Gospel of Saint John

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So welcome to this continuation of our study of the Gospel of St. John. We are at Lecture 10 and today we're going to go over the events surrounding the resurrection of Lazarus. Normally I would have sent you a notice and I would have given you the specific passage to read since I did not do that. I owe you those passages so we're going to cover them as we go. Although I am

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Pretty sure most of you are very familiar with them, with the text. You've seen that before. If you've never heard of Lazarus being resurrected, um I would love to talk to you. So, like I just told you, we are now covering lecture 10, which is Lazarus and the Hour. We'll have four more lectures to go. Two dedicated to the Upper Room, because this is where you have the most beautiful discourse of our Lord. And then,

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the Passion and the Resurrection.

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So it's May 20th, June 3rd, 17 July 1st and July 15th and then that's when the study ends on the Book of St. John.

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So far, what we've seen, as I described last week, is that the Gospel of St. John has a really natural division. First one is when you see the Lord coming and overtaking the Old Covenant and instituting the New. And that essentially covers chapter one through eight. And then we see the Lord essentially governing the Church, governing His Kingdom. That's where we are right now, the midst of this.

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in which we are going to study the raising of Lazarus. And then the last bit is how he's going to save the kingdom. He establishes the kingdom and he saves it. And it is important for us to remember that these actions on the part of our Lord aren't a one and done deal. It isn't that he establishes his kingdom once, he saves it once.

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He goes to heaven and washes his hands and from time to time he comes and takes a look and see what's going on, stirs the pot and then go back and do something else. Right? uh It is a perennial action. It is ongoing. The establishment of the kingdom and the salvation of the kingdom is ongoing until the end of time. And that same principle applies in our lives.

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We wish things were set. We love to be settled. We want answers that will hold.

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We want to buy one house and be settled. We want a job and be settled. We want, we meet our spouse and we're settled. We have our children, we're settled. We're settled. Notice, we're focused on a place, a position.

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That's how we are wired. And what the Lord is at pains to show us is that we must focus on Him. Not a place, not a position, Him. That means the most important journey we must undertake is inward.

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not outward, inward, inside of us. We must all become to a certain degree contemplatives. And we'll see that today in a beautiful, beautiful example that St. Mary gives us.

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We're going to go through chapter 11 verse 1 through chapter 12 verse 11. That's the section that deals with the raising of Lazarus. And it happens in seven movements. Jesus is going to wait for Lazarus to die.

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Because he loves him. I just want you to ponder this. Jesus is going to wait for Lazarus to die because he loves him. Now, I want you to go home, if you're married, look your spouse in the face and say, I'm gonna wait for you to die because I love you. Let's see how that goes.

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So one more, once more, are, we come face to face with something that is stranger than fiction. The otherness of the Lord. It is counterintuitive.

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Jesus then meets Martha and Mary separately, then he raises Lazarus and that action, raising Lazarus, signs his death. It summons the cross.

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And then we have this event where Mary's anoint his feet and Judas grumbles. And finally, Lazarus himself becomes a dangerous witness. By the way, do you know what tradition says about Lazarus? What did he do after he was raised?

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He became the first bishop of Marseille in France.

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City where his sister Martha lived as a hermit.

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So no, didn't, the Pharisees did not succeed in killing him and he lived a fruitful life in the church.

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Again, if you'd like to ask questions during the lecture, you can always use this app. You can capture using QR code. I'll give you one second.

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before we continue.

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And um while you're doing that, I'm going to give you one heads up that is going to be very important to keep in mind. I already said it before, the way the Lord loves us is not primarily for us. It is for the greater glory of God.

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That is the biggest shift, the hardest shift that Christians have to go through. God doesn't love us primarily for us. He loves us for the greater glory of God.

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And if you feel a stirring inside of you, that's original sin. That's rebellion right there lurking in your heart. If you can make peace with this and accept it and rejoice in it, you're getting a lot closer to where Saint Mary is. All right. Please rise and let's start with a word of prayer in the name of the father of the son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Together come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.

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and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit, I don't know, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant by the same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations through Christ our Lord, amen. May we see the wisdom.

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Saint John, most glorious Saint Joseph, all ye angels and saints. Name of the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit, amen. Please be seated. The Gospel of Saint John chapter 11, verse one through six. Jesus waits. Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who noted the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

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So the sister sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. When Jesus heard it, he said, this illness is not unto death, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.

