The Gospel today is a familiar one but first, let me take you back a few weeks. At the scene of the Transfiguration, Jesus’ true Godly nature was shown. We follow that with three great stories from John’s Gospel stuck in the middle of Lent—for a reason.
First, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. Last week Jesus gives sight to the blind man. Today Lazarus is raised from the dead. Oftentimes, we hear the beginning of these Gospels and say, “Oh, I’ve heard that one before,” and our mind wanders off in another direction. But, each time these Gospels are presented to us, we have the opportunity to learn something new; we have the opportunity to know a little more as to who Jesus truly is. Do we? Do we get the picture? Do we see ourselves in any or all of these stories? We are the woman at the well. We are the blind man. We are Lazarus. There are no “chance” encounters with Jesus.
So, today, Jesus calls Lazarus from the tomb. Jesus also calls us to come out from whatever tomb we are in—the tomb of our habits of sin, addiction, anxiety, despair; to come out of the tomb of loneliness, greed, drudgery, a life devoid of meaning or substance; to come out of the tomb that forces us to live small and scared, hardly daring to wonder what else might be available to us; to come out of the tomb of whatever keeps us from living a free, productive, joy-filled life in relationship with our God.
Jesus calling us is not enough. He calls us all the time. We have to be willing to answer the call and do something. Think about it. Jesus could have skipped the trip to Bethany and just snapped His fingers and Lazarus would have been raised. However, He went and He called and Lazarus got up and answered the call. That is what Jesus is asking us to do today—answer the call.
The story of Lazarus has so many twists and turns we could spend a week discussing all of them but there is one other element worth mentioning today. With the woman at the well we see the encounter with Jesus (the call) and her response (faith to believe and then to tell others). With the blind man we see the encounter on the roadside and the blind man’s response (having the faith to believe in what Jesus asked and then answering the call to wash his eyes).
Forgetting Lazarus’ response for a moment, when Jesus arrives in Bethany, the sister of Lazarus tells Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” This statement really contains a question: Where were you when Lazarus needed you? We sent for you why did you take so long? Martha asks the question but she also shows her faith; “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” At this Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Jesus exhorts Martha to trust him. And she does. She answers the call and the miracle happens.
Jesus is asking us to trust him, and if we do, if we answer the call, miracles will happen.