Saturday 5th Week of Lent

April 12, 2003

Today's pericope bridges last Sunday's gospel story of the raising of Lazarus and at the same time sets the stage for the beginning of the Holy Week Passion tomorrow.

Imagine being present when Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb. He had been dead four days and his body had begun to putrefy. Responding to the command of Jesus' voice, he who had been dead, walks out of the grave wrapped like a mummy; wrapped in the bindings of death, his burial clothes trailing behind him.

Many who witnessed Lazarus stumbling forth were probably terrified and only later reflected on their emotions. The comical and the macabre are not mutually exclusive. When we allow ourselves to be bound by sin and all that is destructive, we become mere caricatures of ourselves. The light within diminishes, and we become like the living dead; immobilized until we are unbound.

And note well, it was the power of Jesus that brought forth life. But it was Jesus command to all who had gathered round: "Unbind him and let him go free." Jesus has set us free from sin and death but our "grave clothes" of self‑destruction and dependencies must be removed by sharing our caring.

What was it about Jesus that caused some of the Pharisees to speak so vehemently against Him? The miracles He performed were meant to soften hearts and to draw people closer to God. Yet the actions of Jesus only seemed to intensify their alienation from Him.

The plot which begins to play out before Caiphas today will climax next Friday with the High Priest's dramatic rending of his robes. Why? The charge is blasphemy. He claims equality with “I Am.” The fact of the matter is, either he is a blasphemous fraud, or He is truly integral in His Father's “I Amness.”

In the Passion which we read together tomorrow, we hear of Jesus agonizing in the garden and coming to realize His share in “I Amness.” With those very words the cohort of soldiers are slain to the ground in a demonstration of heavenly power. And beneath the cross these soldiers refuse to rend his seamless garment but cast dice to preserve its integrity.

That seamless un-torn robe in contrast to that of Caiphas is the woven fabric of each and every one of us into the seamless “I Amness” of God.

But like the Pharisees, we too, can choose to tear and rend and pull away and isolate our own “I Amness,” and reduce our spirits to "ghosts" and walk around like the living dead.

If the human body is only a temporary prison, from which we must be freed, then caring for the hungry, sick, prisoners, refugees, and dying cannot be seen as sharing in the glory of God.

On the other hand, if bodily resurrection offers the most profound basis for the sacredness of human flesh and reverencing all forms of life; if the body is the sacred space where the Spirit dwells, then it is worthy of resurrection.

Like Lazarus, we too, will be called forth. Stripped of all that binds us, we can give vent to the laughter, to the joys of recovery and new life; the laughter and the joys of gratitude.