{"id":2341,"date":"2008-03-08T21:50:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-08T21:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/03\/lazarus-come-out-homily-for-march-9-2008-5th-sunday-of-lent.html"},"modified":"2008-03-08T21:50:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-08T21:50:00","slug":"lazarus-come-out-homily-for-march-9-2008-5th-sunday-of-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/03\/lazarus-come-out-homily-for-march-9-2008-5th-sunday-of-lent.html","title":{"rendered":"“Lazarus, come out!”: Homily for March 9, 2008, 5th Sunday of Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> If you somehow forgot to change your clocks this morning and “spring forward,” you can blame a man named William Willet. <\/p>\n

It was Willet, an English builder and outdoorsman, who is responsible for Daylight Saving Time. In 1905, while horseback riding before breakfast, he noticed that a lot of fellow Londoners slept through the best part of the summer day. So he proposed moving the clock forward an hour during the summer months. His idea caught on, and it was eventually adapted by England in 1916, and by the United States two years later. <\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find a lot of debate these days about whether or not Daylight Saving Time is efficient, or if it saves money, or costs us. <\/p>\n

But one thing that can\u2019t be debated: it gives us something we desperately need right now: <\/p>\n

Light. <\/p>\n

I remember being shocked back in the middle of the fall when we first changed the clocks to \u201cfall backward,\u201d and I noticed how dark the church was at the Saturday evening mass at 5 pm. <\/p>\n

Now, even on this bleak day, you can see hints of light. Spring is fast approaching. We are about to turn a corner. And it is happening to us in the liturgy, as well. In this weekend\u2019s gospel, Jesus speaks of light: \u201cIf one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of the world. If one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.\u201d <\/p>\n

It is a light that will soon shine on all of us. And not just because of Daylight Saving Time. <\/p>\n

Next week, incredibly, we mark Palm Sunday. And then Easter. The ultimate celebration of Light, and Life. <\/p>\n

And this Sunday, we get a beautiful foreshadowing of that feast, and Christ\u2019s own resurrection. <\/p>\n

In John\u2019s gospel, we find ourselves standing outside the tomb of Lazarus, and watching the dramatic scene unfold \u2013 Christ calling out to a man who has been dead for four days. And we watch in wonder as that dead man staggers out. <\/p>\n

During this gospel reading, we encounter such a range of human emotions. Martha\u2019s frustration \u2013 \u201cLord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.\u201d Jesus\u2019s reassurance \u2013 \u201cYour brother will rise.\u201d Mary\u2019s deep sorrow. Even Christ\u2019s own emotions, as he weeps for someone he loves. <\/p>\n

<\/a>But the most powerful emotion may be astonishment, as what seems impossible becomes possible, as life is restored to the dead. Disbelief becomes belief. Doubt is transformed into faith. <\/p>\n

And it begins with Christ\u2019s dramatic call to his friend: <\/p>\n

\u201cLazarus, come out!\u201d<\/p>\n

As we near the final days of Lent, and we encounter this gospel, I look back on what this season has meant to us. It\u2019s been a time of repentance and reconciliation. Prayer and perseverance. A time of sacrifice.<\/p>\n

And when I read these words of Christ, spoken to his dead friend, I can\u2019t help but think that he is addressing them not just to Lazarus, but to all of us. <\/p>\n

It is the call that he has offered to us from the very first day of Lent, when we stood with ashes smeared on our foreheads. “Remember you are dust,” we were told. Turn back to the gospel. <\/p>\n

In other words Christ was saying to us: \u201cMy friend, come out.\u201d <\/p>\n

Come out from your personal tomb. Come out from sin. Leave what is familiar, and dark, and dead. Come out.<\/i> And I will restore you to life. <\/p>\n

The tears that Christ shed for Lazarus are ones he sheds for all of us who are buried in caves of human weakness and sin. And so he calls to us. And he beckons us \u2013 not with a whisper, but with a cry. <\/p>\n

\u201cCome out!\u201d <\/p>\n

Have we heard him?<\/p>\n

Have we answered him?<\/p>\n

Christ\u2019s final words in the gospel are words of quiet but profound hope: \u201cUntie him and let him go.\u201d Like Lazarus, we stand before God \u2013 bandaged, wounded, tied with our own personal burial cloths. We are prisoners, bound by brokenness. But he wants us to be free. He wants us to breathe again. To live again. To walk again in the Light.<\/p>\n

Come out, he says. <\/p>\n

Are we willing to take those first faltering steps?<\/p>\n

Our 40-day Lenten pilgrimage is almost over. There is still time to rediscover the zeal that we all had on Ash Wednesday, when we proudly wore that mark of penitence on our foreheads. Maybe it\u2019s a mark a lot of us left in the bathroom sink. But we should continue to carry it. In our hearts. And on our consciences. Striving, with every day, to continue our journey. To reconcile ourselves with one another, and with God. <\/p>\n

At the beginning of Lent, I talked about how \u201cgiving up\u201d begins with \u201cgiving.\u201d Now might be a good time to do a little spiritual inventory. To ask ourselves what we have given. To our families. To one another. And to God. <\/p>\n

Starting tomorrow, we\u2019ll have another hour of light. What will we do with it?<\/p>\n

And in two weeks, we will be embraced by the Light of Christ at Easter. <\/p>\n

What will we do with that<\/i>?<\/p>\n

Now is the moment to reconsider. And to recommit. To open our hearts, and our ears. <\/p>\n

Listen for the call of Christ. <\/p>\n

It is a call to Light. <\/p>\n

And a call to life<\/i>. <\/p>\n

Image: Raising of Lazarus by Juan de Flandes, 1500<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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