Many years ago, when I was a young man instead of the older man I am now, this was Passion Sunday and the Gospel reading on that Sunday was one of the accounts of the Passion and Death of Jesus. The Sunday that followed was Palm Sunday and it led us into Holy week. You will see next week that the two have been combined. In modern times the Gospel is focusing on death but not that of Jesus even though he is now heading to Jerusalem. The death we hear about when we look at the text of today’s Gospel is of Lazarus, a dear friend of Jesus. Jesus is using the death of Lazarus as a teaching moment for the  Apostles and those who are with them and with   Martha and Mary. As Jesus approaches the town, Martha, who had heard that Jesus was coming, goes out to meet him. There is an interesting interaction here between Jesus and Martha. Martha tells Jesus that if he had come when he received the message of Lazarus’ illness, he could have healed Lazarus then but now he’s dead. That interaction and what follows it leads to the statement from Jesus that He, Jesus, is the resurrection and the life and those who believe in Him even though they die will live. That takes us to the statement that we, those who believe in Jesus, live in this world but are not of this world. 

To get a better understanding of this look back to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5, verse 3 where Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. People who are poor in spirit, who understand that they are not God but that they are creatures created by God and as such are reliant on God are already living in the kingdom of heaven. They are already in that next life even though they are physically alive.

Jesus intentionally set up this situation by not going to Lazarus and his sisters as soon as he got the  message that Lazarus was sick and Jesus’ response goes right over the heads of the apostles. It’s another powerful teaching moment but at the same time it’s another moment that gets Jesus in trouble with the authorities because now he’s raising people from the dead.

So, what do we take from this Gospel reading? If you take anything, believe more that Jesus is the Son of God and in his power, because he is the Son of God. Also go back and re-read the first Beatitude and decide what you can be working on that will cause the total change that makes you poor in spirit. If you are there don’t pat yourself on the back but thank God for the awesome awareness you’ve been blessed with. Only 2 more weeks to go in your    preparation to celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Deacon Raymond Lamarche