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Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

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Notice that so.

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Because he loved them, he delayed.

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Can you accept that in your own lives? Because he loves you, he delays.

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Now if you're of a German or Dutch descent, I'm really sorry for you guys. Because you can't be late anywhere.

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Can you imagine?

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The Lord delaying two days before showing up at your party, you probably yell at Him.

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Try to ponder this. It takes pondering beyond this study. Because he loves him, he delayed. That is counterintuitive.

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Which is why I keep reminding you to be careful with your prayers of petition. Because underneath those prayers there is a form of impatience, a form of urgency. But if He loves you, He delays.

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Lord, he whom you love is ill.

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So, we are here confronted with the paradox of Christ's loving delay. Jesus does not hurry to prevent Lazarus' death. He waits. And his waiting allows death itself to become the place where the glory of God will be revealed. Ponder that for a second. At your deepest sorrow, your greatest regret,

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Your most profound failing is where God's glory is manifested. How many of you are on the program, ready to sign up?

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Yeah.

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This is...

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This is why oftentimes my heart...

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get compressed as a lemon when I hear these never-ending sermons about how much God loves us, how much God is merciful. God absolutely loves us and God absolutely is merciful, but underneath that there's this assumption that Christ is waiting for us to ask him for anything and he'll immediately do it.

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and that sets you up for failure. Not only failure, but complete misunderstanding of who Christ is and what He wants.

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He doesn't work that way. And I think you'll agree with me that what I'm telling you aligns with reality.

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How many of you, please raise your hand.

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had your prayers answered 30 seconds after you said it every time.

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What's going on? The heavenly post office is clogged and your prayer is getting delayed because it's in the system.

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and the people who work at the DMV here dies and go work up there? Is that what's going on? Is that it? Does it matter for God if it's a second?

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Can he even answer your prayer before you say it? Because he knew you? Even before he created you?

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What this is God is indifferent and he doesn't care. You see where the temptation is?

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Christ delayed two days, let Lazarus die for the greater glory of God.

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Are you willing to live your life for the greater glory of God? If you start to think this way, you reorient your heart. That is the path to holiness.

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Jesus lets Lazarus enter death. Now, Jesus doesn't let Lazarus enter death because Jesus is a loggerhead with death or Jesus is sort of coming to conquer death. You hear that very often, Jesus conquered death. In one sense it's true. It's true from our perspective. He conquered death. What we mean by that is that he conquered the sin that caused death. But Jesus is the Lord of death.

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Not one of us dies without his authority. You understand that?

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So it isn't that he lets Lazarus enter death so that his victory is greater. lets Lazarus enter death because it glorifies him. It glorifies him. This is really hard for us to our heads around, isn't it?

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Death will not have the final say. In God's glory, I want you to etch this in your mind and heart, that God's glory is greater than rescue from suffering. God's glory is greater than rescue from suffering.

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If you're going to God because you have a list of things He wants, you want Him to do for you, you're treating God as Santa Claus. You go to God first and foremost because you desire, you yearn, and you long for His glory.

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that shifts the equation. You're not going to God asking Him to love you. You're going to God to love Him.

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That's the shift.

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and it takes hard work. But graces are there.

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for you to do this. Now notice, I'm going to tell you this right now on our planet again. In the whole entire passage, how many words does Lazarus speak?

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Zero. Nada. Nothing.

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He doesn't show anything special. He doesn't do anything special. He is not saying anything.

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But He is the manifest sign of God's glory. Every one of us can be that.

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Your life can be the manifest sign of God's glory.

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Those who love Christ learn to trust Him in the delay. Those who love Christ. I don't mean those who love Christ enough knowing that Christ will do good things for them. I'm not adding that. Those who love Christ. Love is unconditional. Love expects nothing in return. Can you love Christ expecting nothing in return?

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That's why I get bugged by those homilies about how merciful God is, because implicitly it's telling you, love God conditionally.

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Love so can ask.

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It robs you from God's glory.

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Love God unconditionally, asking nothing in return. Saint Teresa of Avila said this, which can shock a few believers. But I'll remind you, she is a doctor of the church. And she's my personal sensei. She's the one who brought me back into the faith. So I have a lot of admiration for this woman.

