2 April 2017 - The Fifth Sunday of Lent
Today's
gospel is quite lengthy, so I'll confine my comments to a brief
explanation of the reference to “two days” and “four days”
mentioned in the gospel reading and my thoughts on faith and emotions
for followers of Jesus.
John's
uses “two days” in reference to Jesus remaining two days longer
from the time he hears of Lazarus' death. These two days plus the
two day travel time to Bethany make up the four days referenced in v.
39, where Martha says the Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.
Four days is significant because as scripture scholar, Moloney,
informs his readers:
“As
well as the physical decomposition of the body after four days…there
is a widely held Jewish opinion that the soul hovered near the body
for three days, but by the fourth all hope of resuscitation was
gone.”i
Therefore
Jesus revelation of the power and glory of God are all the more
indisputable because there could be no doubt in the minds of the
witnesses that Lazarus had truly been dead.
As
I have send before each gospel was written by the author for a
specific community. It appears that in John's community women and
men were viewed as equals. His gospel considered discipleship and
belief in Jesus as foremost and included women as “first-class”
disciples. He drives this point home by telling us in today's gospel
reading that Jesus loved Martha and Mary. Similarly, later on in
John's gospel, the Evanglist writes, “Mary Magdalene was one of
“his own” sheep whom he called by name.”ii
Martha and Mary
illustrate, being a disciple of Christ “involves faith, courage,
tenacity, honesty, genuineness with emotions, recognition of needs,
humility to seek help from [Jesus], and willingness to confront
doubts and long-held beliefs that may be in error”iii.
In my
opinion, They are symbols for the spiral stages in a life of
discipleship: beginning in faith, then challenged by doubt or crisis,
which emerges as a stronger faith. The exchange between Martha and
Jesus are an example of this progression.
I
agree with Gail O'Day, who calls the conversation between Martha and
Jesus, the “theological heart of this story.” O'Day describes
Martha as having “a bold and robust faith,” that empowers her to
speak freely to Jesus and that even her brother’s death can’t
shake her trust that Jesus can “make God’s gifts available.”
iv
According to O’Day when Martha declares “Yes, Lord, I believe
that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the
world” it reflects the Fourth Gospel’s central question: Will we
continue to keep Jesus in our own predefined boxes or will we “allow
Jesus to shatter those categories and thus offer [us] the radical
fullness of his grace?
v
Martha allowed Jesus to shatter her preconceived ideas and received
“the fullness of his grace” and therefore was able to “see”
and to “know” reality of Jesus.
Many
of us know about the five stages of grief, which are: 1.
Denial and isolation; 2. Anger; 3. Bargaining; 4. Depression; 5.
Acceptance.
When denial
and isolation begin to fade, reality and its pain re-surface. It can
be overwhelming. The intense emotion is deflected from our
vulnerable core, redirected and expressed instead as anger. The
anger may be aimed at anyone or anything, including our deceased
loved one and God. We may resent the person for causing us pain or
for leaving us and/or we may be angry at God for letting it happen.
Then we feel guilty for being angry, and this makes us more angry.
But death even made Jesus angry.
Emotions
play a key role in today's gospel. Several scholars suggest that the
use of embrimasthai
, which was translated in our reading as “perturbed” implies an
outward expression of anger. However, the Greek reads, “he became
perturbed in spirit”. So in v. 33, Jesus’ anger is internalized
by the addition of “in spirit.” In v. 38, “in
himself” which has also been omitted from this translation refers
to a deep, internal and spiritual experience.vi
Raymond Brown suggests, While it does not seem that Jesus would have
been angry at the afflicted, he may very well have been angry at the
illness and untimely death which were looked on [by Jesus'
contemporaries] as manifestations of “Satan’s kingdom of evil.”
vii
Similarly, Macpherson suggests
that the distress of the sisters and their friends enraged Jesus
because it emphasized the evil of death.viii
Did
the words were of Mary and Martha to Jesus have overtones of anger?
Mary
in v. 11.32 and Martha in v. 21, say, “Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” We can't
tell from the text. But we do know that these are expressions of
grief and
faith. The sisters grieve but
they don’t despair, showing us that in time of trial, grief and
faith are not mutually exclusive, and that a ‘dark night of the
soul’ can deepen faith.
With
regard Jesus’ weeping in v. 35, Schneiders’ writes
Jesus' tears are an
honest sharing in Mary's grief and perhaps in her anger at death, the
enemy of all life. Jesus, in his most fully human moment in the
Fourth Gospel, legitimates human agony in the face of death … This
episode roots the spirituality of the community in the realism of
human experience…. Faith is not compatible with despair, but it is
no stranger to tears.ix
Jesus'
emotions in this chapter demonstrate that Jesus is compassionate and
feels our pain. In my opinion, as well as being compassionate,
today's gospel also emphasizes the humanity of Jesus. He experiences
human emotions—love, grief, anger, and sadness. He weeps at the
loss of his friend and weeps—sharing the grief and sadness of a
family he loves. We Christians too often forget the humanity of
Jesus and concentrate all of our attention on the divinity of the
Christ. As we come to the last weeks of Lent, let us remember in our
prayers and reflections that Jesus was human as well as divine. He
fully understands our humanity and as temples of the Holy Spirit we
share in His divinity.
i
Moloney, Francis J., and Daniel J. Harrington. The Gospel of
John. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1998, p. 337.
ii
Brown, Raymond Edward. "Roles of women in the Fourth Gospel."
Theological Studies 36, no. 4 (December 1, 1975): 688-699, p.
699
iii
Howard, John M. "The significance of minor characters in the
Gospel of John." Bibliotheca Sacra 163, no. 649 (January
1, 2006): 63-78, p.78.
iv
O'Day, Gail R. “John” in Newsom, Carol A, and Sharon H. Ringe
(eds.). The Women's Bible Commentary. Louisville: Westminster
J. Knox Press, 1992, p. 298
v
Ibid.
vi
Moloney, Francis J., and Daniel J. Harrington. The Gospel of
John. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1998, p. 340-1.
vii
Brown, Raymond Edward. The Gospel According to John (I - XII,
Vol. I). Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966,p. 425
viii
Ibid., p. 29
ix
Schneiders, Sandra M. "Death in the community of eternal life :
history, theology, and spirituality in John 11." Interpretation
41, no. 1 (January 1, 1987): 44-56, p. 54
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