Fifth Sunday of Lent
What do people on their deathbeds wish they had done - or not done? Like Lazarus, we will die. Unlike Lazarus, we probably won't get a second chance at living. Father Nelson Medina, of Bogata, Columbia, once listed the top 20 regrets he heard from people who were dying. None were, "I wish I'd spent more time at my office." Many were what we would call matters of conscience. I know a mother facing death who wished she had played more with her children - and not only when they were small. Father Medina couched this in terms of "I thought I always had to be useful more than joyful."
This 5th Sunday in Lent, so near to the feast of Easter, still leaves us time to consider regrets, and how to reverse them while we have a chance. Then we will be ready to celebrate with joy.
Ezekiel didn't need to be a prophet to know that the Israelites were filled with regrets. It's as though they were already dead: they have no hope. They had wasted their time on nothing. They hadn't kept their promises. They had ignored their Maker.
In our 2nd reading from St. Paul, he reminds us that Baptism can strengthen us to live without regrets - if we remember to count on the Holy Spirit for help.
We learn in today's gospel that Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were very good friends of Jesus. They were special to our Lord. Further, they didn't ignore Jesus, a regret that people whisper as they are dying. They neglected to pray, they hurt people rather than befriending them, they didn't offer encouragement and uplift, but weighed others down with complaints or even vulgarity and rudeness. The family of Lazarus isn't like that.
Yet they don't "get" Jesus really. His teaching, his miracles, his example of forgiveness and healing: None of this has been enough for even his friends to acknowledge him as the one who unties, the one who raises up, the one who loves to the full capacity of the heart!
And the end is coming. "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" (John 11:40). This is Jesus' regret - that he hasn't gotten through to his dear friends and that he, like Lazarus, will be called to face death. His will not be a "natural" death from illness, but from the forces of darkness and sin.
What perturbs Jesus and troubles Jesus is the very thing that can free us from regret, now and at the hour of our death. He can let us go. He can raise us up. If you have sensed any regrets as we heard and saw the witness of Ezekial, Paul, Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and Jesus, now is a good time to hear your friend Jesus call you to "come out." Come away from regret and move towards the celebration of rising. The time is at hand.
Jesus told his friends that their faith in him would lead them to see the glory of God. They saw a glimpse. In the Holy Eucharist, we see the reality. This sacrament raises us to eternal life and gives us strength to live this life without regret, trusting in the power of the one who raised Lazarus from the dead.
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