2
April March 2017, 5th Sunday
Lent
Year
A:
• Ezekiel 37:12-14 •
Psalm 130 • Romans 8:8-11 • John
11:1-45 •
Start: Finish: practiced duration:
TITLE: “The Raising of Lazarus”
[__01__] I seem
to recall that a valid test of one’s competence and balance in riding a bicycle
was the ability to remove the hands from the handlebars.
Let
go.
This,
however, did not always produced desired results. There is risk, danger, uncertainty in act of
release, freedom, loss of contact, letting go.
Let
go.
[__02__] This is the command of Jesus, our Savior, to
those who were observing – and grasping the handlebars. The words “let him go,
untie him” were spoken to those who were not sure what to do with the
previously doomed and buried Lazarus.
[__01.01__] And,
Lazarus had was appearing still wrapped in the cloths in which he had been
buried. Thus, in order to move, he needs to be let go, to be released.
[__02__] Do I
want to let go? Recognizing the importance of the handlebars and any device for navigation, I might
decline and keep holding on.
One summer day, I visited a friend at
his own private home, on a leafy green street, with his own driveway and
garage. I drove my car to his
house. I had, at that point for the
previous 6 years, been parking my car on a city street or in a student parking
garage at Seton Hall University where
Grand Theft Auto was not just a video-game. So I was very careful about my car.
cars would be sometimes stolen. I am sure that
these crimes at Seton Hall campus are less frequent now that the Hall has made
the NCAA men’s basketball tournament two years in a row.
Anyway, dumbfounded was my friend that
I would put the anti-theft CLUB device on my steering wheel in his nice driveway.
I did it anyway.
Breaking up is hard to do…. And it can
be hard to let go of the steering wheel, the handlebars or the controls.
[__03__] In
This Gospel reading, Jesus was teaching his disciples and teaching us about
life after death.
This invitation to new life, to
eternal life, to his new life invites us to let go.
How can we let go ?
[__04__] First, the virtue of HOPE, HOPEFULNESS.
When Jesus urges those at the tomb to
let Lazarus go, he also encouraging them to hope. Yes, Lazarus had suffered a
serious illness and he died. He had been buried.
At such a time, we might say…it was
time for his sisters, Martha and Mary, and for everyone to let go.
And, he had been buried. He was let go
from this life.
One person, Martha, makes a profession
of faith and hope, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died.“ (John 9: ___)
Was Martha letting go? Letting go of a
loved one, we can retain hope in their life, their presence with God, and our
hope of reunion with a sibling, a mother or father, a child or a grandchild
again.
[__05__] Also,
Jesus was reminding his disciples of the importance of the journey to Bethany
at the time of the illness.
Due to the geographic proximity – the
nearness – of Bethany to Jerusalem, fearing Jesus would be put to death – by
stoning -- in Jerusalem. They do not want to go or let go. (John 11:8)
The disciples go to Bethany for the
joy of the miracle and also for the sorrow and grief.
And, at times of sorrow and grief, we
are also called often to let go of our own agendas and controls.
One of the ways we do this, also, is
by speaking of and talking about the person who has died. Letting go does not
mean forgetting or overlooking.
Letting go, we remember, we express
our love, not just in farewell but also in a spiritual bond through the love of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Letting go, we also look forward to a
heavenly reunion.
[__06__] Let
him go. This was also the text of the message of the disciples who witness the
arrest and crucifixion of Palm Sunday and Holy Week.
Palm
Sunday…next Sunday. Check your local listings.
[__07__] In
the sacrament of Holy Communion, Holy Eucharist, we are also letting go. This
is true whether we come to adore / meditate before our Lord in the tabernacle
or to receive his body and blood.
Letting go, we say AMEN that we accept
his life, his death, his resurrection.
We also accept that we need God’s
mercy and forgiveness in order to live.
Lent and Holy Week are excellent times
for you and for me to go to confession, to reconnect with this mercy and
energy.
Letting go means that we acknowledge
our sinfulness – UNLOCKED and without an anti-theft device – and that we do so
in the one-on-one encounter of our personal relationship with Christ.
This mercy helps us to let go and also
to let go of hurts, injuries, sins that we may observe or experience from
others.
In this freedom, we acknowledge God’s
will, God’s direction.
Let’s go.
[__fin__]
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