The summer after my first year in college seminary, I worked at St. Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing as a custodian. And on a sunny, hot day on 2 July, I was working with my supervisor–a gruff older man named Grady–on trimming the bushes around the school. Some of the work wasn’t bad; we were using gas-powered hedge trimmers. But some of the bushes were big, taller than any of us, and we needed to trim the top. Grady was convinced that the best way to trim the tops was to put me in the bucket of a tractor, and lift me up so I could reach the branches. I hated the idea, but didn’t want to say no to my supervisor.
So I started to get in the bucket, my mind racing with the hundreds of ways that this could end with a lost limb or fatality. But, before the bucket could be raised, the secretary radioed for me to come to the office. Somehow, I knew something wasn’t right, so while my first few steps were at a regular pace, I quickly sped up and ended up running to the office. It was there that the secretary told me that my sister, Amanda, had been in a bad car accident, and I needed to get to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing quickly so that I could ride in the ambulance down to Ann Arbor with my other family members as my sister was air-lifted to U of M Hospital. Fr. Dave, the pastor, drove me to the hospital in Lansing, where my sister ended up having surgery, rather than going to U of M.
I knew something was wrong, so I ran, and I’m willing to bet that Fr. Dave drove faster than the posted speed limit to get me to the hospital. And yet, when Jesus gets word that his friend, Lazarus, is ill, St. John says, “[Jesus] remained for two days in the place where he was.” What was Jesus doing?
Jesus knew exactly what He was doing, and what He was going to do. We heard Jesus say, “‘Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.’” This may seem cold, Jesus waiting for Lazarus to die, and then raise Him from the dead. But it was part of the Father’s plan, for the good of Lazarus, for the good of Martha and Mary, for the good of the apostles and disciples, and even for Jesus’ good.
It didn’t seem that way for Martha. She said to Jesus, “‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” But, even in the midst of her grief and confusion, Martha trusts in Jesus, and the power of God to do anything, even raise someone from the dead. Mary, too, when she comes to see Jesus, repeats the refrain of Martha, “‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” Mary, who had sat at the feet of Jesus to hear Him, while Martha worried about being hospitable, is now wondering what Jesus was doing, and why Lazarus had to die.
But Jesus is not callused to the death, either. When Jesus came to the tomb, He cries. This is the shortest verse in the entire New Testament: “And Jesus wept.” Faced with the loss of His friend, Jesus cries. He even took on our sorrow in the face of the death of a friend. As Jesus goes to raise Lazarus, the crowd does not believe. Even Martha says, “‘Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.’”
And then, after this long, drawn-out episode of Lazarus getting ill, Jesus waiting, Jesus greeting Martha, and then Mary, and then going to the tomb, it all changes. “‘Lazarus, come out!’” Jesus says loudly. And Lazarus does. And the Jews began to believe in Jesus.
We’re in week two of no public Masses. Now we have a Stay At Home order from Governor Whitmer. School is still out. We’re trying to prevent deaths from COVID-19 by our social distancing, but it almost feels like the world is dead. It seems like there has been no life. Many people aren’t even leaving their houses, or doing so very sparingly. With so many people staying inside their homes, by now, there will be a stench!
And yet, the Lord is doing something. Somehow, according to the will of the Father, this is for our good. It seems like Jesus is waiting too long. Things are dire! We need a cure now! We need this to end now! But He’s still waiting. So what is on the other side of this pandemic? We don’t know, other than it’s new life. And somehow, God will be glorified, and others will have the opportunity to believe in Jesus.
I know we want to rush this, and get this over as soon as possible. Believe me, as much as I am grateful to Tommy for Facebook live broadcasting me to you, I’d rather have you here! I’d rather celebrate the holiest week of the year with you. But, for now, we wait in the tomb with Lazarus. For now, we wait for the Lord to act. And while we wait, we reaffirm our trust, that when the Lord Jesus does act, it will mean new life for each of us. So let us wait with joyful hope to hear those words of our Lord: Come out! And we will be unbound, and able to live in the freedom of the resurrection.