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She is a genius. Her IQ level is insane. Just on the human level, she's amazing. She said this, if God wished for me to go and spend a thousand years in hell, I will do so. Can you say that?

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There you go.

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The idea that God could potentially ask you to go spend a thousand years in hell for Him would not even cross our minds. Why? Because implicitly our love is conditional. And it's not our fault. It is the way the faith is constantly presented. Because we want to go the easy way. We want to go the easy route. We want to be people pleaser. So we're just going to tell them what they want to hear.

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Those who love Christ learn to trust Him in the delay. And the delay is not explained, the delay is not understood. The delay is confusion and chaos and pain and suffering and sorrow. And it's in the midst of all of this chaos and pain and suffering and sorrow that you show that you love Christ because you love Him without expecting anything in return.

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The apostles fear the road.

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Then after this he said to the disciples, let us go into Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were by now, were but now seeking to stone you. And are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in a day? If anyone walks in a day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

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Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to wake him out of sleep. The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest and sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe. But let us go to him.

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Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go, then we may die with him. St. John's irony is all over the place here. Observe.

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Let us go into Judea again. The Lord speaks as one who is Lord. He controls the narrative. He controls his fate. Everything is in his hands.

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The disciples and the apostles right here aren't like that. They are realistic. If you think about it from a human standpoint, Jesus is crazy and not realistic. They are wise. There's danger out there. You shouldn't go. What they're saying isn't insane. It is perfectly sane. But again, it's counterintuitive. You see that? Which prompted St. Paul to say, right?

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that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. Obviously God is not foolish, he's just exaggerating. And his point is, sometimes God seems to be something that looks completely foolish to us, but there is wisdom in it that is much greater than us. What the apostles are doing, they're narrowing the horizon, you see? They're closing in. How many people do you know

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who dream right now of creating what I call a Mennonite Catholic ghetto. Let's go somewhere where there is a city or a town that only Catholics and we live a Catholic life and we keep the crazies out.

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It's a pipe dream. You reduce your horizon. If you do that, you're not going to go in Judea. You're going to be with the disciples, with the apostles. You're not going to dare to dream. You're not going to dare to imagine what could happen. You're shrinking your world.

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Jesus tells them, if anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. What does he mean? I'm right here. I am the light.

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Do you think they believe that at this point? No.

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It is very important for all of us to observe the movements in our soul and detect these moments when we use reason to choke faith, even though faith is the illumination of reason. When we say something that is perfectly reasonable, but is dead set against faith, the Lord is right there with them. He is the Lord of Lords.

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He is the strong party. If he says, let us go to Judea, you go to Judea. Are you willing to do that? Let us go to Judea because He is the light of the world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. So if you're with me, I am the light of the world. I will lead you. If you are not with me, you're in darkness and you don't know where you're going.

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Observe what Jesus does every single time someone faces a difficulty. He doesn't mock them. He doesn't tell them, how come you don't understand? He gently stirs them towards faith.

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He illuminates their minds so they can deepen their faith. So these moments, these difficulties, these challenges where you feel that the world is closing in, where you feel that you don't understand anything, where you're uncomfortable, when you're in pain, when you feel alone and abandoned by God, that is when God is illuminating your mind and your reason to get you out of yourself so you can love Him more.

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That's what he's doing.

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Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. Again, watch how rational and reasonable they are. Lord, if he's taking a nap, he's going to get up. This is what they told him.

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Why are you even telling us this? If somebody takes a nap, he gets up. How does Jesus respond? He makes it very plain.

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He's dead. And I'm going to...

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And for you sake I'm glad I was there so that you may believe. Okay? You may believe. If Jesus told you right now, Oh, your friend Sam is dead and I'm glad I wasn't there so that you may believe. What would you, what would be your reaction? What would you say to Jesus?

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I just want to hear what you say. Come on, tell me.

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Okay. Okay. I want you here. You're crazy. How many of you would say, us go and die with him? So St. Thomas response is one of faith. mean, somehow he trusts in Jesus, but watch how he sees death. He sees death as the finality of the act. Death triumphs. We're going to go and die in a great heroic movement.

