John 11: 1-45 (Sunday, March 9, 2008 – Fifth Sunday of Lent)

Two Sundays ago, Jesus Christ revealed himself to the Samaritan woman at the well as the “water of life.” Last week in the story of the man born blind, Jesus said, “I am the light of the Lord.” Again and again, throughout the gospel of John, Jesus Christ uses different symbols to tell us about his true identity. In John 6:35, he says, “I am the bread of life”; In John 10:9, he says, “I am the door”; In John 10: 11, he says, “I am the good shepherd”; In John 14:6, he says, “I am the way, the truth and the life”; and in John 15:5, he says, “I am the vine.”
The story is a little different today in the wonderful gospel story of the raising of Lazarus to life. When Martha told Jesus of the death of his friend, Lazarus, his response is that, he is not dead. Martha obviously believed in the resurrection of the dead on the last day. Jesus Christ revealed his identity to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” What is different in today’s story is that, Jesus Christ did not only identify himself as the resurrection and the life, he went ahead to show that he truly has power over life and death, and he brought Lazarus into life. For Mary and Martha, their situation was helpless, they have lost their beloved brother. Jesus overturned this situation and make it a happy one. Lazarus case looked hopeless at the time that Jesus arrived. Even though Martha believed that Jesus could bring Lazarus to life on the last day, she did not believe that Jesus will do it at that very moment. That is the reason Marthat is saying to Jesus, he will stench because he has been buried for four days. Martha failed to understand that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life and he can bring Lazarus back to life when ever he wants.
Saints, I do not know what you are going through right now – many of you may be Lazarus’ in one way or the other:

Ø You may be going through spiritual death right now. Your whole life is empty. You have lost your faith in God. Religion is all about the external without anything coming from within. When you pray, it seems like nothing is happening. You are at that point of crying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” Know that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life and he can and will restore you to the fullness of the spirit.
Ø Some of you may be going through physical deaths right now. You are dead to sickness. You are living every day of your life counting when you will die. You have an incurable disease and you are told there is no cure. You are hiding your health situation and dying in your loneliness. I have good news for you today, the resurrection and the life can restore you.
Ø Talk about financial deaths. That is what many people are going through right now. You are afraid your home would be foreclosed. Your credit card debt is piling up; you are owing income tax and the mere thought of April 15 coming next month scares you to death because you do not have the money to pay. I want to assure you that the resurrection and the life will see you through this.
Ø Some of you are dead to family. Your wife or husband is unfaithful to you. That initial love you had when you got married is dead. Your children are really making you impatient and they aggravate you. There is chaos in your home. You may even be contemplating divorce. Jesus Christ has some news for you today. He will bring your family and love back to life.
Ø Some of you are dead to your work. There is no motivation when you get up in the morning to go to work. You have not received a pay increase in five years, yet the prices of things are going up. You are even contemplating quitting your job, but you are afraid because you will not find another job. The resurrection and the life is saying to you today, “My promise to you is that you will not be at the tail but at the head. Don’t give up.”
Ø You may be dead to sin right now. You have lost your conscience and sin no longer perturbs you. You do not know how to get out of the bondage of sin you have placed yourself into. Jesus Christ is saying to you today, “that is the reason I gave you the sacrament of reconciliation. Go and get yourself resurrected.”

The question today is, do you believe that Jesus Christ can overturn your situation? Some of you believe strongly in Newton’s law of gravity, “whatever goes up must surely come down.” I want to assure you today, that this theory has no place in God’s book of theories. God wants to replace this law with a higher law, the law of aerodynamics. It is the law that keeps a plane up in the sky. Some of you may have gone up and fallen down. All the wonderful hopes you had for the future are gone. Jesus Christ wants to raise you back up and keep you up. This is only possible if you life in the rhythm of the law of aerodynamics, the law of hope, the law of faith, and the law of courage.

John 7: 40-53 (Saturday, March 8, 2008)

Some people in the crowd are beginning to understand who Jesus Christ truly is. Some are beginning to think that he is the Christ. They are however still held back by their own human judgments. They are failing to understand that Jesus Christ is greater than all the biological origins they are trying to limit him to. Even as they try to trace this human history of his identity, they still do not understand that he actually falls within this history. Jesus Christ is properly of David’s family as it is evidenced in the genealogy of Jesus as it is found in Matthew 1: 1-25. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1) and because of this, he is humanly speaking, a proper native of the town of Bethlehem. The people’s prejudices and lack of faith would not let them see the Truth that was before them.

This is a caution to us Christians to be careful as to how we make judgments about people. Sometimes we have the tendency to make rash judgments and draw hasty conclusions about people without being open to truly know who they are.

