Do You . . . Believe This?

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read my “favorite” gospel. This weekend’s liturgy allows me to share the gospel big time within in the Assembly on this Fifth Sunday of Lent. As the parish has grown, I am blessed to share the story of Jesus’ friend Lazarus with an increasing frequency during parish funerals. At the beginning of the story, twice to be exact, there is a conversation with each of the two grieving sisters. First Martha, then Mary, engages Jesus in a conversation: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died?” Jesus is direct in his response to Martha: “Your brother will be raised up.” Martha is equally quick: “Of course, I know he will be raised up in resurrection on the last day!” But not so matter of course for those who believe! Martha believes, but not quite clearly enough.

Jesus invites very personal faith in himself: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, shall live; and all who live and believe in me will never die.” Then I am blessed at each funeral story to ask the Assembly (and myself): “Do you believe this?”

My privileged place at the cemetery at the head of the grave places the words of Jesus in my mouth. These are the final words to the grieving families: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, shall live; and all who live and believe in me will never die”. As mourners walk away from the grave, the question lingers: “Do you believe this?” Martha and Mary answered and were blessed in their answer, for they saw the power of Jesus as Lord of life and Lord of death.

It's About Easter and Ressurection
This Fifth Sunday of Lent is about Easter faith and resurrection. Jesus takes us with him to the tomb of death. He confronts death with Mary and Martha: “Where have you laid him? … (they respond) come and see.” Jesus cries with them, as the crowd remarks: “See, how much he loved him.” Despite the four days of burial and the surety of the smell noted, the stone is taken away from the tomb.

The Fifth Sunday of Lent will proclaim the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, dies and is buried. In conversation with Martha and Mary, the grieving sisters, they and we come to know Jesus as the resurrection. Whoever believes in Jesus comes to know eternal life and will never know death. The elect come to hear of Lazarus’ being called from the tomb of death. Lazarus is called to life and is set free of the bindings of death. This resuscitation points all believers to Jesus’ Easter resurrection.

Mary, Martha, and the grieving friends remain confused at death and, more so, at Jesus’ power over death. Firm in his words to the sisters, Jesus tells them: “Did I not tell you, if you believed, you will see the glory of God!” On the brink of this miracle of life, Jesus thanks the Father, for the opportunity of faith. Mary had invited Jesus to the grave with the words “come and see”; she and the others would come and they would see and believe.

Lazarus is called fort and the dead man comes out walking! Lazarus, bound hand and foot, and his head covered,

comes out of the tomb! Everyone is surprised, except Jesus. “Unbind him, so he can go free.” The crowd had come to see Mary and Martha. They had come to see what Jesus would do. Like the stories of the last two Sundays, the community comes to faith. Many of the people came to believe in Jesus, “when they saw what he did.”

Baptismal Faith
These past three Lenten Sundays, with their prolonged stories from John’s gospel, are about coming to faith. Those chosen for the Easter Sacraments, i.e., called out for Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist, have heard the stories and been invited to faith. We have, as it were, eavesdropped on this conversation of faith between the catechumens and the Lord’s Word.

The Woman at the well came to know Jesus as the living waters, in which she would never thirst again. She came to believe. Last week, the man born blind is anointed, sent to wash, and comes to see. At the end of the story he more than sees, he comes to believe. The Lazarus story explains the water and the light, which is Christ, as he moves through death to life. Lazarus, his sisters, and the crowd all come to believe as they pass over from death to life in Jesus.

Those chosen for the Easter sacraments, the elect, afford us, the whole Church, to pass over from death to life in the Spirit-filled waters of Baptism. Baptismal waters are for us, the Church, the living waters of life moved by the Spirit. As the elect are anointed in Confirmation, do we see more clearly and gather as free believers around the Lord’s Table?

Then That Question
Are we ready to answer the question, “Do you believe this?”, as we come to Easter. Is Easter about more than bunnies, flowers, and chocolate eggs? Easter is about the Lord Jesus who walks through water and Spirit from death to life. He and we are energized and anointed in the Spirit. He and we are raised from death by the power of the Spirit. We gather at the Lord’s Table of victory over sin and death. We are greeted by the Risen Lord: “Peace be with you. Don’t be afraid.” The question remains and can we boldly come to faith in the Lord.

As for the Easter bunnies, flowers, and eggs of all kinds, they speak of life in overflowing measure. We have passed over to a land flowing with “milk and honey,” the sweet things of the Spirit. Even our colored eggs speak of breaking the bonds of death. In the Orthodox Churches, the priest, standing in front of the Iconostasis, presents each believer with a bright red egg: Christ is risen. The believer cracks the egg, as it were shattering death, and professes: He is truly risen.

We are again about to make the Passover of the Triduum, when we pass from death to life. The holy tradition does not celebrate funerals on these sacred days, for we can only answer the question after Easter. Only the Lord’s Death is celebrated, for it alone brings Resurrection. Then, we are unbound from death and we are free to move in Easter joy. Then, the Easter Season opens our eyes and ears to the Risen Lord who invites us: “Peace. Do not be afraid.”

CDH