Fifth Sunday in Lent A.  April 10, 2011.  Our Lady of Grace 5PM, 9:30, 11:30AM.  Ezekiel 37: 12-14.   Romans 8: 8-11.  John 11:1-45.

Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep. I will go and wake him up.”  The disciples thought that Jesus was talking about ordinary sleep. Anyone who has had a sleepless night and a second and a third knows how damaging not being able to sleep can be.  Then Jesus said it very bluntly, “Lazarus is dead.”  In fact Lazarus was so dead that when Jesus finally arrived Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days and his body stunk from decay.  Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”  Lazarus came out bound hand and foot in burial clothes.  Jesus had awakened him from death and endless sleep. 

This gospel miracle is about you and me.  The fact of the matter is that we may be asleep and dead about the true meaning of life, and the life style we have chosen may stink more than just a little bit. 

Jesus told the story of a rich man who had a poor man begging at his door.  Each day the rich man stepped over the poor man to get in and out of his house and did nothing to ease the poor man’s pain.  There is certainly nothing wrong with being rich. But our possessions can make us blind to the people around us and imprison us in a tomb of greed. Wealth can give off the fragrant smell of goodness, generosity, joy and life, or wealth can give off the terrible stench of death and destruction.  You don’t have to be a drug lord to be entombed by selfishness. Selfishness can be walking death.

Sexuality is one of God’s greatest gifts and marriage and family are among life’s greatest accomplishments.  Pope John Paul II saw the sexual and spiritual union of a man and a woman in marriage as an image of the communion of love shared in the life of the Trinity.  The Pope’s theology of the body reminds us that human sexuality has the power to deepen our participation in the life of God.  Sexuality is a gift that can bring us great joy and bring new life into the world. There is no doubt that sexual addiction, sexual abuse, pornography and prostitution can give off a terrible stench.  Jesus stands at the door of our intimate sexual lives and says “Wake up – come out – unbind him or her and let them go free.”  Are we ready to be free and responsible and life giving sexually?

We have been given the gift of human consciousness by God.  Trying to get my dog to look at the stars or to admire a sunset is beyond what a dog can do.  But we are conscious human beings.  We can reach out to the whole universe with our minds.  We can ponder and think about the majesty of God.  We can understand science and work miracles through the creativity of our minds.  We are aware of ourselves, our neighbors and God in a way that no animal can be. Do we fill our minds, our memories and our imagination with good things that create and re-create the world in which we live?  We can also fill our minds with empty entertainment, boredom and just plain junk so that our minds and our souls become empty, unproductive grave yards.  Jesus stands before the door of our minds and souls and says, “Wake up – come out – unbind your mind and go free.”

One of our most precious possessions is the gift of deep friendships and relationships.  Prayer is certainly one of those relationships.  The tomb that I create is being too busy for people, for parishioners, for friends and for prayer.  Busyness is my sin.  I often think of it as a virtue.  In fact busyness often makes me shallow, empty and even angry.  Being too busy can make me smell very bad.  Jesus stands outside the door of the tomb of busyness and says, “Wake up – come out – be unbound and set free.”

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Jesus answered, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?”  Martha answered, “Yes, Lord.  I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

Do we want to rise from the dead? For the grace to ask Jesus, the Lord of Life, to wake us up, call us out of the living death of our tombs and set us free, we give God thanks and praise.