My Sisters and Brothers:
In today’s first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel, we’re told God would “settle his people on their land” (see Ezekiel 37:12-14). This matter about the “settling of God’s people” seems to indicate they would have been empowered to do many things, including the ability to surmount any great and/or small challenges and/or difficulties facing them. As people of faith, don’t we want to proclaim God promises “to settle” us as well! But, if you’re like me, isn’t it true we might sometimes think it’s easier to say this than to believe it!
For some reason, this makes me think of my experiences with Mathematics classes! We might all remember a difficult class or two we had to endure when we were students. Math classes were always so for me! When going through school, a self-perceived “Achilles heel” always besieged me when I took any of those many and dreaded math classes! For me, this was certainly my reality starting with the multiplication tables in elementary school, and then at every other step of the way until I “endured” my last obligatory college math class! On more than one occasion during my academic career, I nearly lost hope I’d be able to get through this or that required math class, but somehow I always managed to survive! Those classes are all behind me now, and can I honestly look back and admit they weren’t as difficult as I feared, dreaded, or proclaimed them to be. All along the way, I now know my parents, my classmates, and my teachers, empowered me to make it through the various levels of mathematics. Because they truly encouraged me to overcome my fears, and my self-perceived mathematical weaknesses, those classes really weren’t as bad as I had always imagined them to be.
To use my math classes analogously, isn’t it true all of our lives have had seemingly overwhelming challenges and/or obstacles? Of course some of these may have been much more serious and life-altering than academic classes, but isn’t it true we might sometimes have been tempted to surrender our ability to deal with whatever great or small things have been presented to us? I believe we can admit it might have seemed a whole lot easier just to run away from such challenges! And, let’s be honest, there might have been times when we’ve felt our lives of faith were similarly stymied and threatened.
Isn’t it true it’s been possible for us at this or that moment to place obstacles before our relationships with God? Can’t we admit it wasn’t then difficult to allow those distractions to blind us from the otherwise robust relationships we’d been invited to have with our Lord? Perhaps (if you are like me), there were unfortunate moments when it was possible for us to conclude there were greater powers in our lives than those of the Lord Jesus Christ! This was certainly the case with Martha in today's gospel– at the moment Jesus arrived and found her brother Lazarus in the tomb she wasn’t able to completely trust Jesus was actually totally in control.
Martha doubted Jesus’ power to raise Lazarus from the dead, and she seemed to convince herself he couldn’t bring him back. Although Jesus assured her Lazarus would live again, she skeptically proclaimed: “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days” (see John 11:1-45). But even so, Jesus approached the tomb and he called Lazarus out of its darkness and into the light of life! Metaphorically, isn’t it also true Jesus calls us out of any similar kinds of bondage to darkness (i.e., from sins, from troubles, from doubts, from distress, and/or from whatever other kinds of negativity might otherwise have control over us)?
The rising of Lazarus from the dead tells us we too will rise with Jesus on the last day–but even more, it’s a sign Jesus will lift us out of death to sin (and out of all that other possible negativity) even in the here and now. And although we will be doubted and challenged by those skeptical about the power of Jesus, as people of faith we know we are capable of conversion and change. We have confidence each us are able to walk out of the darkness of our metaphorical tombs and into the light of right relationships with Jesus! All we need is confidence to overcome our fears and faith to believe in the Lord’s promise to liberate us! And I believe it’s likely we’ll find the obstacles we’ve encountered along the way weren’t actually as difficult as we first imagined they might have been!
My friends, let’s not be overcome by the negative self-defeating, and self-perceived “Achilles heels” we might have. Surely there will be many challenges in our everyday lives (such as those with our own metaphorical math classes, and whatever other issues and/or obstacles might come our way), but may we never lose hope! Let’s remember God’s covenant to protect and “to settle” his people, something assured to us through the prophet Ezekiel as he proclaimed: “I have promised it, and I will do it.” And so, just as God “settled” and restored Israel to life, and just as Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, so too does our God promise to conquer and to overcome the obstacles, the darkness and the sins that might otherwise bind us. Therefore, as we hope for peace and security in this life, and for everlasting life with God in heaven, let’s believe our awesome God will “settle us” today, tomorrow, and always! About this, let’s be confident and unafraid! And let’s not only say it, but may we always believe it in our hearts as well!
Praise God! Friar Timothy
Find me on Facebook by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo
No comments:
Post a Comment