FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
Fifth Sunday of Lent. Year A. (29th March,
2020). Readings: Ezekiel 37:12-14. Psalm 130:1-8. Romans 8:8-11. John 11:1-45.
IMITATE JESUS, THE EVER FAITHFUL FRIEND!
In this fifth Sunday of Lent, we are
presented with the seventh and last miracle of Jesus recorded in John’s Gospel.
Very intentionally, the first sentence is meant to present the sick named
Lazarus who personifies a person wounded by sin, and in the process of dying
unless Christ intervenes in his life. Here, sickness means weakness, limitation,
obstacle, defectiveness and every circumstance that bars us from living the way
God intended for us.
At the moment, what is your sickness or
what are you suffering from that needs the attention of Christ in your life?
Are you struggling with dishonesty and lies? Remember that dishonest people do
not really have good friends but rather surround themselves with only dishonest
fellows who will of course not be honest to them in the most critical situation
when and where honesty is highly deserved to save the situation. Dishonesty
breeds lies, irresponsibility and forgery. In every organization you have
served you have always been accused of being unaccountable. Well known for
doctoring statements of accounts. But learn from what befell Ananias and Sapphira
(Acts 5:1-11). Their sin did not consist in withholding part of the money but
in their deception of the entire community. Their deaths are ascribed to a lie
to the Holy Spirit, that is, they accepted the honour accorded them by the
community for their generosity, but in reality they were not deserving of it.
In your organization, you have been trusted and entrusted with responsibility
that demands accountability but you are fully aware that the accounts you
usually present are full of forgeries.
With this attitude of dishonesty if you are
an automobile engineer, the clients whose cars you repair and service are ever
bitter because their motor vehicles are never in good condition. But the worst
aspect of it all is that they keep trusting you without knowing that you are
the reason why their cars are not always roadworthy because you deceive them to
believe that you have used the original motor parts to fix their cars while in
reality you cleaned the used old plugs and put them back in their cars.
If you are building construction architect,
in your quotation you indicated that you will use the best building materials
in the market to construct the structure but you ended up using substandard
materials. In this case, the building has 70% chances of collapsing within a
short period thereby putting the lives of the occupants at great risk and
danger.
Or still, a civil engineer, you not only
use substandard materials to construct the roads and bridges, but also use
cheap labors because you want to make or save more money out of the whole
constructions. Thus, sabotaging the government or firm that contracted you, and
denying the citizens and members of the public the rights to good roads and
drainage systems they subscribed for through their tax remittances.
Indeed your conscience and sense of honesty
is dead, you really need Jesus to heal you from such sickness this Lenten
season through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In you, God will be glorified
when people will realize that you are a changed person.
However, we should not disregard the
apparent parallels between today’s gospel story (verses 11-17) and Luke’s
parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus (16:19-31). In both cases a man named
Lazarus dies. In Luke, there is a request that he return to convince his
contemporaries of the need for faith and repentance; while in John, Lazarus
does return.
First, as we know, sickness may often lead
to death. Death is a cessation of vital force within a living animal or plant.
Death causes a final stop to every activity of a person. While life is opposite
of death. And from the gospel accounts Jesus is author of life: He raised to
life Jairus’ daughter (Mk 5:35-43, [Mt 9:23-26, Lk 8:49-56]; Widow’s son (Lk
7:11-17). Often we ask God for healing, we dare not ask for resurrection of the
dead because we consider death as something absolutely irreversible. But today
Jesus wishes to show us that no law of destiny or of nature can be an obstacle
to God’s love and care for his people. Again, by raising these individuals,
Jesus points to factuality of resurrection which today seems that a great
number of Christians no longer believe in. One may begin to ask if it is not
the result of a religious instruction or education that has been based more on
moral considerations rather than from listening to the Word of God.
Note, that the death we are talking about
here includes spiritual death. What is dead in you that Jesus needs to restore,
revive and raise? Do you grow weary when it comes to listening to, and sharing
the Word of God? Keep in mind that in order to observe the sort of Lent that is
pleasing to God, we must, before all else, apply ourselves to a more attentive
listening to the Word of God, especially to the Scriptures designated by the
Church for this period of the liturgical year. Develop it as a discipline to
read and meditate daily on the Word of God, be it in the secrecy and silence of
your room. This discipline will gradually set the ground to appreciate reading
the Bible in common, in a family, a group, a community whose members agree on
convenient time to read the Word of God, with allowances for each one’s pace
and according to each one’s abilities to share their understanding of the Word
with the community.
Has your prayer life been buried long ago
like Lazarus who had been in tomb since four days; of which popular opinion
suggests that nothing could be done to remedy the situation? Well, you need to
understand that union in listening to the Word will naturally lead to union in
prayer. All forms of prayer are born from listening to the Word: praise and
thanksgiving for God’s wonders and mercy; entreaty for forgiveness of the sin
in order to regain access to God’s friendship; intercession for God’s grace and
aid so that he will provide for the needs of his children, especially the poor,
the powerless, the outcast, those who suffer injustice and find in God their
only defender. The time of a more attentive listening to the Word of God will
definitely include a more constant attention to, and hunger for prayer.
