This past Sunday we heard within Mass the raising of Lazarus from the dead. One of the strangest parts of this is the way in which our Lord upon hearing that His friend is sick deliberately delays and stays where He is with no sense of urgency. For the plan of salvation in general and for the souls of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary it was good for them to go through this suffering. That is a very important lesson for us as we suffer through the inconveniences and if it is God’s will, the pains, and death that the coronavirus has brought upon this Lent. God’s love for us wants to see us in heaven and whatever it takes to make that happen is what He will do. We still have to say “yes” to His plan because of our free will and this might mean saying “yes” to a painful death as Lazarus did. We see the way in which Martha struggles with this truth. She firmly believes Jesus to be the Christ and sees Him as the path to eternal life but she also misses her brother. Her faith is rewarded with the temporal gift of seeing her brother rise but within her, a deeper gift of grace was worked. We ask the Lord to grant this to us. Before my last point, just a note about how Martha is a typical sister, always declaring that their brothers stink! Lastly, we see the power of Jesus and why we should believe in Him. Unlike the miracles of people being raised from death in the Old Testament by Elijah and Elisha and even His own raising of Jairus’ daughter and the widow of Nain’s son, here there is no physical contact with the body of the deceased but just a word of command filled with power. We are to think back to Genesis and the creation where God made all things by the power of His word. That Jesus has the same power in His word indicates that He is God and has the power to re-create this world in a wonderful way. May we be like Martha and despite our fears and worries place all our hopes in Jesus as the resurrection and the life.
