The resurrection of Lazarus from the dead is the last of the signs worked by our Lord
in the Gospel of St. John, and our Lord's miracles that are pointed out by the evangelist
are referred to by him, by the evangelist, as signs.
So, for example, the first of the signs is the miracle at the wedding feast of Cana,
and St. John says specifically that this was the first of the signs worked by our Lord.
Hence, scripture scholars will sometimes refer to the Gospel of St. John as being two books,
the first part being the Book of Signs, which basically records these various miracles
worked by our Lord, the first being the wedding feast of Cana,
and the last being the resurrection of Lazarus.
And then we move on to the second book, which is called the Book of Glory.
And so, while we read...
this account of the last sign, we enter into the Book of Glory,
and that corresponds liturgically to the fourth, or rather the fifth Sunday in Lent,
which in the old rite was First Passion Sunday.
So, we're already beginning what is called Passion Tide.
This new focus in the liturgy and in the season of...
Lent on the Passion of our Lord.
And this last sign of our Lord raising Lazarus from the dead
is, in fact, not only because it's the last of the signs,
but also because it is sort of the straw that breaks the camel's back.
It is the moment at which our Lord becomes finally destined for the cross.
Our Lord approached Jerusalem because he knew what his destiny was
and had chosen to fulfill it, to fulfill the will of his Father.
He prophesied on any number of occasions to his apostles
that he was headed for Jerusalem in order to suffer and to die
and to be raised on the third day.
In fact, if you think about the transfiguration,
which forms, you know, a central part of our Lenten observance,
being one of the Sundays in Lent where we read about the transfiguration,
there is Moses, who represents the whole law of the Old Testament
and the way in which God had intervened into the lives of his people
to prepare them for the coming of the Savior,
and Elijah, who represents the prophet,
who is always calling the people,
the people of God, away from their sins and back to the law.
These two are discussing, we are told, I believe by St. Luke,
the transitus or the passing that our Lord was to accomplish in Jerusalem.
So, and then immediately after the transfiguration,
our Lord tells Peter, James, and John not to speak about what they had seen
until after his having been raised from the dead.
And they don't know what he's talking about.
But in any case, there is this very deliberate and conscious manner
in which our Lord makes his way to Jerusalem
in order to suffer and to die.
And one of the last things he does is that he goes to Lazarus
to raise him from the dead.
And we hear about how Bethany,
where our Lord went to,
where the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus was,
was only a couple miles from Jerusalem.
St. John takes pains to point this out.
Now, Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother.
So people were coming from Jerusalem to Bethany
to comfort the family.
And so there was a great many people going in and out of Bethany,
specifically to the home of Martha and Lazarus.
And we know that after our Lord had heard about the sickness of Lazarus,
he tarried in the place where he was deliberately
and actually allowed Lazarus to die.
He knew that Lazarus was going to die,
and he allowed him to die.
And his apostles remonstrate with him.
They say, you know, if you had, you know,
it's actually Martha and Mary really are the ones.
But in any case, he waits.
And then afterwards, he reveals to the apostles
that Lazarus has died.
And he tells them that I'm glad for you
that I was not there.
That you may believe.
So all of this is very deliberate.
Not only his going near Jerusalem,
which he knows is dangerous
and ultimately lead him to his death,
but also his waiting to go at this right time
in order to perform this miracle.
And so when he goes to Lazarus and to his sisters
and finally works this miracle,
it's in a tremendously public way in which he does it.
He had worked his miracles before,
in public ways.
But this time, he is like an enemy king
going to the outside of a city
and laying siege to it.
Because he's going right into the territory,
you might say, of the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
And the people that they have influence over
are going out to Bethany
to see Martha and Mary.
And so our Lord works his miracle,
raising Lazarus from the dead.
And we're told later on in the same gospel
that when he worked this miracle,
even more people went out to Bethany.
Now, not to comfort Martha and Mary,
but to see Lazarus,
to lay eyes on him
and to hear him speak
and see the result of this tremendous miracle,
this stupendous miracle,
by which our Lord asserts his really absolute authority
over life and death.
And in the face of this,
there's nothing that the Pharisees and Sadducees,
namely those who have rejected our Lord,
there's nothing that they can say.
So we're told by St. John that they have,
at that point, they completely resolve
upon the death of the Lord
and upon the death of Lazarus.
They want to eliminate the sign completely
so that there will be no more death.
There will be no trace
of this great manifestation
of the power of God.
So our Lord does this all in view
of those who love him
in order to reinforce
what they already knew.
They had already seen the other signs
in the second chapter
of St. John's Gospel
at the wedding feast,
at the feast of Cana.
We are told by the evangelist
after the miracle has been worked
that his disciples began to believe in him.
Our Lady intervened in his life
and was the instrument
by which he worked this first miracle.
And suddenly,
he was no longer just the carpenter from Nazareth
and the child of Mary.
He was this public person
who had worked this thing for him.
This incredible miracle.
And he began to teach at that time
because people began to wonder who he was.
He was no longer a private person.
And the disciples began to believe in him.
And all these other miracles
were meant to contribute to their faith in his word.
But this final miracle
was meant to strengthen them
for what was to come.
Because our Lord was really
directly challenging
the fact that he was a prophet.
The Pharisees at that moment.
And asserting his authority
in a sort of definitive way
over the people of God.
And this was sort of a radical break,
you might say,
with the authority of the Pharisees.
And it ultimately would lead to our Lord's death.
But he did this deliberately.
And the apostles knew of the danger
that he was entering into.
In fact, again,
when he talks about going there,
they say,
Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you
and you want to go back there?
And then when he finally resolves upon going,
in spite of their remonstrations,
Thomas says to the rest of them,
let us go and die with him.
So they all knew what was coming.
They all knew what our Lord was doing.
