, Lazarus, was ill.  Jesus is sent word of his illness – because of his deep friendship with the man and his two sisters Mary and Martha – yet he stays on another two days where he is.  When he does deem it time to head out for Bethany we are told that his disciples caution him against it saying, “Rabbi, the people there were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”  But his mind was firm…they would return to Bethany.  Here the courageous apostle Thomas says, “Let us go and die with him” – hardly a doubting Thomas he encouraged them to put all their trust in Jesus.  Jesus explains that Lazarus has died and that they are going to go to him.  John the evangelist points out that by the time Jesus arrived Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.  By indicating four days John makes it abundantly clear that Lazarus was indeed dead.  Shortly before arriving at the village Jesus is met by Martha who tells him “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.”  Jesus tells her, “your brother will rise again” and he says “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, even though they die, will live.”  Then he asks her, “Do you believe this?”  She replies, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.”  After meeting Mary, Martha’s sister, Jesus begins to weep and is ‘greatly disturbed’.  Some even question, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”  Then Jesus came to the tomb itself.  “Take away the stone” he commands.  Martha protests, “Lord, already there is a stench because it has been four days.”  But Jesus was resolute, after praying to the Father Jesus faced the dark tomb and called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  And the dead man came out still wrapped in burial clothes.  And Jesus said, “Unbind him and let him go.”

When Jesus said those words, “Lazarus, come out!” it was both a literal command and a higher calling.  On the level of literal command Jesus’ words meant simply ‘come out from the tomb’, but they also had a secondary significance.  The word used for the command is unusual and is used only in one other place in Scripture, where Jesus invites (indeed commands) the rich young man to ‘follow me’.  Thus when Jesus calls to Lazarus into the dark of the dreary tomb he not only calls him in body but calls him to follow him in discipleship and conversion.  This fifth Sunday of Lent can we not see ourselves in that tomb – a place of darkness and lack of life – and can we hear Jesus voice calling out to us, calling us to leave that dark place of sin behind and to come follow him?  We are to hear his voice above the crowd speaking to us from beyond the grave of our poor choices as he seeks to, as the first reading indicates, open our graves and have us rise from them.

‘Lazarus, come out!’ invites us to hear the Scriptures speaking to us directly.  Sin in our lives is a type of bondage, a type of tomb, a type of death.  Jesus is standing at the tomb-like places in our life and in our society and beckoning us, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The places of darkness are often in areas of our own life, excesses, addictions, laziness, the coldness of heart that sometimes we allow to develop in us.  The places of darkness in our society, places where the loss of life happens as if by routine, at the Morgentaler clinic, among the homeless poor, those with mental health problems left to slip through the system, the lack of financial stability for so many.  These are the highways and byways where Jesus continues to stand marginalized and alone.  And we are to echo his voice so that others may live more decently – so that the most defenseless may live at all…for there are no rights at all when the fundamental right to life is undermined.     

“Lazarus, come out!”  These are words that are meant to cement our identity as Christ-followers, we are to come out of the shadows of our indifference and follow him, the Christ, the one who is the resurrection and the life.  Like Mary and Martha we are to lean into our faith when the going gets tough, when the losses stack up and threaten to overwhelm us.  When it seems we are a cog in a gigantic wheel and have no say in the right ordering of things.  When it appears the worst has happened we are to listen for that voice, ringing out in the midst of our tomb, ‘come out’ and believe…’come out’ and trust…’come out’ and pray…’come out’ and carry the cross which seems too much for you…for you are never alone and the one who beckons you is faithful, even when the most difficult is allowed to take place.  Do not give up hope.  Do not surrender hope.  It is then that He is calling you.  

