Homily

Sunday, March 9, 2008, Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A
Assumption Grotto Parish, Detroit

He Loved Him, Yet He Did Not Spare Him

     And so Jesus let Lazarus die. Similarly did the Eternal Father let Jesus die on the cross. In this way, God lets the flood of the miseries of the fallen world overwhelm us; for in the end he will always, always triumph. Today’s reading (Jn 11:1-45) gives hope when all else is lost, especially regarding the loss of sin.

     Every passage of scripture has four general “levels” of interpretation (1) : the literal words of the text, what these words mean about Christ, what these words have to do with the soul baptized in Christ, and what these words reveal about the last things; or again, we may consider the literal, Christological, moral and eschatological significance of every text of scripture.

     Literally, here Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead; and of the four Gospels, we hold as a dogma of faith, that they truthfully narrate what Christ did and said.

     Christologically, we see Lazarus as a type, a paradigm, a pattern for Christ himself. The Lord wept in Gethsemane, so the Lord wept for Lazarus. The Lord got up to raise him on the third day (cf. v. 6), as was the Lord himself, and always by the Eternal Father’s will. Lazarus found his head covered when he rose, as did the Savior; as the Lord is the Head of the Church, his glory is hidden, veiled from us now. And other such considerations could be made, always returning to the passion of the Lord.

     But today I wish mostly to stress the moral interpretation, also called tropological. Let us put ourselves in the place of Lazarus, and make ourselves subject to the word of Christ, and then see what happens.

     The first thing that impresses us is that the Lord actually let Lazarus die. He did nothing to prevent him. It would almost seem cruel for the one who could even heal a man blind from birth to just sit there and do nothing while is friend was dying. Didn’t he love him? Didn’t he cherish him? Had he not a special, deep and chaste love for his two sisters, even after the one named Mary anointed his feet and dried them with her hair, she whom he saved from a life of sin?

     Lazarus was truly dead, and his sisters wept. Death was never intended by God, but was brought into the world by the envy of Satan. The whole neighborhood gathered to weep. For the family and the people Israel, death was truly the end. What came after death was a mystery to them, for the Lord Jesus had not yet revealed the mysteries of judgment, heaven, hell and purgatory. Israel still did not know heaven, for the Savior had not yet redeemed his people. Mary and Martha would never again receive him should he return home, nor find him there should they come back from an errand. They would never see the shine in his eyes, radiating with goodness; nor would they hear the tone of his voice, or timbre of his laugh. He was dead, and his flesh was destined for rotting in the tomb. What an abomination, that a man should rot like carrion! What an abomination, death, which Satan brought into the world! Who could save us from death? And so they wept.

     Then we see that, after Jesus himself also wept – God weeping over the death and loss of men, so great is his pity and his mercy! – he brushed aside death as man might brush aside dust on a tabletop with a forceful puff of air from his mouth. For from the lips of Jesus came this forceful word: “Lazarus, come out!” (v. 43). And so the Son of God put an end, with a word, to man’s misery. How could anyone think at this point that he was not God?

     All of this tells us this important: God alone is the end of all things. Death is not the end. Sickness is not the end. Tears are not the end. Misery is not the end. Poverty is not the end. Abandonment, loneliness, unemployment, illiteracy, hunger, war, slavery, crime: none of these things are ever the end! So lift up your chin, amid your Lenten penances, and strengthen your knees, raise up your drooping hands and look upon the Host, and know that He is the Lord of all things, and not even death has power over him.

     God alone is the end of all things, but let us remark that the word “end” has two exceptions: the end as in goal, and the end as in the conclusion or finish. God is essentially the goal of all things, and per accidens the finishing point of all. Christ is the Goal of all that the Father made through Him. He calls the whole universe to himself, and he is Lord of all, and Master. This is why the Eucharist is the “source and summit,” or goal, of everything in the Catholic Church. He is also the conclusion or finish of all things, in that all souls will eternally rest in him. It is a finish which has a finish, an eternal conclusion which brings not a stop, not non-being, but being forever.

     And it may therefore be that you find that the Holy Trinity lets you die. That he permits death, or sickness, or abandonment, or loneliness, or unemployment, or troubles, or problems, or a lack of comeliness or a lack of human intelligence, you may find that you suffer either now or in the past, or even from the future, the horrors of war, persecution, violence, crime, or unspeakable other tragedies. He may even abandon you, in your great pride, to shameful sins, to crucify your arrogance. You may find that God permits your enemies, after your catastrophe, to bind your hands and throw you in the dungeon of the tomb, and all will seem lost and twice lost and thrice lost.

     But remember, too, that he let Lazarus die. He let the man be born blind. He let the crippled man get crippled, and the sick man get sick, and the possessed man get possessed. But the scripture says, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (v. 5). If God let all this happen, remember also that he redeemed them. He saved them. He raised them. He cured them. He freed them.

     And so can he do with you, if you entrust yourselves entirely to him. Renounce, then, your foolish self-judgment, your pointless self-will. Put aside that self-confidence which only arrogance gives, and abandon yourself to the Lord. Abandon yourself by serving him, abandon yourself by praying to him for all your needs, and never doubt that he hears very well the cry of the poor and distressed.

     Jesus is the Savior, the Only Savior, Your Savior, and he will save you in this life and in the next. Amen.