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A look at the appointed gospel from the Revised Common Lectionary for the fifth Sunday in Lent, March 29, 2020.
“When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.”
My Two Cents….
It is not a tomb, nor is it a prison. It is my home and in these past few days, it has been both a safe haven and a place of restriction. As the Covid-19 pandemic rages, home is the place where I’m located. My family joins me and we are faring well so far. We have used this time of isolation to reconnect - play board games, watch movies, and laugh together. I am grateful that we like each other and value each other’s presence. It is no doubt that there will come the moment when we get on each other’s nerves. Thankfully, it has not yet arrived.
Social distancing, staying home, online school and worship, working remotely, quarantine, and sheltering in place - all of these are departures from the way that we live usually. As individuals and as part of communities, we have had a crash course in isolation.
Covid-19 has brought with it a deep sense of grief. Beyond the inconvenience, disappointments, discomfort, and separation, there is death. Across the globe, people have died. Compounding this grim fact has been the restrictions placed upon burial practices. During a pandemic, grief itself is restricted. It is a feeling of sorrow upon a sorrow that loved ones need to bear the pain of death alone.
Martha gives voice to hurting spirits - “Lord if you were only here… my loved one would not have died!” In other words, where are you, God? Where is Your breath of life as the virus continues to spread and wreak havoc?
These questions have haunted the faithful across generations. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there injustice and suffering? How could a loving God allow for such things? These age-old questions are so common that they even have a fancy theological category of their own - theodicy. Theologians and philosophers have debated and kicked this can around the schoolyard for years. Honestly, I haven’t found their ‘answers’ all that helpful or definitive.
I think that the question - why do bad things happen to good people - is misguided. It assumes a transactional order to the universe. Everything that happens is caused by something else. Goodness causes good things to happen. Badness causes badness. Although this works most of the time, it doesn’t always. Hence, a problem arises. Life is more random. Both good and bad things arise unexpectedly, apart from easily recognizable causation.
No matter how much we try to control or manipulate life, it operates apart from our designs. Most of the time we can live in denial. We can pretend that we have a plan - might even imagine it to be “god’s plan.” It is a ruse and a fabrication of our well-wishes.
Lazarus’s death shatters Martha’s carefully constructed world. Covid-19 breaks ours.
At the place of occupied tombs, profound grief, and broken spirits, Jesus appears and offers us the presence of God. Jesus comes not as ‘answer,’ explanation, or cure. He offers no magic wand, amulet, or talisman to make everything all right. That is not how God works. Instead of making the bad things go away, Jesus announces resurrection. He shouts new life in the face of death.
Jesus reveals for us what resurrection looks like as Lazarus emerges from the tomb. Still wrapped in the grave clothes, which serve as a reminder of death’s lingering presence, Lazarus lives again. No longer captive to the reality of death, Lazarus is freed to follow Jesus’s way of life.
And so are we - right in the midst of the things that we fear and that threaten our lives. It is time for us to put aside our inadequate plans and schemes. Our illusion of being in control should also give way. Instead, let’s look at the life that Jesus gives us. May we follow in the path of the Resurrection and the Life. It is a way that is filled with hope, courage, and new beginnings. It is time to love as Jesus loves.
In Christ's Light,
Walt
Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends. Copyrighted 2020. Walt Lichtenberger
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