Fifth Sunday of Lent – 29 March 2020
First Reading: Ezek 37: 12-14 (The exile of the people of Israel to Babylon is understood as death and their return home is described as resurrection and spiritual renewal).
Second Reading: Rom 8: 8-11 (The Spirit who raised Jesus from death is the very same Spirit who lives in us now).
Gospel: Jn 11: 1-45 (By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus tells the people that he is Lord of life and death).
Homily
When I read today’s Gospel, I recall my pilgrimage to Holy Land especially the mass I celebrated in Bethany. A church is erected on the site where the house of Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary was built. This house was also Jesus’ house as he was very close to the family.
In the journey of life, we are never alone. Everybody needs friends. Even Jesus needed had friends. Today’s Gospel reveals some. We ourselves especially during this time of confinement due to Covid-19 pandemic have come to discover the value of friendship-companionship.
In the village of Bethany, Jesus had three very special friends: the sisters Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. Their house was always opened to Jesus while other houses were closed against Jesus.
When their brother Lazarus got sick, it was natural that the two sisters had to call the one best close friend they had in name of Jesus to seek help. Their urgent message was clear and simple; “Lord, the one you love is ill”. They sent the message with the hope that Jesus will quickly come and heal his friend as he has been doing with other sick people in the region. But surprisingly Jesus did not drop everything to come and be at the bedside of his dying friend. Instead, he stayed where he was for full two days more. Why did Jesus behave so? We do not know. But what we can imagine is that his delay must have been heartbreaking for the two sisters. ‘we know true friends during the time of sorrow’. Mary and Martha watched their brother Lazarus dying in front of their eyes helplessly and the one to whom they placed their faith to cure him was nowhere to be found. Of the two sisters, Mary seemed the worse affected. She wouldn’t even leave the house. People came to sympathize with them but the one who was close to their brother was not there. And when he came, as true friends never hide feelings of happiness or sadness from each other, the two sisters did not hide theirs either: “Lord, if you were here, our brother would not have died”.
The desolation experienced by Mary and Martha is one many of us have experienced and perhaps continue to experience during this time of world pandemic that has confined us all in our homes both rich and poor, working class and unemployed, young and old. We can’t help thinking that if God really cares about us, if he really loves us, then he wouldn’t have allowed this pandemic to happen. We feel abandoned by God. We feel he has left us alone.
So what can we do? Let us try to imitate Martha. The story of Martha in today’s Gospel presents her as a model of faith. In her hour of grief, she ran to the Lord and poured out her sorrows to him. And when Jesus challenged her to believe, Martha made a wonderful profession of faith: “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world”. What a wonderful profession of faith.
Do we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Yes we do. Now is the time to find him in the privacy of our homes. Before the confinement caused by this pandemic, only night used to lead us home for those who spend their days at work or at school. Now day and night, we are confined home. Turn to God and find him in the quietness of your home, in the quietness of your heart. Believe that he is the Son of God and that he is able to cure the world. What we need to do now is to turn to God. Let us go on praying and believing in God. In the face of confinement and pain, let us commend ourselves to God and abandon ourselves to his care.
Very often we think that when we suffer, God is absent. But when we pray we come to realise that God is not absent, but rather he is present in our suffering. God is always with us as our hope in adversity, and our strength when we are weak. Today’s Gospel story shows Jesus as a faithful friend. It also shows us that even in death, we are not beyond the reach of Jesus’ help. Jesus did not leave Mary and Martha grieve alone. He came to console them and gave them hope by announcing eternal life to those who believe in him.
Jesus doesn’t leave us alone either especially now that we face Covid-19 pandemic. He surrounds us with the love and support of the family and he challenges us to have faith in him: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will never die forever”.
Remember dear brothers and sisters, to believe does not mean that we have all the answers for all questions or worries. Jesus knows the pain and the anguish caused by pain, suffering and death as he experienced it himself. He overcame it not by avoiding it but by embracing it and overcoming it. Thus, Jesus becomes for us a pathfinder and a beacon of hope for us all who place our trust in Him.
Our hope is also in Mary the mother of Jesus who is also our mother. At the foot of the cross she stood full of hope. Let us live in hope dear brothers and sisters. Humanity is only asleep with Covid-19 just like Lazarus. God is in control.
“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth”.
Rev. Fr. Jean-Marie Kuzituka Did’ho
Saints Maria Goretti & Joseph Parishes