Meanwhile, from the gospel text we notice
the power of friendship. Jesus filled with feelings common to all human beings,
by weeping: “See how he loved him.” Indeed, the saying is true: “Make new
friends, but keep the old; those are silver, these are gold”(Joseph Parry).
Jesus was actually the gold in the family and life of Lazarus. His availability
to restore Lazarus to life and save the family from mourning really qualifies
the statement which highlights: “True friends are never apart. Maybe in
distance, but never in heart.” Again, “old friends are gold. New friends are
diamond. If you get a diamond, don’t forget the gold, because to hold a diamond
in a ring, you always need a base of gold.”
Jesus’ attitude strongly encourages taking
risks for those we call our friends. Remember, the people had planned to stone
him in Judea, yet he was not perturbed or barred by the possible danger to his
own life. A true friend puts the interest of their friends first before theirs.
A friend is one who inconveniences himself for the sake of his friend. Someone
who is always there, physically, mentally, and emotionally especially when the
waves of life trouble their friends, that is exactly what Jesus did to the
family of Lazarus, and his sisters Mary and Martha. Jesus has proved that a
friend is someone who thinks of you as a family. You are not just an
acquaintance or a companion. Rather, you will always be a family for your
friend, like a sibling.
We all need someone to sit beside us when
everything starts to fall apart. We need someone who is not only good at saying
that everything will be okay when they are not offering any idea, solutions or
financial contribution.
That is, you need a good friend, someone
who is there at your loss. You need someone who will be there to cry with you
at your loss, and not someone who is just present at your wins. That is someone
who is there to stay with you no matter what. When the whole world walks out of
your life, a true friend will be willing to build another world with you.
Someone who sticks with you through thick and thin
One who is willing to go extra mile for
you. A true friend is willing to make sacrifices for you, like changing their
plan for the day just to accommodate yours.
That kind of person who supports you, even
though he or she does not support your situation. A true friend is brave enough
to say no, even if they know all you want to hear is a yes.
Meaning that, he or she has to be someone
who guides you when you need it the most. A friend is there to hold your hand
and see the right path when you are perhaps too blinded to find it yourself.
Someone who will be happy for you when you
achieve the thing you have been longing to have. You need somebody to celebrate
that success with you. You do not need someone who just says congratulations, or
praise singer who hangs around you when the going is smooth but only to
disappear when the success goodies are over.
A friend is more than just someone whom you
go out with every day, one you walk with on your way to school. She or he is
more than just someone you call or chat with on a regular basis. A good and
true friend is a lifetime partner. You may end up choosing different career
paths, a true friend will still call you for a date and talk about your jobs.
Famous French fabulist Jean de la Fontaine once said, “Rare as is true love,
true friendship is rarer.” Sure, he maybe right, but it does not really take a
long time to find a true friend; all it takes is an open heart to give people
the chance to prove why they deserve to stay in your life.
Dear brother or sister, from Jesus’ action
towards Lazarus we have seen and shared what it means to be a good friend, now
what do you think about yourself? Are you really a true and committed friend to
someone else? If not, can you start today? Look at how the whole world is
ravaged and devastated by Coronavirus. There is fear and panic in the society
especially when the situation seems to overwhelm the super nations with much
more advanced medical facilities and know-how. Are there no friends of yours
infected and/or affected by the virus? Certainly there are. Some people now
sleep hungry because their means of livelihood and sustenance depend on daily
casual jobs. That is, they must go out to the field in search of work each day
in order to survive. They are able to make some money by selling their wares or
products at roadsides or on the highways during traffic jams. Some of them,
evening hours is usually the peak of their business activities. Now with the
lockdown in most nations, shutdown in some, and curfew in few others; things
are becoming more difficult for such low income workers and individuals. Some
of them are homeless and have only the under bridge as their bedrooms, so with
the curfew or lockdown they are more exposed to danger. Besides, there seems
not to be any consideration and provision for such caliber of individuals by
the government and leaders.
Thusly, since the system as it stands now
is harsh on such individuals and the leaders seem to be blind to their plights;
are you also going to play ignorance to their situation? Please be a friend to
them, open their grave of hunger and give them food. Take away their stone of
disappointment and offer them appointment. You can open their grave of
homelessness and shelter them. The family of Lazarus, Mary and Martha was never
disappointed because of the friend they have in Jesus, so may these individuals
or families never go hungry when you are around, for a friend in need is
actually a friend indeed.
May the Lord Jesus Christ, a true friend to
Lazarus, Mary and Martha inspire us to be faithful and trusted friends to our
needy families members and neighbors.
Have a blessed
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