CEC Updates & Schedule :
…As directed by Bishop Jake Owensby, Christ Episcopal,
…The church building is always open and everyone is welcome to visit its peace anytime. The church will be prepared for Holy Week as usual. There will be palms on Palm Sunday, a striped altar on Maundy Thursday for Good Friday, and Easter preparations for Easter. However, no services as directed by Bishop Jake.
…Father Riley’s homilies will be posted as they become available. You may sign up on the BlogSpot to receive email as the BlogSpot is updated with service information and Father Riley’s or Father Jefferson’s homilies.
LENT V - A - 20 JOHN 11. 1-45
The resurrection of Lazarus is the seventh sign in John’s gospel. It is the sign that sealed the Jewish authorities’ decision to put Jesus to death.
As the story unfolds, a messenger is sent by the sisters of Lazarus to Jesus informing him that their brother is seriously ill. The sisters did so expecting Jesus to respond by coming in person to heal him. Instead, Jesus sends a message back “this sickness is not unto death.”
I am certain when the sisters heard this diagnosis they were relieved. However, Lazarus did die. Strangely, Jesus waits two days before he announces to his disciples that he is going to Bethany. Bethany is on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives about two miles from Jerusalem.
By the time he approached the village, Lazarus has been dead and buried four days. Martha learns that Jesus is finally approaching and she goes out to meet him while her sister Mary remains in the house with the mourners. Martha does not hesitate to express her disappointment in his delay. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
She believes in Jesus’ power to heal, if only he had been present. She misunderstands his power to give life when he speaks of resurrection. Jesus confronts her faith in the resurrection when he tells her he is resurrection and life. Martha responds with belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
She then returns to her house and tells her sister Mary that Jesus is asking for her. Mary greets Jesus with the same disappointment. Instead of responding to Mary with words as he did her sister Martha, Jesus acts. The scene moves to the tomb.
A large stone blocks the entrance. Jesus commands that it be removed. Martha submits that there will be a stench. Lazarus had been dead four days. Nevertheless, the stone is removed and Jesus prays aloud so that all those standing near can hear him.
The glory of God and the power of Christ to give new life are revealed when Jesus calls Lazarus forth from the tomb still wrapped in grave clothes and with the burial napkin about his face.
Many of those who witnessed Lazarus coming forth from the tomb believed in Jesus. Others went as fast as they could to tell the Pharisees what they had seen.
Lazarus’ death and resurrection was but a prelude to Christ’ own death and resurrection. St. John used this seventh sign as a climax to his argument in favor of Jesus’ divinity.
As we hear this familiar story once again, the world as we know it has come to a screeching halt. The new corona virus has brought American life to a near standstill, closing businesses, canceling large gatherings including Church services, some funerals and weddings. People are staying home.
The universal pandemic that has exploded upon the world has evoked fear and anxiety in the hearts of believers and non-believers alike. The world has seen nothing like it in over a hundred years. Will things ever return to normal? Or will life, as we have always known it be completely changed?
No one knows. It is a time of testing one’s true faith in God and Christ. Fear is the opposite of faith. Anxiety leads to fear. What the world needs today is to renew its faith in the healing powers of God, and to believe in the goodness and mercy of God.
Today’s gospel is all about resurrection. The prelude to the gospel was in our first reading. The Lord takes the prophet Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones, a place of the dead. He asks the prophet if these bones can live? The prophet admits that only God knows.
Then God showed Ezekiel what He could do. He instructed the prophet to speak to the bones and the bones took on new life. This is the God of resurrection. “God the Father confers life upon those who have no life in themselves.”(St. Irenaius)
Resurrection comes in many different ways. Resurrection means new life. Jesus gave Lazarus new life. His doing so, gave new life to Martha and Mary’s belief in him as the divine Son of God. It was a new beginning for all those who stood before the tomb and witnessed the power of God.
The current world crisis is not the end but the way for a new beginning. A resurrection, if you will, in which humanity in all of its diversity comes to realize its commonality. A new beginning in which we all come to realize just how quickly things can change. Life is filled with uncertainty,
Hopefully it will be a new beginning in which all of humanity will realize how precious and fragile life really is and what a gift each new day is. No one is promised tomorrow.
The world is in the throes of Lent. People are anxious and afraid, shut in and confused. We are having to give up our normal routines and daily activities. Sacrifices are being made all round. Some take the present crisis seriously while others do not. Death, sickness, and the possibility of both reign.
It is a time of prayer and fasting; of turning to God. It is of the up most importance that we who believe in the goodness, mercy and love of God stand firm in our faith. The current crisis is not the end but an opportunity for all people of faith to witness to their belief in Him who is Resurrection and Life.
As a portion of today’s collect prays, “…so that among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found…” The world may be in “lock down” and feeling isolated and alone. However, God is with us and He will love us through it.
With God’s grace, we shall hold fast to our Easter faith in the Hope and Belief that this present darkness too shall pass. In the meantime, let us pray for the world’s healing, and for an increase in our own faith expecting, as did the sisters, Martha and Mary that God in His mercy will act.
And when He does, we like Lazarus who was called forth from the darkness of the tomb will receive the Light of new life through the power of Him who is both Resurrection and Life, even Jesus Christ, our Lord, who with the Father, and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns one God now and forever. Amen+
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