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in a great heroic moment and now will be our death. It's the finale. He doesn't yet understand. Jesus just said, basically, I'm going to raise him from the dead and St. Thomas says, let's go and die. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard for us to understand what Jesus wants to do in our lives. We stumble. We say silly things.

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We answer the best we can and oftentimes, more often than we think, we're wrong, dead wrong. But gentle Jesus doesn't mind. The sisters, Martha and Mary, sent message to Jesus expecting him to prevent the death of Lazarus. The apostles expect Jesus to avoid danger. You see the parallel between the two?

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But here's the other thing. Today's ignorance is tomorrow's consolation. If you're faithful, if you can go through it. Today's ignorance is tomorrow's consolation. It's hard, but it's true.

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Christ's light reveals the distance between our sight and His. We only see this much, He sees so much further. We judge by what we see, He judges by what He sees. Problem is our eyes are fixed on what we see instead of our being fixed on Him.

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So Thomas, and Thomas is loyal, but does not yet see the glory. He doesn't see it. I don't blame him.

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We're in the same boat.

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How many of us today look at what's going on in the world, what's in the church, and rejoice?

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because that's what we should be doing.

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Because through all of this, God's glory will become manifest.

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Yeah. Counterintuitive, isn't it? Yes.

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You have to understand when you don't rejoice, you're basically telling God, you're not really God. It's a minor form of atheism. Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in a tomb for days. Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him while Mary sat in the house.

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Martha said to Jesus, Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me,

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shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God. He was coming into the world.

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Mind-blowing.

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mind-blowing. St. Martha is mind-blowing. Mind-blowing.

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The apostles aren't saying any of this. Okay?

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This is mind-blowing. If you sit down and really contemplate every verse and the movement of the heart required to go so quickly, so quickly from, ah you had been here, my brother would not have died, to, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, he was coming into the world, so quickly in one conversation, compared to all the other conversations Christ had with this American woman and everybody else, no one moved as fast as St. Martha.

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Nobody.

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Where did she get it from? I don't understand. I don't know where she gets it from. It's amazing. If you're not devoted to Saint Martha...

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I don't know, you should be. That's all I have to say, because this is amazing. However, watch the movement. First, Jesus does not enter the house. He stays a distance away. He doesn't go to her.

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She comes to him.

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Okay, this is the first mistake we make when we are sorrowing, when we are sad, when we are in pain. We expect Jesus to come to us. But if he comes to us,

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We failed. You see?

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Instead, he makes us seek him and find him. Why? He is the good shepherd that was the theme of last lecture, chapter 10. And his sheep hear his voice and his sheep come to him.

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The most important moment where you need to hear the voice of the Lord is at your deathbed. When all your senses are shutting off and you can't see anything and hear anything and the demons are going to mount their fiercest attack to get you to despair, that's when you need to hear His voice. And you need to go to Him. It's your free will. So Jesus takes her out of the house of death.

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and brings her to Him. She comes to Him and watch how she behaves towards the Lord. There is nothing fake in her behavior. Straight up, Lord.

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If you had been here, my brother would not have died. She's reproaching him.

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She's honest. There's no pretense. She says it as she lives it.

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But she starts with Lord.

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So, as long as you are faithful to the Lord, you should talk to Him about your sorrow, about all the things you're going through, about how He is disappointing you, about how He didn't give you what you want. Lay it all out. There's nothing wrong with that, because that's where you are at.

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St. Teresa, I told you maybe the story before, she was south in Spain, middle of summer, humidity like a temperature, ungodly hot, 100 % humidity, she's in full habit, sick, and the wheel of their carriage breaks. And you have three nuns trying to fix the wheel.

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And she looks up to heavens and said, Lord, why do you treat us so? And our Lord says, he answers her, it is because this is how I treat my friends. And then she told him, well, in that case, don't complain if you have so few of them.

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That is friendship with Christ. She could speak to him this way. Saint Martha can speak to him this way because she loves him.

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If you had been here, she's looking to the past. Notice? If you had been here, it's regret, not hope, not profession of faith. Regret. We do that quite a bit.

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How does Jesus answer? But then she adds, observe, she adds, and even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. She still doesn't know who He is. She thinks of Him as a prophet, as somebody who needs to ask something from God. She hasn't yet realized she's speaking to God.

