![]() ![]() But these are all signs of death, not signs of life. It is easier to blame ourselves, to hold on to our own guilt, than to accept the forgiveness of a loving and tender God. It is easier to hold on to broken and difficult relationships than to reach out to each other for healing in love. It is often easier to hold on to our bitterness and ill-feeling towards others than to swallow our pride and admit our failings. Maybe we have become so comfortable living in this dark space that we’re afraid to come out into the light and life-giving fresh air of God. We may see much goodness, life and light in our lives, perhaps we’ll also see parts of our behaviour where we have become strangely more comfortable in the stink and darkness of the tomb. This place was the embodiment of death from which there could be no escape.Īt this time of enforced isolation, we may reflect on our own lives. Not only would the stench of Lazarus’s decaying body have been present in the tomb, but no light would have penetrated the covering stone and the tomb would have been in total darkness. Furthermore, the Jews would have regarded Lazarus’s body as ritually unclean and not to be touched under any circumstances. For these reasons Martha warns Jesus not to have the covering stone removed. After four days his body would have started to decompose and the tomb, a cave in which Lazarus’s body had been laid, would have begun to smell horribly of the stench of death. What must it have been like in that tomb with Lazarus? On his death, Lazarus’s body would have been washed, wrapped in burial cloths and anointed with oils. Even more so as the Jewish understanding was that the soul lingered with the corpse for three days, until the body burst open, then it left the body. To the witnesses at Bethany, his raising was nothing short of miraculous. We do know he was in the tomb, dead, for four days. We don’t know the cause of Lazarus’s death. How does this story speak to us in our present circumstances? ‘Lazarus, come out!’ (11:43) Jesus tells the onlookers to unbind Lazarus and let him go free from the captivity of death. At Jesus’s word, still bound by his burial cloths, Lazarus comes out. On reaching Lazarus’s tomb, despite Martha’s protests that after four days the smell of Lazarus’s body will be overwhelming, Jesus commands the stone be removed and calls to Lazarus to come out of the tomb. Mary’s and the mourners’ reactions greatly distress Jesus he bursts into tears. Mary uses almost identical words to Martha, but there is no affirmation of faith in Jesus. She seems to rebuke him: ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’ (11:52). Hearing this, Mary and the mourners go to meet Jesus and, distraught with grief, Mary throws herself at Jesus’s feet, overcome by heartache and anger. Martha returns and tells Mary that Jesus is on his way. ![]() Mary is waiting at home with the mourners who have come to share her sorrow. When Jesus promises Lazarus will rise again, but makes no promise that it will be now rather than in the afterlife, Martha affirms her belief that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world’ (11:27). Yet she says, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died, but even now I know that God will grant whatever you ask of him’ (11:21). She rushes to meet him and tells Jesus that Lazarus has died and has been in the tomb four days. On his way Jesus is met by Martha who has heard that he is coming. When Jesus finally decides to go to Bethany, the disciples urge caution because it is near Jerusalem, where there is a danger to Jesus’s life. Despite the disciples’ urging, Jesus does not rush to his side, but waits two days before heading for Bethany, the home of Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. ![]() Jesus hears that his friend Lazarus is ill. How can it speak to us in our current situation? It is the story of Jesus’s gift of life to his friend Lazarus, which is a powerful reading at any time, writes Brian Purfield, but these are not ordinary times. On the fifth Sunday of Lent in Year A, we hear the third of the Lenten narratives from John’s Gospel that have been used for centuries in preparation for the reception of the newly baptised at the Easter Vigil. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |