Lazarus, Come Forth

We now come to the third of the three great Lenten gospels of John, the story of the raising of Lazarus. It is one of the great stories of John’s gospel and it is unique to him. The other gospels do recount stories of Jesus restoring people to life – Luke has the widow of Nain’s son while Matthew and Mark have the raising of Jairus’ daughter, but they have none of the sheer drama and powerful impact of the raising of Lazarus. John has used the story to offer a deep challenge to our faith.

Lazarus is dead, of that there is no doubt. He has been in the grave for four days
and a heavy stone has been placed across the opening to the grave. He is gone and there can no longer be any access to him. But for Jesus the stone is not a barrier, it is merely and obstacle. It can be overcome and moved if only we have faith. In the stories of the woman at the well and of the man born blind, we have heard and observed Jesus brining two people to faith. We have seen how through his signs and deeds he elicits from them a profession of faith drawn from within them. Even though in their lives they both seemed unlikely figures from which faith would be born, Jesus allows them to understand that through their encounter with him, his love and his mercy can be revealed within them and be the life source which brings them to their knowledge of God as a living presence for them. But now in the story of Lazarus, what we have placed before us is the great challenge of death, and the question for us becomes one which asks: can our faith deal with death and its aftermath?

Death is the ultimate obstacle to our faith. It is the great stone which stands thwarting our desire to commit. It is the great mystery which for many is the reason to abandon faith since death is the end of life, beyond which there is nothing. Remember man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return was what we were told on Ash Wednesday, and the graveside is the stark reminder of that. But here is Jesus standing at the graveside of the one he loved, and for whom he wept. The one who brought living water and the light of faith stands on the threshold of death at every graveside and asks us for faith just as he asked Mary and Martha. Jesus will be tested too, and he will overcome, and roll away the stone. “Lazarus come forth!” is the affirmation of faith as it resounds in our ears. As we move towards Holy Week and live out again the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, let those words resonate once more and bring us forward in faith, to the glory of Easter.

Let there be light

Following on from last week when we considered the symbolism of water in connection with baptism, this week the gospel related the story of the man born blind. Here we observe the symbolism moving from water to light and the clear implication of this change is to express how through baptism we are enlightened by the sacramental encounter we have with Jesus. The words Jesus uses bring this idea into focus. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Note that we are told that the man had been blind from birth or in other words he was born blind, from the very beginning. It reminds us that in the beginning, God created the world when there was darkness over the deep. God’s first words were “Let there be light”, as if it is a moment of revelation, an opening up of the mind to understand the purpose and meaning of our lives. In the mind of the man born blind he was until this moment still living in darkness. It is by his coming to understanding that he is brought to a knowledge of the presence of God in the person of Jesus.

For each of us too, our coming to enlightenment in Christ through our baptism is an opening of our eyes. The light of Christ floods into our minds and we begin to see the world as the work of God’s hands. Notice how Jesus makes a paste from the earth, the “humus” and creates the man anew for him to see the true nature of himself as created in God’s image. At every baptism the paschal candle burns with the light of the Risen Christ. The newly baptised person, a new creation, receives a candle lit from the paschal candle, a light to be kept burning in their hearts as they take the first steps on their new journey.

This journey will not be without its challenges. We read how the man in the gospel was immediately challenged by those around him – indeed we are told they drove him away. We must have the courage and strength to withstand these challenges, to see them as moments of witness, when we are being asked to stand up for our faith and our beliefs. These moments can happen suddenly and without warning. They can come unexpectedly and out of the blue. Such moments can be overwhelming and can quite literally “blind” us as we struggle to understand and appreciate what has happened. It is in these moments, when the darkness may seem about to overcome our capacity to accept what has happened, that the light of world comes to bring up his revealing love to guide us through the shadows and to our home.

May the light of Christ dwell within us.

Refresh my Soul

Over the next three Sundays we have the three great Lenten readings of the
Woman at the Well, the Man born Blind and the Raising of Lazarus. Their themes of water, light and resurrection are intimately linked to the sacrament of Baptism, which our catechumens are preparing for at Easter. With the baptism liturgy as our guide, we will explore each theme over the three weeks beginning to day with water.

The sign and symbol of water is paramount to baptism and so as Jesus encounters the woman at the well it is the image of him bringing her to faith that provides the backdrop for our thoughts. Baptism is the gateway into faith and the road on which we travel. As the woman is drawn to the well, we can all understand the symbolism at work. The well becomes the baptismal font from which she will receive the water of new life. This water, blessed by the presence of Jesus, reminds us of the waters at the beginning of creation and over which the spirit of God hovered at the beginning. From this beginning all things come into being, created by God and given life.