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And Jesus again uses her pain and her sorrow and her confusion and her regret to lead her into deeper faith in Him, to get her to know Him deeply.

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God and then he first addresses her concern, your brother will rise again.

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How does she answer? Still not getting it, is she? I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. That was a common Jewish belief for most of them. The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection of dead, but most Jews did believe in the resurrection of the dead. So she's professing a standard faith. She's still not addressing him.

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and Jesus then uses her ignorance to shed light. I am the great I am.

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I am the resurrection.

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What does it mean? I am the resurrection. We go back to that passage where the disciples have been rowing for the whole night. They've been only three miles away from shore. Didn't get very far. Jesus comes walking on the water, steps in the boat, and St. John tells us, and immediately they were where they needed to be.

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If you're with Jesus, you're already risen from the dead.

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We're still focusing on places, on things.

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We have objectives and goals and things we want to accomplish and we think all of that stuff is going to give us what we want. He is the resurrection. If you're with Him, you're already risen.

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I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whomever lives and believes in me shall never die. If you're with him, you're there. That's it. So if you go to Jesus, loving him for God's greater glory, asking nothing in return, he who can never be outdone in generosity.

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You see, you're generous with Him because you love Him and you're asking for nothing. You're just happy that He is who He is and you rejoice in His glory.

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But he can never be outdone in generosity. And then he challenges her, do you believe this? Do you believe what I just told you? He's basically asking here in one question, one question to go from he's a prophet to he's God. Now at the same time you look at all of this and you think about that Samaritan woman who's a saint and I told her about her, she has this title, right? Equal to the apostles.

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Because that Samaritan woman went from being a Samaritan to having full faith in him in one conversation.

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These people are mind-blowing. Yes, Lord, I believe. I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God. We go from prophet to Son of God. He who is coming into the world. What happened to Saint Martha? She was home, she was grieving, she was in regret. She leaves all of that, she gets out of herself, out of her self-centered sorrow and sadness and goes to meet Him and then receives this consolation.

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So, think of it this way, no matter how great your sorrow is, no matter how great your sadness is, no matter how great your regret is, there are people out there who are in a much worse situation. Get up and go help them. Go meet Christ.

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Or, stay home and wallow in your sorrow. But he's waiting outside for you to come out. So whenever you're ready. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, the teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.

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Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. And Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

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When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? The same scene repeats itself, but differently.

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Martha is now an apostle, is now uh someone who sent. She goes and then tells her sister, the teacher, probably a term of endearment they use for Jesus within their house, is there in his calling for you. So she's now out of her own sorrow and now she wants to extend what she received to her sister.

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At once, immediately, immediately, Mary gets up and leaves. And the difference between, at this point, between St. Mary and St. Martha is that St. Mary has already this capacity to pull others with her. St. Martha went alone. St. Mary brought a whole bunch of people with her. And she's the one who's the quieter of the two. Why?

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because at this point she loves more. She leaves the house of mourning to go meet Jesus and then they follow her. Interestingly enough, no one says, wait a minute Mary, you're confused, the tomb is this way. Nobody complains, they follow her. And they all now come before the one who is the resurrection and the life.

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So this is not a repeat encounter. Martha's grief was a theological confession. Mary's grief is a scene in which the whole sorrow of death gathers at the feet of Christ, foreshadowing his own hour.

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Like I said, Mary rose quickly and went to him. The movement matters. She's called out of the house by the shepherd's voice. And she brings with her people who follow her.

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She falls at his feet and yet says the same words Martha had spoken, Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died. St. John wants us to hear the repetition, both sisters believe Jesus could have prevented the death, both are wounded by his absence.

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But Mary's grief is not a theological question. It's a visible lament at His feet.

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Jesus sees Mary weeping and the Jews who came with her are weeping as well. is deeply stirred and troubled. Now, deeply moved is really a poor translation. The reason why it's translation this way is because the translators don't know what to do with the original Greek. Because the original Greek has the strength and the power of horses about to engage in battle.

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There is a very red-heart indignation. And most translators just don't know what to do with this. So they kind of mellow it down into troubled in spirit and deeply moved. But there is indignation, there is anger. And the question is, what is he angry about? What is he upset about? Why is he so troubled? Clearly it cannot be the death of Lazarus because really he provoked it.

