Fifth Sunday in Lent 'A'

Sunday March 9, 2008

Come Out of the Tomb!

I think it is accurate to say that a part of us dies on hearing of the death of a loved one and no matter what the circumstances, there is a void in our hearts as well as an empty place at our table. The trauma of the sudden death of a spouse, a parent or a child creates a numbing effect in the soul that does not subside quickly or easily. Each time I watch the list of the war dead at the conclusion of the Nightly News with Jim Lehrer on PBS, I feel a tremendous sense of loss and an emptiness in my soul.

The crisis of clergy misconduct across the nation and across the globe continues to create yet another kind of death-dealing impact on the faith and confidence of many of the Catholic faithful and over time has rendered some of us numb and immobile in the face of scandal no matter how few the number of those who are guilty.

Human tragedy inevitably results in a trauma of the heart and soul of the family, community or the nation wherever and however it occurs.

The story is told of the playwright, author and political dissident, Vaclav Havel who grew up in war-torn Czechoslovakia in the aftermath of World War II and during the onslaught of Communism. He became an outspoken critic of totalitarianism and was sentenced in 1979 to four and a half year stint in prison for his involvement in the Czech human rights movement. This did not prevent him from eventually establishing the ‘Civic Forum,’ the first legal opposition movement in Czechoslovakia in 40 years. He compared his rise to political leadership and his nation’s restored freedom to the experience of someone emerging from a tomb and awakening to life. In his book, Disturbing the Peace, Alfred A. Knopf quotes Vaclav: “Life without hope is an empty, boring, and useless life. I cannot imagine that I could strive for something if I did not carry hope in me. I am thankful to God for this gift. It is as big as life itself. ” (Quoted by Patricia Sanchez in her Scriptural Commentary published in Celebration Preaching Resources, NCR publications, Kansas City, 2002.)

A well-known oncologist and friend said to me one time, never deprive a patient of hope. It is an essential ingredient for wellness whatever the outcome of the illness. He was referring not only to the mind and body but also to the soul of a person.

The Scriptures for this fifth Sunday in Lent are among the most powerful and moving in the entire Lenten lectionary. Each reading dramatizes the dynamic intervention of God into the chaos of human discouragement and despair.

Ezekiel’s ‘introduction’ to the original version of that old spiritual, “Them Dry Bones” offers a prophetic vision echoing the drama of creation and foreshadowing the miracle of resurrection shouts out hope for the downtrodden returning from Babylon after the exile. In his letter to the Romans, Paul equates the gift of life in the Spirit with the most precious of all gift—freedom, the internal freedom that releases the believer from the paralysis of despair and that empowers us to works of justice and compassion that restore life and bring the hope of eternal life.

John’s magnificent story of the resuscitation of Lazarus dramatizes the miracle of our own rebirth in the Spirit of God—a rebirth that enables us to breathe into the lungs of our inner self the breath of God, and live the rhythm of God, unshackled by infinite love.

As one who was much loved by Jesus, Lazarus is a paradigm of every believer—of you and of me. As Jesus called loudly to Lazarus to “Come out,” so also does Jesus summon each of us to recognize whatever sin or fear or anxiety or handicap we have allowed to entomb us in death, and to “come out” so as to allow ourselves to be liberated by divine grace and go free.

Whatever the death-shackle that binds you, Jesus says, “Come out!”

Is it a grudge that paralyzes you? Is it the unwillingness to forgive hurt or the inability to allow yourself to be forgiven a wound that you have inflicted on someone?

“Come out,” says Jesus from the tomb of preoccupation with your hurts and the pride that prevents you from letting go of it.

What is it that holds you back and drains you of the energy to reach out? “Come out,” says Jesus and go free so that you too can go out and untie the bindings and lighten the burdens of your neighbor through works of justice, mercy and compassion—hard-nosed compassion.

As catechumens preparing for baptism and candidates preparing for entrance into full communion with the Church complete their period of purification and final preparation, all believers are invited into the sanctuary of the human heart to let go and let God’s grace take root so that having been set free from our own wounds, we may help to set others free.

Someone out there is waiting for you today and tomorrow.

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