To some extent.
You might say,
because they knew that this was not going to end well,
at least on Good Friday.
And yet our Lord had prepared them for more than that.
He had told them,
yeah, this is going to happen,
but I will rise on the third day.
They weren't really understanding that
or their faith was not strong enough
to actually believe that.
And so they expected something bad to happen.
And then our Lord went.
To Bethany and raised Lazarus from the dead.
And they had this tremendous sign.
Lazarus had been dead for four days.
And he was already stinking.
And so Martha was,
Mary was concerned that,
Martha was concerned rather that,
that it would be,
it would be a bad thing if they rolled that stone back.
And our Lord brought Lazarus back from the dead.
And in the process,
he lifted up Martha and Mary in their faith.
And they professed their belief in him.
And they had to trust him.
He could have come earlier
and prevented Lazarus from dying,
but he didn't.
And he allowed,
he allowed Mary and Martha,
his best friends were told,
told very specifically that he loved this family.
You know, they were some of his closest friends.
And he allowed them to go through this
because he knew that it was somehow important for them
and for the rest of us.
And they had to trust him.
And Martha and Mary did trust him that,
you know, they were upset because of their,
their brother's death.
And I believe it's,
it's,
it's Martha,
you know,
the one who was busy about many things elsewhere,
sort of comes off in a bad light,
who comes to our Lord and says,
you know,
if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now,
I know that God will grant you whatever you ask.
So she's not angry with our Lord.
Somehow she,
she's accepted that there's some type of providence involved here.
Some kind of mystery that she doesn't fully understand.
And even,
even her profession of faith is not,
you know,
a firm expression of a desire that Lazarus be raised from the dead.
She's willing to accept whatever our Lord wants,
but she knows that if he wanted to,
he could raise him from the dead.
So there is this trust on the part of Martha and also Mary in,
in,
in Jesus.
And of course,
Mary raised Lazarus from the dead.
And so all of this is kind of a preparation for all of them,
to trust him when he enters into his passion.
You know,
none of this happened by accident.
And he made it clear to them that none of it happened by accident.
He made it clear to them that he didn't go to Lazarus initially because he
wanted to show forth the greater glory.
He,
he made it clear to the,
the apostles that he knew that Lazarus was already dead,
which he didn't know by any natural means.
And,
and,
and,
and then,
then he,
he,
he elicited these acts of faith from,
from the women in terms of,
of his having power over life,
life and death.
And then he actually manifests that power in this extraordinary way.
So it's like everything is prepared for Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
But unfortunately,
it all comes unraveled because the apostles,
for the most part,
are not there in solidarity with our Lord and,
and don't fully appreciate what our Lord is trying,
trying to do.
So as we enter into Passion Tide with this fifth Sunday of Lent,
next week will be Holy Week,
beginning with Palm and Passion Sunday.
You know,
we,
we need to,
um,
to recognize the providence of God,
uh,
and,
and his goodness,
you know,
and,
and the fact that,
that wherever we are,
no matter what crosses we carry or whatever our struggles are,
um,
that there is divine providence there and that God knows what he's doing.
Even if we're not entirely cognizant of the plan,
you know,
Martha,
Mary,
the apostles,
they didn't know exactly what our Lord had in store.
He,
they didn't understand completely the plan.
He gave them enough information to make the right choices.
And of course they failed for many reasons,
you know,
and that's what our Lord does for us.
He,
he gives us the signs that we need to do what is right.
We do know what God wants of us fundamentally.
There may be a few,
few areas in our life that are sort of empty.
Some are sort of ambiguous and,
you know,
we don't know how to treat other people or people in our family or,
you know,
we don't know exactly what,
uh,
decisions to make as we go forward in,
in life with our families,
our,
our jobs or our vocations.
But in,
in,
in,
in the main,
we do know what God wants.
We know the 10 commandments.
We know what our,
we know right today what God expects of us in our state and life.
And we know the difference between,
uh,
between virtue and vice and,
and we just don't like it sometimes.
We don't like what our Lord has planned for us and we wish,
wish,
wish it was different and that we didn't have the crosses that we have,
have to carry.
But like Martha and Mary,
we,
we have to be humble.
We have to be docile.
We have to trust in divine providence and,
and profess our faith in the Lord that,
that he knows what he's doing,
that he's,
he is in fact in control and he makes the right decisions.
And that if we accept our lot,
if,
if we do,
uh,
in the main what we know to be the will of God,
that,
that things will,
will,
will work out.
And if,
if we make that act of faith,
then we'd like to think,
uh,
sometimes that,
well,
it'll all turn out the way I sort of expect it to.
You know,
it's a great thing that God gave us a,
A,
a,
a line,
uh,
a line of the Bible.
Where,
uh,
Jesus talked about how Moses raised Lazarus from the dead for Martha and Mary.
Uh,
and that was a,
a great gift and consolation.
But it was just before our Lord suffered and died on the cross.
So it was like our Lord sort of gave them this great relief and consolation and then,
right after that they had to endure the scandal of the cross.
So the same,
it's the same for us.
We really have to wholeheartedly trust God and,
uh,
and that's difficult to do.
And,
um,
and,
and,
and,
and,
and,
And that's difficult to do, especially in the times in which we live,
which are in some respects so godless and so uncertain for so many different reasons.
Each and every day we get up, we have to make an act of faith and trust in divine providence.
So let us begin our celebration of Passion Tide with our recognition of the signs that God has given us.
And most especially, the signs are the sacraments.
And most especially, the greatest of the signs is the Eucharist.
And so we must join ourselves to Jesus in the Eucharist, in his holy sacrifice of the Mass,
and every day of our lives as we come to the source of grace and find the strength that we need to trust God
and to go with him to Jerusalem for Good Friday and also for...
Easter Sunday.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.