March 26, 2023
5th Sunday of Lent A
Monday, March 20, was the first day of Spring. It was also the Spring equinox - 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime, the harmonious balance between day and night. The word “lent†comes from an Old English word for “Springtime†- a season when new life is wrested from the grip of winter. We begin to sense the transformation. We feel the warm sun. We hear the birds chirping. We see grass green and growing, buds on the trees, and flowers breaking through the cold earth. We notice people spending more time outside, returning to parks and outdoor markets, neighbors walking by. It is as if nature is calling us to “come out and show yourself.†The transformation is both the landscape of nature and the inner landscape of our souls. God’s Word and Spirit restore and give life as they have from the beginning of creation. And the beauty of this restoration is that it calls us out of ourselves, into creation and community. When God calls us tenderly to come out, we find ourselves with others, and there is much joy in this Holy Communion.
Our three readings on this 5th Sunday of Lent fit beautifully together, for all concern the resurrection to new life. Ezekiel was a priest, but the temple has been destroyed and the people of Judah taken into exile in Babylon. It is a terrible time. The Jewish people feel punished and abandoned by God. Ezekiel now becomes God’s prophet calling the nation to repentance, reassuring them that God has not abandoned them and providing them a vision and an oracle of hope and restoration. “…You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live and I will settle you on the land; thus you shall know that I am the Lord.â€
St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans reminds the community of their core belief in the resurrection of Jesus and their experience of the Holy Spirit, that raised Jesus from death, dwelling in them through baptism. “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.†The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us promises the beginning of new life that cannot be destroyed by death.
In our Gospel of John, when Jesus learns that Lazarus is very sick, he seems to purposely to delay going to Bethany to be with his friends Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. When Jesus does journey to Bethany, Martha goes out to meet him with disappointment. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.†Jesus and Martha talk about Jewish belief in the resurrection of the dead at the end of time which culminates in Jesus’ revelation to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.†Jesus asks Martha, “Do you believe this?†Martha makes a profound profession of faith, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.â€
The question that Jesus asks Martha, “Do you believe?†is the question we must ask ourselves regarding the promise of Jesus that he is the resurrection and the life. With Martha and Mary we profess our faith that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, the one coming and present in our lives. We also must hear the words Jesus utters to Lazarus in the tomb, “Come out.†Resurrection is more than a promise that waits to be fulfilled when we die, but the possibility of renewed, eternal life now, when we are released from all that binds us, the trappings of death: our sins, grudges, fears, ignorance, selfishness, possessions, dark passions, and desires. On Monday, March 27, our Family of Parishes will gather at St. Vincent de Paul, Springbrook for Penance Services at 3:30 PM and 7:00 PM. Reconciliation is an anticipation of resurrected life as we celebrate God’s mercy and receive/share the forgives of Jesus Christ. Come out and enjoy life in Christ!
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4th Sunday of Lent A
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Palm Sunday
