Dear Parishioners,
Rising to the Occasion
Jesus knew His time on this earth was coming to a close, but He continued to show love in everything He did. Thousands of people saw His good works and His spectacular miracles and came to believe that He truly was the Messiah. Yet some people still had their doubts. They just could not accept that the long awaited Savior was an ordinary man who was doing extraordinary things and giving the glory to His father in heaven. They couldn’t understand that Jesus’s acts of kindness were based on love, not on a desire for power.
In our gospel reading today, Jesus’s good friend Lazarus plays a key role. He must have shared a very special relationship with Jesus, because the Bible tells us that Jesus wept at the death of His friend. One might think that Jesus would run to the bedside of Lazarus when He heard the news, but instead He waited two days before starting out to see Lazarus. As always, Jesus sees things differently than we do. Jesus saw Lazarus’s death, and the pain it caused all those who loved him, as an opportunity to reveal the glory of God and to affirm that Jesus had truly been sent by God. Jesus waited those extra days to ensure there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Lazarus was dead, and then with a quiet prayer to His Father, he commanded Lazarus to “Come out!!”
Lazarus obeys his Lord and emerges from the tomb. When they unwrapped Lazarus, they revealed more than just a grateful friend. In life Lazarus loved Jesus, and in death, he rose at Jesus’s command demonstrating the glory of God and affirming the divinity of the Son of Man and His power over death.
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Lito