How many times have you drawn conclusions about people just because of the way they look or something they said, that you did not really agree with?

John 7: 1-2, 10, 25-30 (Friday, March 7, 2008)

Jesus Christ knew the Jews were trying to kill him. He also knew that he has a mission that is greater than his death. For this reason, he went preaching publicly at the cost of his death. It takes courage to do what Jesus Christ did. He stood courageously for what he believes. He was not going to let fear stop him from carrying out his mission. In the martyrs, we have models of people who stood firm in what they believed in. They were ready and willing to offer their lives for their beliefs.

St. Paul tells us that we have not received the spirit of timidity. The Holy Spirit that we have received is a spirit of boldness, of courage to always stand firm and defend our Christian faith and values. Given the wave of anti-Catholicism in America, many people are not confident to boldly say they are Catholic. We must be proud of our Catholic identity, our Catholic heritage. I do not see any gift that I have received that is greater than the gift of my Catholic faith.
I am willing to die for my Catholic and Christian faith. Would you?

John 5: 31-37, (Thursday, March 6, 2008)

During elections, candidates are always eager to get endorsements of prominent persons; they want those persons to testify to their suitability for the office. As Christians, sometimes, we seek these kinds of endorsements. We want people to say how good Christians we are. We do many things not because they come from our inside, but because we want to show people how Christian or holy we are. In the gospel of today, Jesus Christ alludes to the endorsements he has received from John the Baptist, from Moses, from the scripture itself. He says all these endorsements are nothing to him, compared to his works in relation to his relationship with the Father. He says, “I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf.”

The way we live our lives in and out of the Church give testimony for us; and not what the pastor or some member of the parish council says about us. Jesus Christ tells us in the gospel of John that it is by the way we love that other people will know that we are truly his disciples. Rather than seeking the praise of men and women, let us let the fruits of our work speak for us.

What are the fruits of your Christian life?

John 5: 17-30, (Wednesday, March 5, 2008)

Jesus Christ in today’s gospel tells us that we will not be lost if we hear his word and believe in the one who sent him. He describes himself also as the just judge. What does it mean to hear the word of God? When Jesus speaks about hearing the word, he is saying something more than listening as is understood in day to day conversation. For him, hearing and doing go together. You have not really heard the gospel, if you leave Church every day and return to the same old things the gospel has challenged you to change. You begin to hear the word, when you start acting on what the word challenges you to do.

Christianity is not a social club in which it is just enough to show up at meetings and pay your dues. Christianity is a radical relationship with Jesus Christ. This relationship with Jesus grows by hearing the word. Jesus gives us some clues on how we would be judged on the last day. He tells us that we will be judged by how we heard the word. Our failure to hear the word is an act of dishonor to the Father who has showed so much love to us and has sent us his only begotten son.

The question today is, are you hearing the word of God?

John 5: 1-16, (Tuesday, March 4, 2008)

Jesus Christ is the one that reaches out to the ill man lying by the side of the pool of Bethesda. In most of the gospel stories when Jesus healed people, they called out to him for help. The man in today’s gospel did not. It is possible that this man after waiting for thirty eight years to be able to plunge himself into the pool, he is frustrated, he does not want to ask anyone for help and receive rejection as an answer. That is most likely the reason Jesus asks him a question that might sound like a dumb question to us, “Do you want to be well.” Of course, he wants to be well, that is why he is lying by the pool. Jesus Christ did not want to impose help on him, at the same time, he felt it was the right thing to reach out to this man.

In our Christian community, there are so many people who need our help and would not voice it out because they are afraid of rejection. Most times we wait for people in the community to request for our help before we can try to help them. If the parish does not request for contributions to the food pantry or social concern ministry, we don’t make a contribution. Jesus Christ wants us to actively reach out to those in need without us being asked to.
How can you reach out to those who need your help today?

John 4: 43-54, (Monday, March 3, 2008)

The royal official in the gospel of today is not a man who goes around looking for signs and miracles, he is a man that has a genuine faith in Jesus. He believed in Jesus’ power to heal his son. When Jesus says to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe,” his response to Jesus truly shows the depth of his faith. He says, “Sir, come down, before my child dies.” He knows that Jesus Christ has the power to save the life of the child. When Jesus Christ sends him back to go and his son will leave, even though Jesus Christ did not go physically with him, he believed.

This is the kind of faith that Jesus Christ demands of us his followers. He wants us to lay everything we are going through to him. We need to bring our troubles to him with confidence, knowing that he will help us. One of the problems we always face is that even when we ask Jesus to help us, we don’t really believe that he can help us in our situation. If Jesus cannot do it, no other person would be able to. Trust fully in him.

Do you sincerely believe that Jesus Christ can lift you up from your troubles?