Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A Readings)/Anointing of the Sick Mass
March 18, 2018 St. Mark Parish, Niles 10:00 a.m.
On this beautiful mid-March morning, we may find that there are many things on our minds these days, vying for our attention:yesterday’s celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, tomorrow’s Feast of St. Joseph, the fact that we are only two days away from the first day of Spring,and for all the Basketball fans, the fact that we are in the midst of “March Madness” as it moves into the “Sweet 16” Round.
But for us as we gather together here for this celebration of the Holy Eucharist the most important fact is that we are coming down the “home stretch” of our 40-day Lenten Journey. One week from today is Palm Sunday and the beginning of the holiest week of the year, and two weeks from today we will all be rejoicing in the Glorious Feast of Easter!
One of the ways that we know that we’re nearing the final days of Lent is that the Scripture Readings, especially the Gospel passages, tend to get a lot longer. For those parishes who are following the “A Cycle” of Readings, we remember that last Sunday was the Gospel about the man born blind, and the week before that (Third Sunday) was about the “Samaritan Woman at the Well”----beautiful, powerful, and long passages.
That’s the case again today as we hear the account of the Raising of Lazarus from the dead. But of course, we shouldn’t be focused on the length of the Readings, but rather what it is that our Loving God’s Holy Word is communicating to us----here and now----today? What words of love, comfort and possibly even challenge is Jesus intending to speak directly to your heart this morning?
Now obviously the most important point of today’s Gospel passage is the fact that Lazarus was dead----four days dead and buried----and Jesus raised him from the dead and gave him back to live his life anew, until that moment would come at some future time in Lazarus’ life when he would in fact die again. There’s nothing more important than rejoicing in that miraculous power of Jesus. And of course, that powerful miracle that Jesus performed foreshadowed the even more incredibly important----in fact, life-and history-changing event---that we will celebrate in two weeks on Easter when Jesus is raised from the dead to die no more!
That is what gives us Hope! That is what gives every person who professes faith in Jesus our reason to keep on living with courage and resolve, even when the problems and worries and sorrows that we face might otherwise be overwhelming.
But over and above that most central message that I trust that we all heard being spoken directly to each of our hearts on this beautiful almost-Spring morning, there are 3 tiny phrases in this lengthy Gospel Reading which I think might be worth our further brief reflection: “If only…”; “I am…”: “Jesus wept…”.
“If only…” We heard Martha say those words to Jesus, when she heard that He was nearby and she ran out to meet him, saying: “If only you had been here, my brother would not have died…”. That was a way of letting Him know that she was disappointed/somewhat upset that Jesus hadn’t come to be with them as soon as He had received the news that Lazarus was sick and dying. As we heard in the Gospel, Jesus seems to have purposely waited two full days before deciding to go and visit. In effect, Martha was saying ‘you could have/you should have done something to stop this’. Those are words that I imagine all of us say fairly often to express regret or to 2nd guess ourselves: “…if only…”. “If only I hadn’t made that wrong choice….” “If only someone would have tried to stop me….” “If only I had been more careful….” “If only I would have thought more clearly….”
But that’s whyLent is so important for all of us because we have these 6 weeks to change those “if only’s” into “I resolve to….”, as we try to turn our sins and faults into renewed efforts to follow Jesus with greater fidelity.
The second tiny phrase is: “I am…” There were eight different times in the Gospel of St. John when Jesus makes very profound “I Am” statements: “I am the Bread of Life….”; “I am the Light of the World…”; “I am the Gate for the Sheep to enter through….”; “I am the Good Shepherd….”; “I am the Vine, you are the Branches….”; “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life….”; “I Am!”----in the conversation when the leaders were challenging Jesus’ authority, and quoting the Abraham, Moses and the Prophets to Him, and Jesus response was: “Before Abraham came to be, I AM!”
But I think this morning’s Gospel passage contains the greatest of all eight of these powerful statements when Jesus says to Martha: “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, will live forever.”
In these powerful words, Jesus gives us the reason why we, as His followers---as Christian Catholics----can live in thehope of the Resurrection.
In our Profession of Faith, which we will pray very shortly, we say: “We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” That is what our faith is all about; that is what we call “the spiritual bottom line”. God has given us the gift of life, and He asks that each of us live our lives lovingly and faithfully in this world, so that we can have eternal life with Him forever in Heaven when our time in this world is completed. That is not just some article in a creed for us to pray; that is what makes all the difference in the world between despair and hope. Our faith is not about “things”. It is about thanking God for life; it is about having a strong relationship with God, in Christ, throughout our lives, because He is Life itself!
And the last, tiny “word” is: “Jesus wept.” We are not given manyinsights into Jesus’ emotions in the Gospels. We do know that sometimes, Jesus got frustrated or annoyed with His apostles’ slowness in catching on, or with the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. We know that Jesus got angry when He saw the crowds disrespecting the Temple, which caused Him to throw them out.
But there are only two times in the Gospel accounts that tell us that Jesus wept: when Jesus is about to enter into Jerusalem for Palm Sunday (which we will hear next week), and, St. John tells us that when Jesus saw the city and realized what lay before Him, “He wept!”; the other time is right here. Jesus wept for his friend Lazarus, and for his sisters. Jesus’ compassionate and sympathetic heart wept for his friends.
Weeping is a very powerful emotion that is unique to us as human beings. When we weep, it’s usually for very good reasons: when we are hurt, when we have been punished, when we know that we have let someone down, and certainly when we are sad, in particular at the death of one we love.
These two little words let us know that Jesusunderstandscompletely what makes us sad, upset or heart-broken. He is one with us in our humanness.
In just a very few minutes, following the Scrutiny for the RCIA candidate(s), we will celebrate the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. That was such a constant and intentional focus of Jesus’ ministry---to try to bring healing and comfort to those who were sick, disabled, or outcasts because of leprosy or other causes. This beautiful Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is a gift from Jesus, through the Church, to bring comfort to those who are sick or weakened by our human limitations, and to encourage them, and all of us, to be renewed in our spiritual strength, even as we pray for Jesus’ healing of our bodies and our souls.
As People of Faith and followers of Jesus, it is our responsibility to continue participating in Jesus’ healing ministry as we ourselves strive to have hearts that are compassionate, merciful, and mindful of those who are suffering in any way among us, and to do whatever we can do to bring them the love of Jesus. We pray especially for those to receive this Sacrament of Anointing today that they will feel our Love and Jesus’ healing graces.
As we draw closer to Holy Week and Easter, we continue to give thanks to God for the gift of Faith. We pray that we can draw ever closer to Christ, Who is the Resurrection and the Life, that we will not have to worry about the “if only’s”in our lives, nor even about those times that might make us weep.
In today’s Second Reading, we heard St. Paul use that little phrase of “if only” as well. While writing to the Romans, he told us: “You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.” St. Paul goes on to make clear that the Spirit is the One who raised Jesus from the dead, and it is that same Spirit who dwells within us, giving us a share in Jesus, Who is “the Resurrection and the Life”….if only we stay strong in our Faith, and resolved to find our hope in Jesus, and in the hope of the Resurrection.
Through the last two weeks of Lent, may our faith be deepened in God’s amazing Love for us, in all that Jesus has said and done, to demonstrate the Life-saving Love He has for us.
Beyond our “if only’s”, let us be sure that Jesus is with us, and take comfort in the fact that Jesus loves with us, suffers and dies with us, weeps with us, and raises us to eternal life, all because of those two most powerful of all His words: “I am”. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, and He calls each of us to share in His life forever.
God bless you, now and always.