Fifth Sunday of Lent

Fifth Sunday of Lent

John 11: 1-45

Each time I read John 11, I go into my own tomb.  Mary and Martha lose their only brother to death.  So did I.  In the 1980’s we were in another health crisis, with some panic then as well.  HIV/AIDS was new and scary and we knew little about it.  My brother, my only sibling, had received a contaminated blood transfusion and the disease took him from us five months after diagnosis.  I held him in my arms as he died crying out the same words as these sisters, “ Lord if you had been here he would not have died.”

The shortest words of Jesus in all of scripture are found in this gospel. And Jesus wept.  We tend often times to forget of the true humanity of Jesus. I imagine he cried many times.  Jesus felt sadness and had great compassion, the human side of him deeply affected.  We read it time and time again throughout the gospels.  In these last three weeks, in these “signs” that John writes about, there is a single purpose; the revelation of God’s glory.  This raising of Lazarus wasn’t just for the benefit of Mary and Martha.  This was to show everyone who he was, the son of the living God and that he walked among them.

During these changing days amid this world crisis we need to hold close to our hearts that Jesus continues to walk among us.  Psalm 91 reminds us we need not live in fear.  He is here; he is with us.  It is a time to stay safe, but also a time to reach out. 

I was in a great depression after my brother, Ray, died.  “Out of the depths” I cried out to God.  But, just like Lazarus, Jesus didn’t rush to me.  He allowed my healing to come about through his spirit in others; eventually pulling me out of “my tomb” to offer my own compassion to those suffering.   I believe in these next months we are all going to cry out in some way as Mary and Martha did, but our response needs to be about coming to life for each other.