Life is changed, not ended

Fifth Sunday of Lent Year A (Mass with Scrutiny)

As we come to the last Sunday of Lent before Holy Week, we are treated to this tale of the Raising of Lazarus, the friend of our Lord. In Year C cycle, we would have heard the story of the woman caught in adultery. But since the Elect are in our midst and they will soon be celebrating the Third and Final Rite of Scrutiny, the Church proposes this story of Lazarus, an apt preparation for their baptism.

I would like to begin by posing this question, one which is seldom asked. What became of Lazarus after our Lord raised him from death? Did he die “again”? The gospel of St John is silent but we have two divergent accounts from both the East and the West. According to the Eastern Orthodox tradition, sometime after the Resurrection of Christ, Lazarus was forced to flee Judea because of the rumoured plots on his life, and he came to Cyprus. There he was appointed by Paul and Barnabas as the first bishop of Kition (present-day Larnaka). He lived there for thirty more years, and on his death, was buried there for the second and last time. The West has an alternative mediaeval tradition (centred in Provence and recorded in the Golden Legend), where Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary, and Martha were put out to sea by the Jews in a vessel without sails, oars, or helm, and after a miraculous voyage landed in Provence in France. Lazarus is said to have gone to Marseilles. Converting many people to Christianity there, he became the first Bishop of that city before he was martyred. The inhabitants of Marseilles still believe that they are in possession of his head which they venerate.

So whether these traditions are to be believed, it is most likely that Lazarus, raised by Christ, finally died a second and last time. Even one who has been touched by the One who is Life and the Resurrection, is mortal and suffers death. This lays bare the whole of humanity's anguish at our common destiny. Death awaits all of us. But man's resistance to death becomes evident: somewhere — people have constantly thought — there must be some cure for death. Sooner or later it should be possible to find the remedy not only for this or that illness, but for death itself and so the search for a source of healing continues. Modern medical science strives, if not exactly to exclude death, at least to eliminate as many as possible of its causes, to postpone it further and further, to prolong life more and more.

But let us reflect for a moment: what would it really be like if we were to succeed, perhaps not in excluding death totally, but in postponing it indefinitely, in reaching an age of several hundred years? Would that be a good thing? Humanity would become extraordinarily old, there would be no more room for youth. New job vacancies would be few since no one really retires. Capacity for innovation would die, and an endless-life would be no paradise, if anything a condemnation. Fantasy movies featuring immortals, such as vampires and elves, often highlight the eternal and internal turmoil within these creatures, who long for the release that can only come with death. They eventually see their deathlessness as a curse rather than a gift.

The true cure for death must be different. It cannot lead simply to an indefinite prolongation of this current life. Lazarus though resuscitated and given an extension of his lease of life, still had to face death. No, the answer would have to be something more radical. It would have to transform our lives from within. It would need to create a new life within us, truly fit for eternity: it would need to transform us in such a way as not to come to an end with death, but only then to begin in fullness. What is new and exciting in the Christian message, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was and is that we are told: yes indeed, this new life is real and the cure for death, does exist and is within our reach.

To those who continue to search for the cure to death, the answer to our mortality, Christ is the answer. Christ is the medicine of the heavenly Father, the true physician of our bodies and souls, the antidote to death and the elixir of immortality. As our Lord had revealed in today’s passage, “I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” In baptism, this medicine is given to us. A new life begins in us, the life of the resurrection, a life that matures in faith and is not extinguished by the death of the old life, but is only then fully revealed.

As much as we often pray that the Lord would heal our loved ones and restore them to our side, as often as we pray that the Lord will preserve us from pain, suffering, ailment before our death, we should never forget that this was never part of our Lord’s promise. Our Lord did not promise us a long life, a deathless life. But He did promise us something far greater, beyond our wildest imagination. Not a long life, or a stress-free or trouble-free life, nor a life marked by prosperity and carefreeness. He offered us eternal life. And the secret is that one can only get our hands on this gift, if we are willing to pass through the gates of death. We express this faith in the resurrection, in the beautiful prayer in the Roman Missal, part of the Preface at Funeral Masses: “Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.”

Yes, our problems do not go away. The pain of losing those we love is still there. They will not rise like Lazarus, at least not in this lifetime. The discouraging reality we must face is still a reality. What changes is the meaning it all has. It can all be touched by the healing transformation that comes from his death and resurrection. And the picture, the context of it all, becomes so much bigger. We have hope. Death can be redeemed. All deaths. All losses. All disappointments. All sins. Death still seems to haunt us and rob us of our loved ones, but we are reminded by St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:50-58): “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”