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He laid two days waiting for him to die. So it cannot be that that made him upset. It wasn't also the lack of faith in him that the apostles demonstrated or the fact that Martha didn't understand exactly who he is. None of that troubled him. The only thing that troubled him is seeing Mary weeping. Before him is the suffering humanity. All the people...

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who are suffering, all the people who are living in the past, all the people who regret what happened or what had not happened, all the people who wish that God would have done something for them back then, not realizing God is doing something for them right now. All these people are at his feet. Those who are able to come out of the house of death are at his feet and are saying with Mary,

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If you'd been there, my daughter would not have died. If you'd been there, my son would not have died. If you'd been there, this would not have happened. If you'd been there...

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And notice Jesus is not complaining.

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He doesn't say, how dare you say that? He weeps. He weeps. Now, I'm going to give you my personal explanation of why I think he's weeping. uh It's not exegetical, meaning it's not in the scripture per se. It's my own thinking about it, but you are free to, obviously, take it with a grain of salt.

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There's nothing wrong with it theologically, but it's not... I can't tell you this is what the text is saying. It's my own meditation on the text. So, the first thing I will say is that Jesus cannot weep over death. A man doesn't weep over abstract stuff. Okay? Doesn't work that way.

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You never heard, for instance, Mozart weeping over bad music. You don't weep over abstractness. It is something that is very concrete. And it's something that is dear to your heart and means a great deal to you. The second thing is usually a man does not weep over generalities.

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It's very difficult to weep over the pain of the nation.

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It just doesn't work that way. We're not built this way because we're intensely relational.

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So there's two things that come to mind. First one is Lazarus says nothing, not a word. Who doesn't say a word either in scripture, especially the New Testament?

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Yes, his father.

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His father, according to tradition, St. Joseph died before Jesus began his mission. St. Joseph died before Jesus began his ministry. St. Joseph died when Jesus was present and Jesus did not raise him from the dead. He didn't raise his own father from the

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even though he had the power to do so. He didn't.

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Why? Because St. Joseph's death was for the greater glory of God.

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The second thing...

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He's watching this woman named Mary who fell at his feet crying. What do you think this is going to make him think of?

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Another Mary.

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who's going to be crying at the foot of the cross. And I think this is what causes indignation. The sorrow he is going to cause his mother, his own mother.

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It is obviously the scandal of death. It is the pain that death caused all of us, but personified.

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in one sinless human being who is perfect and yet who would have to undergo this

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Pain.

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in a way that none of us could possibly experience it.

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You see, people think somehow that Our Lady was never tempted. Because she's immaculate conceived, obviously. So she's never tempted. But think of it this way. If you have two cities and you have a conquering army coming against both cities. In the first case, half of the army goes against the city and it falls. In the second case, the full army goes against the city. The full army applies its entire power against the city.

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and the city holds. Which of these two felt the full brunt of the army? The one who fell or the one who didn't?

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The one who didn't, right? So which of...

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Which of us can claim to have been able to withhold or withstand the temptations of the demons perfectly? Anybody? So none of us really felt the full brunt, the full power of hell except one woman.

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who did not fall.

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So whatever pain that we go through...

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will always be less than the pain she went through at the foot of the cross. Not because the situation was more harrowing, but because of the full brunt of hell that came against her. And there wasn't a movement of regret, there wasn't a movement of rebellion in her. She was 100 % aligned and accepting of God's will.

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And he knows she's going to have to go through this.

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Lord, come and see. Lord, come and see. We've heard this expression, come and see, twice already. First time, at beginning of the Gospel, when two of the disciples of John follow Jesus, and they ask Him, where are you staying? And He says, come and see. The second case, when Philip goes to Nathanael and tells him, we found the Messiah.

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And then he tells him, come and see. Both of these come and see are a call to discipleship. They're a call to join Jesus and follow him. This come and see, the third is the reverse. This come and see is wounded, sinful humanity, asking her Lord to come into the house of death.

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In Sinai, when the Israelites committed that sin by creating a statue to the god Apis, the golden calf, and having their party,

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God stayed on the mountain. God didn't come and see. Here, God comes and sees and conquers.

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but it's an invitation. So notice, what are they inviting him to? They're inviting him to go to a tomb in which a body has lain for four days. Why is four important? Because to the Jews at the time, four days is confirmation of death. That's why he waited four days. Four days is absolute confirmation of death.