It was at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan that the moment of revelation took place. At this moment the voice of the Father was heard: “This is my son, my favour rests on him”. In a similar and symbolic way the voice of the Father is spoken to the newly baptised as the emerge from their moment of revelation. The woman at the well responds to the words of Jesus and we are also called to respond in a similar way.

Through baptism we encounter the risen Christ in the sacramental life we have been born into. The water and blood which flows from the side of Christ, pierced by the lance when he was on the cross, is the symbol of this sacrament. Just as Eve was moulded from Adam’s side, so then the Church, the bride of Christ, is born from the blood and water which flows from the side of Jesus, the new Adam.

In the gospel of today, this symbolism is played out in all fulness. The woman comes to the well, to the font of life and is refreshed, so that now she will never thirst again. All that was her life before this moment is now put behind her, cleaned by the water of life. Her place within the community is no longer one which is exclusive but is now inclusive. What she has received, she now openly gives to others, to bring them to this moment too. She is an evangelist.

We pray for our catechumens as they prepare for their encounter with the Lord.

Welcome this holy season

Lent begins with much to think about. At home the state of the economy, the strikes in the public services, the continuing cost of living crisis, all remain unresolved. Abroad the war in Ukraine seems far from resolution, the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is palpable; it seems that we are being challenged from all sides, with solutions a long time arriving. Our faith, and its place within the interplay of all these issues, must speak loudly to us as a guide and a response which directs our Lenten practice. Ash Wednesday spoke to us clearly and unequivocally. The mark of the ash on our foreheads must be more than a symbol. The gospel message of fasting, prayer and alms giving needs to be put into practice as much as we can in these coming days. So how can we engage in such a way as to make our witness both meaningful and visible?

All three are in one sense a demonstration of our solidarity with each other. What we are experiencing we do so together and not in isolation. We come together to pray, we share our experiences with the community and with the Lord. Nowhere is this more visible than at the Eucharistic celebration, the “source and the summit” of our Christian witness. It is before the Eucharist that we fast as we open ourselves up to the grace of the sacrament. Into the space we create, comes the animating and inspiring power of the Spirit. It directs our prayer in opening our eyes and ears to the needy and the disadvantaged. It moves us to act as we are sent out to announce the gospel of the Lord, through our deeds of generosity and relief. In doing so we share Christ’s love beyond the confines of our own comfort, causing us to reach out and become aware of others whose want is so great.

This is the challenge of Lent. Let us listen carefully to the gospel on each Sunday and then, during each week, let us pick a day in which we can do our best to live out one of those three actions of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. This Sunday the gospel features the temptation of Jesus in the desert. As we go through this week, let’s make a concrete effort to resist temptation, let us pray about the impact it will have upon us and of how it may change us, to act in a way that helps us to give ourselves more freely to the work of Christ, in the healing of our wounded world.

Our Father

I think it is interesting to note, as it is not widely appreciated, that the prayer which Jesus taught us to pray each day, is part of his teaching that is included in the Sermon on the Mount. Over these last four weeks, the gospel readings have been from this momentous section of Matthew’s Gospel, in which Jesus unfolds for us a panorama of images that act like a landscape for the Christian life. We are being instructed how to live in the light of these realities, and as we look back over these gospels, we should be mindful of what we are being asked.

The beatitudes themselves have their own context. It is the kingdom of heaven. When we try to define that term, do we assume that Jesus is us calling us to consider a quasi-utopian reality which for many people is simply beyond their grasp. Think of the thousands who are struggling with the circumstances of their lives, be it the cost of living crisis, or the lack of food and shelter. The devastation of war and conflict, or natural disaster, and simply find it inconceivable to imagine how such situations can ever be overcome. Yet at the heart of the ‘Our Father’ we make a petition, that the kingdom for which we long, be made visible and sustainable here on earth, within in the confines of all those difficult and horrible circumstances and conditions. It seems so incongruous but that is what the prayer evokes, and it is what makes the prayer and the whole of the Sermon on the Mount so radical. The idea of turning the other cheek, of going the extra mile and of loving enemies are no longer fanciful expectations, but concrete expressions of the true identity which the Christian faith is about.