3rd Sunday of Lent

Today’s gospel is rich in symbolism.  It begins in an unassuming way, Jesus came to a Samaritan city and, tired by his journey, was sitting by the well.  We should note that Jesus was tired – ‘a sign of his true humanity’ which can be seen as a prelude to his Passion (Benedict XVI).  Wells in the Old Testament times were traditionally places of encounter, almost like a courtship – a place of encounter between individuals who would later be married.  So here we have Jesus, tired out from his journey, sitting by this place of encounter.  He is thirsty, not just for water, but for faith.  This theme of thirst will come up again later in John’s gospel where Jesus will cry from the cross, “I thirst”.  While this thirst does have a physical component Jesus’ words go further and ‘imply a thirsting for the woman’s faith and for the faith all mankind (Pope Benedict XVI)’.  The woman’s curiosity is piqued – ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask me a Samaritan for a drink?’  The text tells us that Jews and Samaritans share nothing in common.  Jews and Samaritans in fact shared a common lineage up to a certain point in history, they are descendants from the same people – however, by the time of Christ, a long-standing divide existed between them.  Jesus goes on to talk of ‘living water’ – this ‘living water’ that he would give if he were to be asked.  Again the woman is cautious but interested in finding out more - ‘You have no bucket and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?’  Jesus does not directly answer her question but tells her that this water will become in the one who possesses it ‘a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’  Her response is simple: ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’ 

The water in the gospel story “clearly” refers to the sacrament of baptism, “the source of new life for the faith in the grace of God.” The water represents the Holy Spirit, the gift “par excellence” that Jesus brings to man from God the Father.

“Each one of us can take the place of the Samaritan woman. “Jesus waits for us, especially in this time of Lent, to speak with us. Let us pause for a moment in silence in our room, or in a church or in a secluded place.”

“Listen to his voice that tells us ‘If you knew the gift of God…’,”

He closed with the prayer: “May the Virgin Mary help us not to miss this event, on which depends our true happiness.”  -  Pope Benedict XVI

After this initial encounter – when the Samaritan woman says – give me this water Jesus asks her to call her husband.  She responds by saying, I have no husband.  Jesus responds, ‘You are right in saying ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband.  What you have said is true!’  The woman, rather than being scared away or accusing Jesus of judging her simply says, ‘Sir, I see you are a prophet.’  In other words, I see that you know the truth of my situation – you see into the disorder of my life clearly, without being told by another – you have spoken the truth to me.  She says to him, “I know the Messiah is coming” – when he comes he will also see into all truth.  Jesus says to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”  Without another word this woman of questionable reputation leaves her water jar and goes to spread the word about Jesus.  She leaves her water jar, that is, her old life, and pursues the new, telling others about Jesus, saying to them, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!  He cannot be the Messiah can he?”  Through her sharing many came to believe.  And then through that event many more came to believe because they asked Jesus to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.  Then they said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”  Here we see the grace of God’s spirit at work through Jesus – as his thirst is met with that of other thirsting souls – thirsting to know the truth, thirsting to be known, thirsting to be in the presence of God.  This is the grace given to us through our baptism and we pray that through our Lenten observance that our baptismal graces may once more be renewed.  That we, in a sense, might leave the water jar of our old life and pursue the new, telling others about Jesus.  We pray that this new water, which bubbles up to eternal life may come to rest within us by the gift of the Savior, who comes to console us in our moments of collapse and tiredness along the road of the cross.  As the second reading reminds us, “rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.  But God proves his love for us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”  Christ has not abandoned us along the road of our lives but rather He seeks us out, be it in the good or evil circumstances of our lives.  He is like the one sitting by the well, attempting to woo our love, attempting to wed us to himself and his Church.  Seeking to dialogue with us through the Scriptures, through the sacraments, through our everyday lives.    All too often we are like the people of the first reading who quarrel and test the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”  But the Lord understands even this.  Just know that He is reaching out to you today, through the grace of baptism, seeking to reawaken in you his deep love; deeper than the waters of any ocean and more mighty than the surging of the sea.   We, each one of us, are the woman at the well, and Jesus approaches us each time we gather at the Eucharist to infuse us with new life, to convict us to turn away from sin in our lives and to be faithful to the gospel.  As we continue our Lenten journey may we do so with a renewed sense of his concern and call to conversion in our lives.