John, 11:…
36 So the Jews
said, “See how he loved him.”
37 But some of
them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done
something so that this man would not have died?”
… 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if
you believe you will see the glory of God?”41 So they took
away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I
thank you for hearing me. 42 I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you
sent me.” 43 And when he
had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and
his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him
go.” [Here the liturgical reading of the Gospel story ended.]
... The story continues...
45 Now many of
the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in
him. 46 But some of them went to the
Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened
the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many
signs. 48 If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,
and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.”
...My thoughts...
The world never
changes. Just about every time Jesus does something out of the ordinary,
someone has something bad to say about it. Every time a human being does
something good in our world, someone will find something negative about it. As
is very evident here, the raising of His great friend Lazarus did not produce
an exception to the divisiveness among the eye witnesses. Two ideas came
to me this morning during the proclamation of the Gospel story.
1. Why did the Church decide to cut the reading off before verse 45?
2. This is one moment in the Gospel when Jesus asks the
witnesses
to help the one being brought back to normal living. Every other time it
is the beneficiary alone who puts himself (herself) together and moves on.
I noticed this morning
that to a critical listener the picture of this miracle can cause some mental
static. It says that Lazarus comes out of the grave bound hand and
foot. Now, in the context, after having come out, people are asked to
remove his bonds. I asked myself, “So how did he come out in the first
place?” After a few short moments, I stopped being sarcastic and my heart
moved on to reflecting about the desire of Jesus to involve the witnesses in
the freeing of the newly revivified man.
My reflection revolved
around the mystery of God wanting us, His creatures, to help Him spread the
news of His love for us around the community. He wants us to be aware
that He is not here just for me, personally, but for me and all
those around me. He wants us to live in the awareness that not only do we
depend on Him to save us, personally, but we all have something to offer to
each other in the process of salvation. God, through His incarnate Word
is telling us that He expects us to collaborate with Him in helping fellow
members of His family, as well as ourselves, on the road to salvation. We
are all witnesses to the exit of Lazarus from the tomb. We are all
expected to help one another shed the bonds of eternal death. We do that
by keeping ourselves righteous in our relationship with Jesus so that we can
efficiently help our neighbor stay righteous and join us on the way.
Our Mother, Mary, when
she was talking to the two children before her at La Salette in France, said
very clearly, “If you do not submit I will be forced to let the arm of my Son
fall. I have been holding His arm back for so long. It keeps
getting heavier and heavier and if this continues I will have to let it go.”
In both cases, at the
tomb of Lazarus and at La Salette, the call for help doesn't require
outrageous heroics. All that is required is simple action. In both
cases all that we are being asked is common sense and polite living. At
the tomb, “unbind him.” At La Salette, “Pray well. Say one Our
Father and one Hail Mary every day. When you have time, say more.”
She could have said, “Do more” but she didn't. I say, “We
should.”
Now, if you have been
reading along carefully, you’re saying to yourself, “Hey, this dude didn't listen
to the homily.” Yeah, you’re right. I missed most of it. I
guess I slanted off into my own thoughts when the priest was explaining that
Jesus cried while He was being scolded for not having come sooner after getting
the news that Lazarus was not well. Could be, I guess. I like my
reflection better.
Now you know for sure that no one will have either the need or the inclination to cry at my funeral.
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