New life does not just occur; we must share in the Cross. We must die to self. Our bodies may be declining, but surprisingly enough, through our “dying to self” our souls can always grow younger and more vibrant. It is also the path to being more joyful, serene, confident, compassionate, patient, less sinful, less angry, less anxious, which is to say, “alive in Christ.”
Today we come to the third and final scrutiny for those who are preparing to be baptized at Easter. Two weeks ago, we were with Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well and we heard Our Lord’s promise of “living water”— an allusion to the new life that comes from the waters of baptism. Last week we heard about the curing of the man born blind so that we might understand Baptism as an “enlightenment.”
Today we come to the raising of Lazarus from the dead. (I prefer to say, “raising” or “resuscitation” since Lazarus would die again.) Jesus is the resurrected, the “first born of the dead.” This miracle shows the power of Christ over sin and death and his promise of new life after death. The very heart of the Paschal Mystery is that Christ came to die and rise again to do for us what he did for Lazarus. Knowing this, we can understand Our Lord’s initial reaction in this Gospel.
Jesus is informed that Lazarus is ill and so he knows his friend is in serious danger. But he does not move. We would like to see him rush there but instead he stays away. It is disturbing to us that he allows Lazarus to die.
How can we make sense of it? Jesus has knowledge of events and problems that are different than ours. He views everything in light of an infinite wisdom, of a power and a mercy without limits. Jesus is not dismayed by death and he and wants to convey his own serenity and calm to his disciples. He reassures the grief stricken Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, even if he dies, will live; whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (Jn 11: 25-26)
These are words that form and transform a life. They are words that change the dark, disturbing mystery of death into the bright promise of immortality. How often we need to be reassured of this truth when we face the mystery of suffering and death!
A priest friend has the habit of consoling a dying person repeating these words: “Look to the light…Jesus is there…It’s OK to go…look to the light!” One day, when he was saying these words, the woman he thought unconscious, opened her eyes and said, “You look to the light!” That is where most of us are…we are human. We are comfortable with the here and now. It’s what we know. But our challenge is always to keep our eyes fixed “on things above.”
Cardinal Hume, whom I so often quote, wrote that “First thoughts about death are normally ones of fear and dread. Some thoughts tell us there is no future, only a blank nothing, we are no more…But there is another voice that speaks within us. It is not a voice that depresses or frightens. It has a different message. This is a message that speaks of hope leading to life after death.”
That “other voice” of course, is that of the Lord Jesus in whom we must place our faith. I like what the Venerable Charles de Foucauld said: “Faith strips the mask from the world and reveals God in everything. It makes nothing impossible and renders meaningless such words as anxiety, danger, and fear, so that the believer goes through life calmly and peacefully, with profound joy—like a child hand in hand with his mother.”