Today at Holy Trinity, at the 11:00 mass, we reflect upon the 3rd Scrutiny reading, the resurrection of Lazarus. You can read about this on the Lent tab of this site. Suffice it to say that the resurrection of Lazarus was for those present, and for us present today, a powerful witness to the promises of Christ Jesus. Jesus taught us that through Him we would be resurrected into new life. Calling Lazarus into life from death (four days in the tomb, he was) was a powerful way to teach that lesson. The resurrection of Lazarus was a preview of what would happen to Jesus, and what would happen to each of us too. Twice Jesus proved to us that the earthly life we live is not the end of our existence.
Whether you reflect upon the Scrutiny or on the Gospel of John 12:20-33 Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24) you are reflecting upon the same thing: Dying to this life to be born again into new life in Christ Jesus.
“In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
Jesus suffered greatly in the garden at Gethsemane. How would you suffer knowing that pain and death was in your immediate future? How would it change your suffering to know that through your suffering millions of souls would be saved and brought to eternal life with the Father? Could you love and trust the Father as Jesus did? Jesus prayed to the Father in great pain and, yes, fear. He prayed that the Father take from him what was meant for him to endure. When we witness this great suffering we empathize with Jesus and we wish he could be spared the agony he will endure. Sometimes we go so far as to wish we could step in and take it upon ourselves to spare Him. Jesus does not turn away from the cross, he instead turns that suffering into the glorification of God the Father,
"I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
'Father, save me from this hour?'
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name."
Then a voice came from heaven,
"I have glorified it and will glorify it again."
The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder;
but others said, "An angel has spoken to him."
Jesus answered and said,
"This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.
Now is the time of judgment on this world;
now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw everyone to myself."
When we are charged, in the Gospel, to hate this life on earth and instead follow Jesus it is a lot to comprehend and we cannot imagine ourselves without our careers, our money, our home, our cars, our food and clothes, etc. We must work, right? We must have a house, right? We must have food and clothes, right? The disciples were called right out of their fishing boats, “…Come, follow me. I will make you fishers of men.” and they dropped their nets and followed Jesus. There is no account of them finding someone to take their place, to run their business, to pack provisions for the road ahead wherever that might take them. They walked out of their earthly lives and into a new life with Christ Jesus. What would have happened if they had refused?
Remember the rich man who asked Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” This man was pretty confident in his morality, in that he kept the commandments and was, generally speaking, a good person. Jesus saw where the man was weak: his material wealth. Was this man’s earthly wealth more important to him than God? And so Jesus told him he must sell all his possessions and follow Jesus. Jesus promised him great treasure in heaven if he did so but the man was very sad at the choice he must make and chose to keep his worldly wealth, bowed his head in sadness and walked away. He could not bear to be separated from his money, that was his weakness and his sin.
Choosing to follow Jesus does not automatically make us perfect persons. Reading the Gospel accounts of the disciples should verify that truth! They made lots of mistakes and presented some rather selfish, and yes even sinful, attitudes at times and, in my armchair quarterback opinion, a denseness that is amazing as well! Well, they didn’t have the benefit of the whole story in front of them to see how it all turned out, did they? They had every reason to doubt, to misunderstand, to make mistakes they didn’t realize were mistakes. They were learning through “on the job training” if you will. We have the benefit of their hard learned wisdom and understanding. We know in advance what our reward will be should we choose to give up everything so that we can follow Christ Jesus. But it isn’t any easier, in fact it seems to be much harder for us than it was for the disciples. Perhaps the physical presence of the Son of Man, living a human life, made that difference…I don’t know….but I think our strong dependence on the material wealth of this world, on prestige, our confidence in our own abilities and our independent, prideful and self centered attitude has most to do with our inability to throw it all in for Jesus.
The Psalms for this Sunday are:
For Scrutiny Reading;
Psalm 130: With The Lord There Is Mercy
For 5th Sunday of Lent:
Psalm 51: Create In Me