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And Martha reminds him there's an order. The body's decaying. So where are they inviting him to? Are they inviting him into a nice house?

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to have a tea? No. They're inviting Him in a tomb where there is a decaying body. How many of us have the equivalent of decaying bodies in our hearts, secrets that we keep to ourselves? And how many of us tell the Lord, come and see? You see, we tend to have this negotiation with Jesus where we say, okay, here's the part of me that is private.

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and this is where you are. I have my list, here it is, and I want you to fulfill this list. I want you to do these things for me.

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But please, leave these other parts of me alone. Thank you very much. Sign here.

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So watch this movement. You go out to seek Jesus. When you find Him and you love Him, because you seek His greater glory, you bring Him into the deepest sorrow of your life. Not for you, for Him. Not for you, for His glory.

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not because it does good for you, but because it brings him gladness. I'm glad, he said. First time the Lord uses that word in the entire gospel. I'm glad. What is he glad about? That he's going into a place where there is a decaying body. That's what he hoped we would do. When he was talking to St. Faustina in her diaries, the Lord complained to her that she hadn't given him everything.

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And she was rather miffed. And she said, what do you mean? I gave you everything. I consecrated my life to you. I do everything you ask of me. What do you mean? He said, no, you haven't given me anything. What did I not give you? Your wretchedness. You haven't given me your wretchedness. You keep it to yourself.

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And you talk to priests about confession and they'll tell you many of us have this idea that before I can go to the Lord I need to take care of stuff. I need to clean house and to get things in order, then I can go to Jesus. Well, it's good to make this effort. It's a good thing. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Except you can't raise a dead person.

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I mean, if you can, please talk to me.

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You can't. That's the challenge right there. You can't. These signs, these seven signs that we saw here from turning the water into wine, healing the paralytic, and all the way through are signs about us. We are all these people. And all of these people cannot help themselves. Water on its own cannot become wine.

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The guy lying on his mat for 38 years can't fix himself.

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The blind can't see. Lazarus cannot get himself out of the tomb.

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You need Christ's grace. But the way it works is for you first to get out of what you want and seek Him. Seek Him for His greater glory. Love Him. Then turn around and because you love Him, give Him everything. This is covenantal by the way. You're the city. Here's a strong party. You go out to meet Him.

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You declare your fealty to him, you say, I'm going to follow you, and then you hand him the keys to your city. And we struggle with that.

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We really have a hard time with that. So they lead him to the tomb. They lead the resurrection to the tomb. And Jesus weeps beneath the shadow of his own hour. So he came to the tomb and then...

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Martha, like I said, remind him that he is going to smell because it was four days. And then he remind her, did I not tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God? And then Jesus does this, he thank his father, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou hearst me always, but I've said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me.

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When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come out. Watch the structure of a miracle. A miracle is not the action. A miracle is the alignment of the will of man with the will of God. Jesus say thank you before the miracle. We on the other hand tend to say thank you if we say thank you after. Because we're focused on things.

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If we focus on God's glory, we thank Him for His glory. So, a miracle is when the will of man aligns with the will of God. That's what a miracle is. That's it. When do two will aligns? When they are in love. That's what love does. Aligns the hearts, right? So it's love. Love God for God.

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not for you, for God. Not for all the things you want from Him, not for all the prayers you have in mind, not for all your regrets, not for what you wished your life was like. For God. And then God will take care of the rest.

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Unbind Him and let Him go. Notice, Jesus raises Him from the dead, but He expects the community to get involved. He expects the community to unbind Him. I complete in my body what is lacking in the suffering of Christ. Simple. Unbind Him and let Him go. How many of us are unbinding people around us?

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and let them go. How many of us are focused on that? That's the expectation. Now, the sign summons the cross. They decide to put him to death. I'm not going to cover this in detail because I'm over the time right now.

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It is interesting, only thing I point out in this slide, and you can read, I have quite a bit of notes about this, if you grab the text from the website, you'll be able to go read the notes, but the only thing I point out to you is this.

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Caiaphas, who was high priest, said, you know nothing at all, you do not understand that it is convenient for you that one man should die for the people and then the whole nation should not perish. He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied. Remember last week or last time I told you this, there are two types of graces. There are sanctifying graces which makes you holy and there are actual or accidental graces which are for others.

