Living Free in the Resurrection

Reflection for 5^th Sunday of Lent Year A

(Ezekiel 37:12-14; Rm 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45)

 Introduction

Death is the big loss! Burial ceremony is an important cultural identity, and a means by which we express our desire for life. The loss of grace and its resultant life of sin is the field in which death grows. The wages of sin is death (Rm 6:23). Life appears sweet and rosy till the cold hand of death surfaces. So we struggle to stay alive! The burden of death is the one yoke man cannot handle by himself. The more we grow in self-awareness that human life is calibrated, the more we deepen our knowledge of our activities and seek for better ways to survive. Let us know the shortness of our lives that we may gain wisdom of heart (Ps 90:12).

And all who have gained this wisdom reach out to God for solution just as the sisters of Lazarus sent message to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is ill.”

  

The Journey to the Grave

“Let us go back to Judea...Our friend Lazarus is at rest; I am going to wake him.” Lazarus must have felt the agony of human weakness as sickness ravaged his body. Seeing his body give way to lifelessness was painful for him and those around him. In wisdom they reached out to Jesus who alone has power to cure sickness, and prevent death. And that was where their faith reached. Man by himself cannot perceive a remedy to death except by revelation. However, Jesus did not show up! We could perceive their utmost disappointment that Jesus did not come to prevent the death of Lazarus. This was another agony for Lazarus and his sisters. The silence of God in the face of human suffering is a mystery beyond measure. It is like the closure of churches in the face of global pandemic!

But the Prophet Ezekiel in the first reading announced that God will raise his people from the grave. So the journey to the grave, with all its terror and pain, will end in futility. “And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.” The journey of Jesus to the grave of Lazarus was to fulfill this prophecy but through the grace of Jesus’ own journey to His grave. In his own journey to the grave, Jesus felt the pain, agony, the silence of God and the terror of death, just as Lazarus felt. It was in anticipation of His own journey that He stood with such authority before the grave of Lazarus!

“I am the Resurrection”

Martha, Mary and the disciples believed strongly that Jesus could have prevented the death of Lazarus. They believed in the resurrection, but as an event suspended and kept for another phase of existence. “I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.” That means till then, death remains the known finality. Then the prophecy of Ezekiel would remain hanging... That implies our present life will be overwhelmed by the fear of death. But Jesus introduces Himself in a new way to them as the remedy.

  

“I am the resurrection. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies, will live...” Thus, the resurrection is a person! He is alive and present. Jesus the Resurrection makes His life available for us to participate in through faith. The Resurrection is present. It is the life we share in Christ Jesus (cf. Phil 3:10). This faith dissolves the power of death and dispels the darkness of the grave.

“Unbind Him, let Him go Free”

Jesus answered Martha, “Have I not told you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” He gave thanks to God, and with a loud voice, called out Lazarus from the grave. As he came out Jesus said, “Unbind him, let him go free.” Death tries to hold us down with the bandage of fear. Whenever we live merely to escape death, or just to increase the number of our years, we simply exist within the confines that death marked for us. If our faith in Jesus remains only at the level where we see Him as the One who can prevent death and elongate our years, such faith will be weak and be filled with agony. Jesus has set us free by giving us opportunity to share today in His life of the Resurrection.

Therefore, St Paul enjoins us to live lives pleasing to God. That means we cannot allow the flesh or earthly desires to rule our lives. We should recognize the indwelling of the Spirit, which makes us belong to Christ Jesus. The Prophecy of Ezekiel is fulfilled, “And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.” Thus St Paul assures us, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Sunday 29^th March, 2020.

 SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that you are really here in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to feed on your flesh. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, feed my soul at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now as I do when I actually receive you. Never let me drift away from you. Amen.

----St Alphonsus Liguori