Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 6 April 2014

12C icon Mt Sinai

The death of anyone close to us is not an event that we ever wish for, except perhaps, when we pray that somebody in extreme illness is released from their suffering. Death happens and we mourn the loss of one we love. It takes time to adjust and there are, as we know, various stages of grief we go though, but if we are a person of faith, somehow we begin to understand that death is not the end, but as one of the ancient Christians described it, the long sleep until we rise with Christ.

In John’s Gospel, the story of Lazarus can help us recognize our own experience of sorrow and loss, not only because we can identify with Martha and Mary, but because we see Jesus empathizing with these three close friends. In other words we recognize in Jesus some of our own anger at death, compassion and sorrow for the suffering of Martha and Mary in their great loss, for the tears Jesus weeps are not for Lazarus but for the pain and sufferings others feel. He himself knows that death is not the end, as does Martha, but he also understands that loss can be quite unbearable at times.

What does this wonderful Gospel say to us? Several things, primarily of that sure and certain hope of resurrection from the dead found in Christ. Here we see the Word of life, calling Lazarus forth from the tomb, he calls him as a loved one, by his name, just as we individually will be at our own resurrection from the dead.

In the Creed we say that we believe in the resurrection of the body, and this Gospel shows us how crucial that is, for Lazarus comes from death as himself. But there is a difference, the resurrection of Lazarus is not fully complete, he must die again because he is not yet risen as that ‘spiritual and imperishable body’ Paul talks about in his teaching to the Corinthians. He hasn’t yet entered the fullness of the Kingdom with the risen Lord, his task is to re-enter life as we now know it.

Martha and Mary show their faith in Jesus as the one who has power over death itself, they witness to the fact that our faith in God is well grounded, in Christ death is not an ending, but a separation, just for a while!

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Britain.