As beings of both flesh and spirit, there is a dual nature that our Lord knows needs to be addressed in order for us to be fully nurtured and guided. Yes, we have physical needs, and yes, we are subject to physical death, but our spiritual nature far surpasses that in importance, because it is through the spirit that we are truly reborn as beings that will dwell in life eternal.
In our Gospel today, we hear of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and so demonstrating to those present that He has the power over life and death. Our Lord raised Lazarus’ physical form, but that was only a small part of His purpose. The conversations that He has with both Mary and Martha are rooted in their acceptance and faith that He can prevent death and even raise one who has died. Yet, the really groundbreaking dialogue comes from Martha in particular, because she goes a bit further in her discourse and states plainly that she believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He can accomplish anything. This is a groundbreaking proclamation, as up to this point, no one has stated this so plainly. After this conversation has taken place, our Lord goes to Lazarus’ tomb and calls him forth from the dead, and he indeed emerges and is set free from the bonds of death while all those gathered are there to witness this. He had been in the tomb for four days – he emerges still bound by the burial cloths which he is then freed from as well, and all of this in the presence of all the crowd gathered there. People who have seen this, while they may have heard of Jesus performing great signs, now have the actual event and proof in front of them walking around alive – Lazarus is returned from the dead. Many come to believe because of what they have witnessed. Yet not all.
When Lazarus was raised from the dead, a catalyst was triggered. Many of those in positions of authority felt even more threatened, and instead of coming to belief, their hearts were further hardened, and they looked all the more for a way to kill both Jesus and Lazarus. They had seen death defeated, and this was not enough for them. Instead of falling on their knees in acknowledgement that God walked there among them just as the scriptures had foretold, they focused on how to cause others to doubt and to disbelieve, and ultimately how to destroy the Son of God, so hardened were they in their worldly convictions. Yet this should not surprise us, there are many still today who would rather do anything but acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, because they have their own agenda that does not align with His teachings. This is what we must all be vigilant against. We can see plainly that no matter how our Lord shows us who He is, no matter what miracles He performs, there will be those who will simply choose to disregard all of this – only through a change of heart can anyone come to truly believe. This is why our Lord so often was reticent to perform signs for the people, because He knew the futility of doing so. He knew that what He truly needed to focus on was their faith, and this would only come from love and obedience, not from signs performed.
In this Lenten season, we continue to reflect and meditate on our own situations, and we do so humbly as this is a time of penance. We seek to strive beyond our failings, and we readily acknowledge our inability to do this on our own. We instead look with eyes of faith to the one who loved us enough to journey to the cross on our behalf and who offers us life through Him if only we choose to love Him in return.
The Deacons Bench 