As we reflect on and try to understand what the Gospel of the Raising of Lazarus to Life means for us, it would be helpful and necessary not to forget the previous gospel stories in the Season of Lent for they build up on one another. The story of the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead tells us that Christ is not just someone who is able to resist temptations during the First Sunday of Lent; Christ is not just that person who is presented as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets during the Second Sunday of Lent; Christ is not just your typical soothsayer who knows deep within what we ultimately thirst for like in the story of the Samaritan woman during the Third Sunday of Lent; Christ is not just the miracle worker who will open our eyes from the different levels of blindness that we experience in our lives just like the man born blind in the Fourth Sunday of Lent; but, Christ is also the one who will take us out from tombs of every kind that we enter into and will raise us up just like he did with Lazarus, not because he is the most prolific magician or miracle worker, but because He is Life itself.
Now, let us answer a fundamental question in every Gospel story: What does this story try or want to communicate to me based on my current life situation? We can easily enter into the message of the story by looking at the primary characters of the story itself: Are we Lazarus? Yes, we may still be physically alive, but we can be emotionally and spiritually dead because we willingly put ourselves in tombs or graves that hinder us to live a full life. Do I find myself in a tomb of addiction, in the tomb of despair, in the tomb of material accumulation, in the grave of marital infidelity, or in the tomb of pride and unforgiveness? There are so many tombs that one could find oneself and, unfortunately at times, these tombs become our homes ,and we get comfortable with them. But these tombs are not our real homes. Christ wants us to be raised from our tombs for us to experience new life. Christ tells us: Lazarus, come out! John, come out! Cary, come out! Mary, come out! If we can say to ourselves, I’m pretty good, I’m not really in a tomb of any kind, how about people who are close to you? Do you see them entering or getting comfortable, getting stuck in a particular tomb? We could be one of those people whom Jesus asked to roll away the stone of the tomb of Lazarus. Are you willing to be that instrument of change and new life for others who find themselves in the tomb? Yes, we recognize it is not within our power to effect change to other people because it is only through the grace of God that holistic transformation can happen but, at the same time, we can’t be complacent, passive and have a blind eye to those people whose lives are falling part simply because we don’t want to be involved and dragged into it. Are you willing to listen to Jesus’ command: Take away the stone! Or, are we like Martha who, after Jesus told them to take away the stone, tried to discourage him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” This is an interesting detail because for the Jewish tradition of Jesus’ time, only after four days after one is pronounced dead is he really considered dead because they believe that after four days the soul would have left the body. After four days, the person is no longer a person, but a cadaver. So, for Martha and the other people witnessing this, they were convinced that there was no hope, that it was too late already, he’s already dead period, what else can you do? Do we have that kind of attitude of Martha, when Christ invites us to come out from our tombs — do we say to ourselves it’s too late to change; I’ve done horrible things that God couldn’t possibly forgive; I’m so done; there’s no hope for me. Or, we can also say this to other people when Christ invites us to take away the stone of their tombs...why ask me to take away his/her stone? He’s so already submerged in this addiction; there’s no more hope for him; he’s done; what’s the use of trying to help him? He’s already dead years and years ago; you see, there’s already a foul smell, a stench — when people see him, even his family
members, they avoid him because he has a strong “stench” of his past. Have we at times lost the faith in God that he can transform people, even those who might be considered as “hopeless cases”? Don’t give up on people, because giving up on them is to give up to the wonders that God can do. Yes, they have to make it their personal decision to change and to get out from those tombs. And, if we try countless times to help them roll away their stones and they don’t want to come out, or they came out and they returned once again to their comfortable graves, I know that this can be frustrating and discouraging but, at least, don’t give up on praying for them, praying for their own conversion. Roll away the stone! Come out from the tomb! – Fr. Cary