The Raising of Lazarus  by Tintoretto   

 Frances Maguire Museum of Art  at St. Joseph's Univeristy, Philadelphia

 (on loan from USEast Province of Jesuits)

5^th Sun of Lent   The Raising of Lazarus    SJU  2026

         The main event in today’s readings, of course, is the call of Jesus in raising Lazarus from the dead.  “Lazarus, come out.” Any of our own experiences of coming to our senses or waking up to a new day pale in comparison with that of the experience of Lazarus restored to life after four days dead in his tomb.   I think of a time when I had a very bad concussion and lost consciousness for much of a day before I became conscious suddenly with two friends standing at the edge of my hospital bed.   And we think, too, of every morning pulling our bodies out of bed, some of them stiffened by old age.    No real comparisons here except for one.     We can hear the voice of Jesus calling us in situations like these two just as the dead Lazarus is called by Jesus:  “Come out” “Wake up!”  “Get up!”  Without that voice I might still be in bed this morning.

First the story of Lazarus again and then some talk of the human body:

          Jesus arrives days late on the scene after his friend Lazarus is buried.  Lazarus’s sisters greet him.  First Martha sadly wishes that Jesus could have been there to save her brother from death.  But together they agree that Lazarus will rise again on the last day.   This was, of course, a common belief for the Jews that on the last day the bodies of faithful Jews will rise again from their burial places.  Jesus takes this opportunity to proclaim that he himself is the resurrection indicating that his own risen body will be the confirmation of this Jewish belief.   

       Then, arriving on the scene the other sorrowing sister, Mary, comes to greet Jesus.  She repeats what Martha already said, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.”    The sisters had discussed this and the mention of it becomes an admonition of Jesus contributing to the sisters’ tears.

       But Jesus has a plan to respond to these two women directly and he asks, “Where have you laid him?”    And they lead Jesus to the gravesite, the three of them in tears with those around noting how Jesus loved Lazarus.  The burial place is a cave like tomb with a stone placed against the entrance.  When Jesus gets close by, he says, “Take away the stone.”  The practical Martha is quite disturbed by this and speaks up as if Jesus does not understand that the grave was closed now four days ago.   She patiently says, “Sir, there will be a stench”.    As much as to say:  Let Lazarus be.  He has been buried far too long.   And for Martha these days have been painful enough.   For her another viewing will only deepen the pain.  Her words underline for the late-coming Jesus and his followers that they must trust Mary and herself that truly Lazarus has been dead for days.   There is nothing else to be said or done.    Nothing else: Except what Jesus says:  “Did I not tell you that if you have faith you will see the glory of God?”   The stone is removed.

       Jesus quietly raises his eyes to heaven to thank his Father for hearing him knowing that his action will help those gathered to understand that Jesus has been sent by him.   Then he cries out in a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out.”  Lazarus comes out wrapped in his burial clothes and Jesus directs that he be untied.   The astonishment and the hugs and tears don’t need to be expressed in the gospel text.

       The body of Lazarus rising from the tomb becomes later in the Easter resurrection of Jesus another full confirmation of the divine source of the body and its destiny.

       The pre-Christian Judaic focus on the human body starts in the accounts of the beginning with the creation of the first humans.    In Genesis we learn about the care that God takes with the creation of the human body divinely proclaimed as good. 

         Our own understanding of the long process of evolution that results in our bodily creation only adds to our amazement.    We are in our bodies intricately related to the beauty of all life in our created world.  This relationship leads us to engage in sustenance and enhancement of life.

         But In Christanity we learn of more creative excitement. God in the Second Person of the Trinity comes among us as a human being in Jesus.    From the time of Jesus’ birth God can say what we each say from our beginnings: “I am not not my body.”   That is, God says, “divine though I am, my definition now in Jesus Christ includes permanently a human body.”   

         We take up the same phrase that God uses about the divine self in Christ Jesus: that is, whatever I am, my definition includes my unique and intrinsically good human body.    Surely just as the Spirit of God gives breadth and depth to the bodily identity of Jesus, so, too, God brought us into being, a body with a soul.     So, yes, of course, the spirit has a role in our practice of love of God and love of neighbor.    But in our loving clearly those of us who love one another are not some vaporous ghosts without essential and permanent material bodies.   Love is not whole if it is expressed simply virtually.  Jesus, himself in his bodily life, his body living, dying and rising is the expression of love in its entirety.

          It is with His bodily voice that Jesus called out “Lazarus, come forth.”   With bodily eyes he looked on the risen Lazarus and the amazement of Mary and Martha.    His voice, too, told parables and peached with authority.   His feet walked on the waters.   His hands touched the eyes of the man born blind.  His ears heard the songs that welcomed him to Jerusalem and the curses that condemned him on the cross.  Jesus is nothing if not a body.   And if no body, then no soul as well.

       Finally about Lazarus:   Lazarus who experienced the death of his body might not enjoy the fact that Jesus brought him back to life.  But imagine that he, too, could want to be with Jesus and with his own sisters, with them in their bodies.   Yes, in death he knows of their spiritual prayers for him but their prayers miss their full impact in the absence of their bodies with him.    While we believe that heaven somehow makes up for this absence, we have now no way of understanding it.

       And finally about Jesus.   Christ's body enters us in the Eucharist.  His spirit in the host of Communion brings righteousness to our whole being body and soul.    In the promised time to come we like Lazarus will hear the voice of Jesus reuniting our body and soul in a risen life.

       As Easter approaches, it is good for us to reckon with any deafness that is in our spirits. On Easter We want to hear the voice of the Lord that raised Lazarus calling to us, too, no matter our deafness of any kind.    Sons and daughters of God, come out!