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Here's an example of an actual grace. The man is corrupt and yet he prophesied. So you cannot judge someone by his outward actions. They do not reflect his interior state. Not always, sometimes they do, but not always. Mary's anoint...

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Jesus' feet, this is after he had raised Lazarus, six days before Passover. Basically, we're getting closer to his crucifixion. Six days before, he goes back, there's a dinner, Lazarus is sitting there, Martha is serving, there's no complaint, she's just serving, Lazarus sitting there saying nothing, but he's the visible sign of the resurrection, by his presence. That's it. Just because he's there.

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Are we the visible sign of Christ's resurrection?

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by our presence. That's why we have to work on our interior, on this interior journey, on this working to be united with Christ, so we become visible signs of His invisible presence. And then Mary does something absolutely extravagant. She takes a costly ointment, basically it would cost a man's year wage, the wage of a man for one full year.

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and she breaks it and she anoints Jesus' feet with it out of love. Saint, she's not a saint yet, she will be a saint, I think. Mother Angelica, when they were building the new church, somebody gave her a bag of precious stones. So she used them to decorate the tabernacle. But she didn't put them on the outside of the tabernacle.

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She put them inside and she said, I want Jesus to enjoy them. There you go, extravagant. Judas is reasonable. You see how reasonable he is? Why should I have done this? We should have taken it and give it to the poor. He's very reasonable.

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So beware of people who clip your wings when you're hoping or imagining. And then St. John calls him out on it. He was a thief. That's why he did that. And the apostles are, their silence is astounding, is deafening. Not one of them stands up to defend Mary. They're just there and they're just like, I'm not gonna, I nothing to do with it.

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So don't be discouraged if you think the hierarchy is not responding the way the hierarchy is supposed to. It started way back when, when Jesus was right in their middle. Don't expect somehow the church to work according to what you think the church should be doing. Jesus didn't expect it.

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but he's the one who defended her. Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial, the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me. Chilling words. You do not always have me. That's addressed to Judas. Okay. And then.

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Lazarus becomes a dangerous witness. When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only on account of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus also to death. Because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. Observe the progression. They started with curiosity and questioning, then progressed into...

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scandal, then open hostility, then they wanted to stone him, then they decided to kill him, and now they're deciding to kill one of their own because of political expediency, because they're afraid the Romans will come and destroy their nation. And guess what? They have become what they fear. They're acting exactly like the Romans. And this is how the actions of Christ are a blessing to those who believe and a curse to those who don't.

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because he gives them what they want.

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God's blessing is to give you what you need. God's curse is to give you what you want. And that's what happened. It's chilling. And they don't even see it. They're behaving exactly the way the Romans behave. And they don't even see it. So Christ loves his own even when he delays. The shepherd's voice reaches the tomb. Lazarus lives.

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and Jesus is marked by death. Mary answers death's odor with the fragrance of love. Yeah, this is something I didn't point out, which is beautiful. We had the smell of the tomb because there was the body, it was decomposing, and now it's replaced with this fragrance of the nard when Jesus is present. So death turns into fragrance because Jesus is the resurrection. You see, ah God...

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When Christ came, He did not stop us from dying. He could have if He wanted to. He didn't. He left the entire structure as is. We're still living in this valley of tears. We still suffer. We still have tragedies, human tragedies. We still have pain. None of that He took away. But He changed the meaning of it. He turned it into the resurrection and the life.

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If we center our hearts and our eyes on Him for His greater glory, not conditionally for something that we want. And then the witness raised by Christ becomes dangerous to the world and will always be the case because you challenge the world. You challenge the reasonableness of the world by being the light of Christ.

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All right, thank you for your patience. I took longer than usual. We'll now end with the word of prayer. We'll take a few minutes and we'll come back with questions. Please stand. In the name of the Father, of the Son, the Holy Spirit, Dear Lord Jesus, we want to thank you and praise you and give you glory for every good inspiration, every good word you planted in our hearts, and we ask you to send the Holy Spirit upon us to help us put them into effect.

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And we ask this Lord through the intercession of Mary most holy as we pray. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Saint Joseph. Saint John. In the of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.