Fifth Sunday of Lent – A – 2008
John 11:1-45
March 9, 2008
Fr. Carl McCarthy

             When something tragic happens, we typically call someone and ask for help. We call mom or dad. We always called mom; she was more patient than dad. We call an ambulance, a lawyer, a friend, or a priest.

          That’s why I find this Gospel of the raising of Lazarus so surprising. As tragedy hit the family of Martha and Mary, they called the one whom they knew would help. They called Jesus to come and save their brother. But Jesus did not immediately answer their call. He knew Lazarus was ill, so he waited for two days before he went. What a way to help someone! I’m glad that he is not in charge of driving the ambulance when we need it. By the time that Jesus reached Lazarus, he was already dead, and Martha and Mary were sick with grief.

          This action of Jesus startles because we have come to see Jesus as one who can help and save us. Just last Sunday, we heard how Jesus healed the blind man. Jesus worked quickly to help others many times: the women with the hemorrhage, the woman caught in the sin of adultery, the paralytic man whose friends lowered him through the roof.

          As startling as we find this inaction of Jesus, we’ve all experienced it. We’ve experienced those times when we have called out to Jesus in our distress, and he has not come. We have said, “Jesus, if you had only been here, our brother would not have died, or this pain, or tragedy would not have come to us.”

We’ve called out as a son or spouse lay ill, and still they died. We’ve called out as we struggle with chronic pain, and still we hurt. We’ve called out as we have searched for forgiveness in relationships, and still we experience hardness of heart. We’ve called out in search of a job, or help with a broken marriage, or as a single parent who can’t seem to make financial ends meet, and still no Jesus. We’ve called out as we have witnessed human tragedy in our world and still no peace.

Where did we get the idea that following Jesus would be easy? The reality is that, when we are tested, our faith is strengthened. Pain is the greatest teacher that we have. Pain has the potential to bring about change. St. Paul says that when we are at our weakest point, we are strongest.

Hope is built out of struggle. Our faith is strengthened when have to hit our knees and pray more often, when we ask for forgiveness from another, when we confess our guilt, and when we are patient and wait for God to answer our call.

Martha and Mary are examples to us. They had the faith to call on Jesus in their time of need. In our times of need, we must keep calling, and calling, and calling because Jesus will bring new life to seemingly dead situations. He raised Lazarus! And he can raise us.

3-15-2008
sdrose@bellsouth.net