From its very beginnings the hallmark of the Christian community was the way in which it sought to offer comfort to those who mourned. Compassion for those in strife, such that it hungered for what was right, notwithstanding the persecutions it suffered. Doing so, because the community and each member of it, knew it was the pathway by which the kingdom was to be made present. It is what Jesus still calls upon us to undertake, each day, evidenced by acts of kindness and generosity, through forgiveness and blessedness. it is sustained for us by the bread of life which feeds us. So when we pray the prayer, we recognise the centrality of the Father’s love, in which we are all blessed.

Let us make this love the driving force of our desire to build the kingdom in all its fulness, beauty and glory.

Light and Salt

Without a doubt these are two necessities of life. Light, generated from the sun gives us warmth and heat, and salt, the compound produced from the two elements of sodium and chlorine, is required in some amount to ensure the survival of all animals and plants. You might then call them essential necessities, so, when Jesus refers to them in the gospel today, we should open our ears and listen to what he tells us. I think he is telling us that our discipleship is identified by association with these two necessities. Light as a means of illuminating a pathway, and salt as a means of adding richness and flavour. But we may ask, where is the pathway leading us to and what is the richness and flavour that is to be brought into play?

In the prologue of John’s gospel, we read that the Word was the true light that enlightens all people...and the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. If we are to be light illuminating a pathway, it must be a pathway that leads all people to Christ. Therefore as disciples, our challenge as followers of Jesus, is to walk this pathway ourselves, encouraging others to take up the same challenge. We cannot therefore allow the light to become submerged or dimmed by our own failure to keep it shining brightly in our lives. The light of Christ has been given to all of us at our baptism. It was lit for us from the Paschal Candle as a reminder that the Risen Lord is now the light that illuminates our journey through life. To be true to our calling we must always support and encourage each other to keep it shining brightly.

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus begins his mission with the word “repent”. It is a word which means “change” as in change your way of doing things or change your way of living. The agents of change in the chemical world are known as catalysts, of which salt is a well-known example. Sprinkle salt on your chips and you will certainly notice the difference! Jesus is identifying us as catalysts of change in the world, agents of reaction and transformation. We are to be proclaimers of the great reagent of change, the gospel. We are to spread its joy and to sprinkle it around liberally and generously so that it transforms our lives and the lives of those around us.

The pathway we walk is to be illuminated by and enlightened by the change from what we were, to what we now are. Through Christ we have become “new creation”. Our eyes have been opened and our lives transformed. We are alive in his life. Let us share this life and show the world how wondrous and beautiful it is.

Praying for Christian Unity

How many of us know that we are in the middle of the week set aside by the Church for prayers for Christian unity? I would guess that it passes most of us by without a great deal of thought. This is of course a great sadness, because we know that for Jesus, one of the things which he prayed for during the Last Supper was that we may all be one. He prayed this prayer in order that our witness as his disciples, should be testament to the world that it was the Father who sent him. These words are his final ones to his disciples gathered together before his goes to his fate. What are we to make of them?

I think that we have become a bit blasé about the whole concept of Christian Unity and tend to treat it as something which is no longer high up in the order of importance in matters ecclesial. We have we contend, more urgent issues to think about within our own denominations, and that the larger and wider topic of ecumenism can be left for a little while longer, for a time when our own concerns within the context of our own communities have been resolved. Well maybe, but it does us no good to disregard what Jesus himself prayed for, and so, one week in the year is the least we should be prepared to offer in the cause of true and faithful ecumenical action. The very word ecumenism refers to a “sense of renewal of the house” which as Christians we all inhabit together, by virtue of our common baptism. However, as we read in the Second Reading at Mass this weekend, we have from the very outset of the Church been prone to prioritise our own preferences and thus create differences. St Paul reminds us that at the heart and centre of our faith are the deeds and words of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and we must never neglect or forget this. Of course, doctrinal and liturgical differences matter, and we strive with all our resolve to heal the wounds that have so bruised our fractured unity. We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the clear desire on the part of our Church leaders to steer the barque of Peter in the direction of unity, such wounds can and will be healed.

But what of us here now? What can we do? Well, we can make the effort to become involved in the work of ecumenism. As our new parish emerges shouldn’t we also be reaching out to our fellow Christians in common mission and discipleship which can be achieved by becoming closer and more united in our witness? Perhaps a group of parishioners might like to start up such a collaboration. If so let me know and we can see what can be done. As for celebrating this special week we are invited to prayer at Kingswood Methodist Church, Lambourne Drive, Wollaton at 6.30pm on Sunday. Let’s make the effort and help steer the barque.