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 time 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