Believe

Read: John 11: 17-27 | Ezekiel 37: 1-14

During the season of Lent this year, the Christian lectionary (a set of guided Scripture readings mostly used by Catholic and Protestant churches), has taken us to consider different important moments of Jesus' ministry through the stories we find in the Bible in the Gospel according to John.

Something very peculiar about the stories that John shares with us is that he tells us much of Jesus' ministry through the encounters Jesus had with different people, just like you and me. Through these different encounters we can learn very special and important things about who Jesus is and what He can be for us, if we believe.

For example, the encounter of Jesus with a Samaritan woman at the well, reveals, among many other things, that Jesus is the water that quenches our spiritual thirst once and for all. The moment when Jesus miraculously fed more than five thousand people, reveals the He is the bread that feeds our hunger. The time when Jesus healed a blind man, reveals Jesus as the light that illuminates our path and saves us from darkness.
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John 11 takes us to consider yet another encounter with Jesus. The Bible tells us that Lazarus, who was a good friend of Jesus, was very sick and eventually died. As expected, the death of Lazarus brought much sadness to his immediate family, his sisters, and the rest of the people who knew him.

There is nothing more intense in life than death. Much more when we look at it from a natural or scientific perspective which gives it a very drastic meaning that I don’t think anyone likes. In these terms death represents the end. The end of our hopes, our dreams. Death can also represent the end of opportunities and all possibilities.

While Lazarus was alive, even though he was very ill and most surely was suffering a lot, there was hope that he could improve and regain his health. But when he died all those hopes vanished, not only for Lazarus, but also for his sisters.

When Martha met with Jesus, whom she loved deeply, she said to him, "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died". The suffering that Lazarus' death brought about in his sisters was so profound that they came to think that Jesus, their Lord (the Christ) had abandoned them when they needed Him the most.

Physical death is not the only expression of death that can leave us in a state of complete hopelessness. So many times in our lives we face extremely difficult situations that overwhelm us, fill us with sadness and sometimes even lead us to exclaim, "this is not life." It could be a serious illness that is affecting our body or someone we love. Or a problem in our homes that already seems to be hopeless. Who knows if it is in the marriage, or with our children. It could also be a problem at work where we think there is no possibility to solve it. It could be a negative behavior or a bad habit that you cannot overcome and which makes you feel helpless. (Lack of forgiveness, discouragement, a spirit of criticism and judgment, could be our temperament, or our attitude to life and the challenges we face). For other people, this hopelessness comes, even often without being aware of it, when sin consumes them and takes total control of their lives to the point that they feel enslaved and empty and that their life makes no sense or have any purpose.

Lazarus had been dead for four days. Unlike today, in Lazarus’ time it was not customary to embalm the bodies of the dead, so after four days in the tomb his body had begun to decompose. Certainly, there was no chance for a miracle. In fact, that was what Martha and Maria said: "if you had been here". They were hopeless.

Isn't that the same thing we often say as well when we feel hopeless?

"There is nothing to do now, my body is handicapped because of my illness. There is no hope, my marriage is already dead or my relationship with that family member or friend is badly damaged. Nothing will improve in my job; my employer will never change his mind."

We come to think that we can never control that bad habit that is dominating us. There are even people who think that it is too late or not worth relating to Jesus Christ because of their sin.

As we are faced with hopelessness all around us - I bring you good news from God. The God whom we serve is greater than any sickness and problem. God has control even of those situations that seem to be beyond our reach. There is no negative behavior that the power of the Holy Spirit cannot help us overcome. As the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians: There is nothing that can separate us from the infinite love of our Creator. It does not matter if we have already reached the point of thinking that there is nothing more to do and we believe that all our possibilities have already died.

The words of life that God prophesied about the people of Israel and about Lazarus are also words of life for us. To the people of Israel, who felt that there was no life in them to the point where they are compared to dry bones: God revived them by returning substance where there was no longer substance. At the command of God, the Bible tells us that the bones were covered with tendons, muscles were covered with skin again and the breath of the Almighty, brought them back to life.

Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, my brother is dead”. To what Jesus replied: “Martha, do not suffer any more: your brother will be resurrected: for I AM life and resurrection”.

"I am the water that quenches your thirst. I am the bread that feeds and nurtures your soul. I am the light that illuminates your path - I am the one who brings you back to life" - that is Jesus Christ.

For God, it makes no difference if the situation that has led you to feel like you are dying physically, emotionally or spiritually started today, yesterday, four days ago or if it is something that has been consuming you for years. The only thing that matters here is that we believe.

The woman's thirst was quenched because she believed Jesus and exclaimed: Give me that water. The crowd was nourished because the disciples believed and obeyed the instruction of Jesus. The blind man recovered his sight because he believed that Jesus could heal him. Martha witnessed the power of God in the life of her brother because when Jesus asked her if she believed that he was the life and resurrection.

When we trust in our hearts and say: Jesus, I BELIEVE you are everything you say to be: our thirst is sated, our hunger is satisfied, our eyes are opened and the hopelessness of death is transformed into life, not any kind of life, but an abundant life that endures forever-Alleluia!

Who is Jesus for us? The desire of God on this day, and my prayer, is that when Jesus asks us who he is for us - We can answer: Jesus, you are...my ALL. Do you believe this? I do, that’s why I have hope.