When I was a
little boy my Dad used to love to watch old cowboy movies on Saturday
afternoons on the TV. He called them
“dusties” because there were always clouds of dust. And the highly dramatic climax of these
movies usually consisted in a wagon train full of brave settlers under attack
from enormous hoards of hostile Indians.
And just when it seemed the settlers’ ammunition was about to run out and
they would all be overrun and massacred, off in the distance you could hear a
bugle, dutta da data…. And just in the
nick of time the wagon train and its occupants were saved by the arrival of the
cavalry.
And ever since
then, up to this very day, the brave hero and heroine are still being saved
just in the nick of time, be it Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, or Thor or any
action movie you can name.
The reason we
love to see rescue and salvation coming just in the nick of time is it has
great dramatic power, and because that is the way we want life to be.
But our Gospel
today is so different, because Jesus shows up too late.
The sisters of
Lazarus send word to Jesus. “The one you
love is sick.” The implication is
clear. Come quick! But what does Jesus do? Jump on his horse and ride to the
rescue? No! He plays a few games of solitaire on the
computer, has another cup of coffee, chats about the prospects for the
Jerusalem sports teams with the Apostles, does a little fishing. In short, Jesus dilly dallies for two
whole days.
Finally, he
goes. And poor Lazarus is no longer
sick. He is not only dead, He is in the
tomb four days and beginning to decompose.
It is way too late. Lazarus
stinks.
You see that
in the reaction of the people when Jesus arrives. The Jews say: “He opened the eyes of the
blind man. Why could he not have done
something to stop this man from dying?”
The first
words out the mouths of the sisters are the same thing: “Lord, if you had
been here, (if you had come when
we called you) my brother would never have died.” Independently they both reproach Jesus for
being so tardy. Why didn’t you come when
we called you?
I can identify
with that. I have said that. “Lord, why didn’t you come when I called you,
when I really needed you?” Haven’t we all
done that?
Haven’t we all said, at least to our selves: “Lord, if you
had been here, I would have thought twice before making such a stupid
comment; my marriage would not have
failed; I would not have made a mess of this relationship; I would not have
been stuck in this dead end job; my child would not have become a drug addict
or an alcoholic; my spouse, my parent, my child, my loved one would not have
died; Whatever. Lord, if only you had
come before it was too late.
Jesus shows up
when it is way too late: Lazarus is dead, in the tomb four days already, and
stinking.
Only for God
it is never too late. God has
possibilities we cannot imagine; options we can’t conceive of. When all is lost, when everything has been
tried and failed, and the situation is hopeless - from the human point of view
- God is just getting started.
Isn’t that
what we are preparing to celebrate at Easter?
That when all is lost, when Good Friday brutally occurs, when Jesus has
been condemned, whipped, beaten, crucified, put in the tomb and then it is sealed
with a huge stone, when it is all over and done and beyond any human
possibility of being saved, God’s possibilities are still limitless. Only God can pull off Easter.
Jesus in the
Gospel today tells us: “I am the resurrection and the life: whoever believes
in me, though he should die, will come to life; and whoever is alive and
believes in me will never die.”
Jesus offers
us the fullness of life, complete life, eternal life: in other words, all we
yearn and long for, the deepest desires of our souls: full life and complete
union with God. That is the Gospel, the Good
News!
No matter what
failures, heartbreaks, divorces, bankruptcies, illnesses, shattered dreams,
grievous sins and bitter disappointments occur in our lives, we still have
before us the hope of full, complete, eternal life. For God it is never too late. For God it is never too late.
“Did I not assure you” Jesus tells us, “that if you believed you would see
the glory of God?”
No comments:
Post a Comment