LOVE CONQUERS DEATH
FIFTH Sunday Lent A Lazarus 10:30 2008 John 11: 1-45
There’s a humorous story about a fourth grade class who had a class picture taken.
The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. “Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, ‘There’s Jennifer; she’s a lawyer,’ or ‘That’s Michael. He’s an actor.’ A small voice at the back of the room rang out, “And there’s teacher. She’s dead.”
Of course there is nothing humorous about the death of Jesus’ close friend Lazarus whom Jesus loved.
You might wonder why, after Jesus received the message that the one he loved was ill, why he decided to “stay on.”
If Jesus ran to Lazarus and kept him from dying, then the glorious revelation would never have been made, viz., that love conquers death.
This insight that love conquers death was pinpointed in a magnificently beautiful statement of St. John Chysostom way back in the 4th century.
He said, “Those we have loved and lost to death are no longer where they were; they are now wherever we are.”
For me, that statement is the most consoling I have ever read on death. Let me repeat it.
(REPEAT)
One of the most human statements about Jesus appears in this gospel story. “And Jesus wept.”
Never forget for a moment that Jesus came to reveal God to us.
For those who think that God, for example, is a far away deity, more distant than a space shuttle encircling the earth, disinterested in what goes on in their lives, that God has a total inability to feel any emotion at all, this one statement – and Jesus wept—tells you that our God is a God who weeps.
Our God weeps, for example, with you when you are heartbroken over the death of a loved one.
Our God weeps, for example, with you when you slip and fall in your struggle to climb the mount of holiness.
Our God weeps with you, for example, when love turns sour like cream left out in the blistering sun and loneliness envelops you like a starless, black night.
God also weeps, for example, when you put someone to death by refusing to love him or her.
The true way to mourn the dead is to take care of the living.
There are many other kinds of death besides physical death.
For example, people can be psychologically dead to the awareness of the beauty in the world: dainty pastel flowers in the spring, the roaring ocean waves in the summer, the crisp, crunchy snow in the winter, the sad brownness of autumn.
For the psychologically dead, the poet’s emotional heart is dead within them. They are so busy getting things done and just getting things that they never take a moment in life to stop and contemplate.
They don’t realize that the pauses in a musical score, for example, are as important as the played notes.
And Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead empowers you to bring forth lively realizations in those who are buried in the tomb of unawareness.
Or you yourself may be dead, for example, to the virtues of your husband or wife because you are so intent on criticizing him or her. Or you may be dead, for example, to the potential of your children because your expectations are so unrealistic. Or you may be dead, for example, to affirming others who have accomplished something good, but are scalded alive in the hot cauldron of your jealousy.
And Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead enables you to rise out of these deaths into a new life of joy and happiness, of caring and sharing, of loving and being loved.
The gospel story is not just about Jesus and Lazarus. It is about Jesus and you.
As Eugene Kennedy says in his book, Believing, “The gospel has always been concerned with us and our meaning.”
What goes on in the gospel story is going on right now in your life. Jesus’ power to raise the dead back to life is in you. You have that same power. You can raise yourself and others out of whatever death they may be into a new life.
When you make the effort to bring life to others and to yourself, you make this gospel story come alive.
What a splendid way to spend the rest of your Lenten season. Going around helping people to come alive to all the beautiful gifts God has given them and to you, both outside yourself and within yourself.
HUMOR on life:
An old man was relaxing at his hundredth birthday party when a reporter went up to him. “Sir, what is the secret of your long life?”
The man considered this for a moment, then replied, “Every day at 9 PM I have a glass of port. Good for the heart I’ve heard.”
The reporter replied, “That’s ALL?”
The man smiled, “That, and canceling my ticket on the Titanic.”
The thought I leave you with is this: during Lent learn to live life to the fullest.
There’s a humorous story about a fourth grade class who had a class picture taken.
The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. “Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, ‘There’s Jennifer; she’s a lawyer,’ or ‘That’s Michael. He’s an actor.’ A small voice at the back of the room rang out, “And there’s teacher. She’s dead.”
Of course there is nothing humorous about the death of Jesus’ close friend Lazarus whom Jesus loved.
You might wonder why, after Jesus received the message that the one he loved was ill, why he decided to “stay on.”
If Jesus ran to Lazarus and kept him from dying, then the glorious revelation would never have been made, viz., that love conquers death.
This insight that love conquers death was pinpointed in a magnificently beautiful statement of St. John Chysostom way back in the 4th century.
He said, “Those we have loved and lost to death are no longer where they were; they are now wherever we are.”
For me, that statement is the most consoling I have ever read on death. Let me repeat it.
(REPEAT)
One of the most human statements about Jesus appears in this gospel story. “And Jesus wept.”
Never forget for a moment that Jesus came to reveal God to us.
For those who think that God, for example, is a far away deity, more distant than a space shuttle encircling the earth, disinterested in what goes on in their lives, that God has a total inability to feel any emotion at all, this one statement – and Jesus wept—tells you that our God is a God who weeps.
Our God weeps, for example, with you when you are heartbroken over the death of a loved one.
Our God weeps, for example, with you when you slip and fall in your struggle to climb the mount of holiness.
Our God weeps with you, for example, when love turns sour like cream left out in the blistering sun and loneliness envelops you like a starless, black night.
God also weeps, for example, when you put someone to death by refusing to love him or her.
The true way to mourn the dead is to take care of the living.
There are many other kinds of death besides physical death.
For example, people can be psychologically dead to the awareness of the beauty in the world: dainty pastel flowers in the spring, the roaring ocean waves in the summer, the crisp, crunchy snow in the winter, the sad brownness of autumn.
For the psychologically dead, the poet’s emotional heart is dead within them. They are so busy getting things done and just getting things that they never take a moment in life to stop and contemplate.
They don’t realize that the pauses in a musical score, for example, are as important as the played notes.
And Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead empowers you to bring forth lively realizations in those who are buried in the tomb of unawareness.
Or you yourself may be dead, for example, to the virtues of your husband or wife because you are so intent on criticizing him or her. Or you may be dead, for example, to the potential of your children because your expectations are so unrealistic. Or you may be dead, for example, to affirming others who have accomplished something good, but are scalded alive in the hot cauldron of your jealousy.
And Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead enables you to rise out of these deaths into a new life of joy and happiness, of caring and sharing, of loving and being loved.
The gospel story is not just about Jesus and Lazarus. It is about Jesus and you.
As Eugene Kennedy says in his book, Believing, “The gospel has always been concerned with us and our meaning.”
What goes on in the gospel story is going on right now in your life. Jesus’ power to raise the dead back to life is in you. You have that same power. You can raise yourself and others out of whatever death they may be into a new life.
When you make the effort to bring life to others and to yourself, you make this gospel story come alive.
What a splendid way to spend the rest of your Lenten season. Going around helping people to come alive to all the beautiful gifts God has given them and to you, both outside yourself and within yourself.
HUMOR on life:
An old man was relaxing at his hundredth birthday party when a reporter went up to him. “Sir, what is the secret of your long life?”
The man considered this for a moment, then replied, “Every day at 9 PM I have a glass of port. Good for the heart I’ve heard.”
The reporter replied, “That’s ALL?”
The man smiled, “That, and canceling my ticket on the Titanic.”
The thought I leave you with is this: during Lent learn to live life to the fullest.
posted by The Ronald | 1:35 PM
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