Ez 37: 12-14;
Rom 8: 8-11; Jn 11:1-45
There is a scene in the movie Return of the King,
based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s saga The Lord of the Rings, in which
Aragorn gives the dead soldiers who had deserted their king a chance to regain
their honour if they will help to defend the City of Kings which is under
attack by evil powers. He enters a cave through a small crevice in the
mountain. It is dark and the sound effects
make it clear that this is not a
pleasant place. He steps over piles of dry bones heaped up against the walls of
the cave. Suddenly, in the centre of a large room, these skeletal creatures
begin to threaten him, even though they are not really alive. Aragorn offers
them a chance to redeem themselves by making good on their pledge to defend the
good against evil, and to be a part of a community that will restore the
kingdom. The prophet Ezekiel, in today’s first reading, has a similar
experience. In a vision or dream, he is with God in a valley of dry bones (Ch.
37: 1-12). God tells Ezekiel to instruct the bones to listen to the Lord. God
restores their bodies with muscle and flesh and gives them breath, raising them
to life and the knowledge that God is the Lord.
Death and resurrection are the themes that permeate
today's Scripture lessons. Prophet Ezekiel guarantees his community in exile
that Yahweh will one day bring them back to live in the freedom of the Promised
Land. He assures his people that not even death will stop God from carrying out
this promise. Yahweh states, "I will open your graves, have you rise from
them, and bring you back to the land of Israel." St. Paul, in the second
reading, assures the early Roman Christians who were facing death by
persecution, that the same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead and Who dwells
within them will give life to their mortal bodies. For John, in today’s gospel,
the raising of Lazarus is the final and greatest sign of Jesus, the Deliverer,
a symbolic narrative of his victory over death at the cost of his own life and
a sign anticipating his resurrection. Describing this great miracle, the Church
assures us that we, too, will be raised into eternal life after our battle with
sin and death in this world. To be raised to eternal life we need to follow
certain things.
First of all, we need courage to follow Jesus.
Jesus was told about the death of his friend Lazarus. But, when
Jesus finally announced that he was going to Judea, his disciples were
shocked and staggered. They remembered that the last time He was there the Jews
had tried to find a way to kill him. So to go to Judea at that time
seemed to be walking into death. Hence, the disciples might
have refused to follow Jesus. Then only lonely voice spoke up. Let
us, too, go that we may die with him.” Thomas was determined that whatever
happened to him he would not quit.
Today, too, following
Jesus is a great challenge. We begin our journey with
great enthusiasm. But when we face bleak realities we try to give
up. We become easily susceptible to the ideas of others. Because, we lack
courage to stand against them, as our experience itself is very
shallow. Gilbert Frankau tells of an officer friend of his who had to go
up in a captive balloon and to indicate to the gunners whether
their shells fell short of or over the target. It was the most
dangerous assignments one could be given. Because the balloon was captive he
was the target for the target for the guns and planes of the enemy. Gilbert
Frankau tells that every he went up in that balloon he was sick with nerves,
but he wouldn’t quit. That is the real form of courage. This is demanded of us,
too, in our journey on the footsteps of Jesus. We are not alone in our
endeavour. There stands Thomas ahead of us declaring, “Come Let’s, too, go that
we may die with Him.” There is a legion of martyrs who walked with Jesus,
and sacrificed their worldly life to find eternal life with Jesus. “When you have decided what you believe, what
you feel must be done, have the courage to stand alone and be counted.”
Says Elenor Rossevelt.
Secondly, we see that
Martha and Mary had absolute trust that Jesus would come to
them at the moment of their great despair. So, they waited with
great expectation. C.F Andrews tells of two friends who served together in the
First World War. One of them was left wounded and was lying helpless and in
pain in no-man’s land. The other, at peril of his life, crawled out to help his
friend; and, when he reached him, the wounded man looked up and said “I
knew you would come.” We have to cultivate this unconditional trust that
Jesus would be with us when we need Him most.
Thirdly, Jesus asked the people to “Roll away the
stone, unbind him and let him go.” There are so many dark areas in our private
life that we often bind ourselves with. We bind ourselves with the chains of
slander, gossip, envy, prejudices, hatred, anger; and bury ourselves in the
tombs of despair. Harvard University is considered one of the greatest academic
institutions in America and around the world; its students have the highest SAT
scores, the brightest minds. A few years ago, the President of Harvard University
was asked, "What is the greatest problem you see in your university?"
He said, "Emptiness! There is no meaning or passion for life. Everybody is
bored--no fulfilment." Jesus stands near us, as He stood at the tomb of
Lazarus, to bring us out of the tombs of our own creation. As He called,
Lazarus to come out, to He calls us come out – to come out of the emptiness
that we have created abound us. What we need is courage and
unconditional trust in him.
Satish