“I am the resurrection and the life.”
At first pass, this gospel reading presents several parts
that are quite difficult to hear, if not confusing.
For example, when Jesus first hears of Lazarus being ill,
it says that he stays another two days;
this is the same Jesus, who with the Centurion’s servant
heals him from a distance with not even a second thought:
“Go home, your servant is healed.”
Why would he not have done this for his own friend?
His close friend who he was obviously deeply close with.
Then he stays an extra two days
and he says then that this is so that the glory of God can be known.
Some people reflect on this passage
and say the reason for that is
because God has destined some of us for suffering
and some of us for an early death,
which is an awful thing to conclude.
I am not sure where in that scripture passage they hear this
but it is often said of this very passage.
This is where God, in a sense, intends us to suffer
and through the suffering will shine the glory of God.
Not a very comforting thought!
There is a deeper way to look at this.
It is worth parsing it open so that
we can understand what Jesus is saying here.
Jesus is saying that he is the resurrection and the life;
and that there is nothing to stop that from coming to bear.
Suffering and pain is a reality, yes,
and does God allow it, yes.
That part is the mystery of life,
which I think none of us will fully understand until we get to heaven.
And that is something that sort of bothers a lot of us.
If God is so good, then why does he allow good people to suffer;
and the example today is with his friend Lazarus.
Why does he allow Lazarus to suffer when he can stop it
but he chooses not to for the glory of God?
But it is what Jesus does that is important to look at;
not at what he does not do!
What Jesus does is he shows up.
He goes anyway.
He goes in the midst of the pain and suffering of Lazarus’ family.
And he accompanies them in the middle of all of it.
He goes and he shows up.
We might say that we can show up
but then we do not have the power to heal.
We do not have the power to raise up our friends from the dead.
We are left with a gap ourselves and that can be frustrating for us.
What are we to do?
We can show up.
That is the very message that we are called to do.
We are called to show up and to accompany;
and we are called to be there.
Until you have suffered and been in a position of pain,
we do not quite know what it is like
but presence makes the world of difference.
Do not underestimate how hard it is
to be present to somebody who is suffering.
Because when you show up, the first thing you want to do
is to take away the pain; take away the suffering
because that is what we try to do.
We try to solve things
but there are times when we cannot do that.
There are times when we are helpless
and therein lies our role, to still show up;
to still be present to those suffering.
It sounds so easy but let me tell you it is harder than you think
because what we have to do first is quiet our own soul.
We have to put all our needs aside to be in control in that moment
and to put it aside and say “I will just be here.
I will be just present to this person
in the midst of their pain and suffering.”
And that, we can do.
And when we do it, it is powerfully healing
whether that be for somebody who is
just going through a difficult spot in life,
maybe through a difficult marriage;
or through a painful loss in their own family;
or whether they themselves are in fact dying.
It is powerful to the point of transformation.
Let me give you an example to break this open:
You know my, my brother Paul,
who I spoke of often last year in that dying process.
It was hard to constantly show up to watch him suffer
because pancreatic cancer is an awful, awful disease.
Absolutely awful disease.
And you’ve got to keep showing up
because you’ve got to keep accompanying him
because he needs somebody to walk with him to the end.
I remember it was the last night he lived.
My Spiritual Director, Fr. Dave died of pancreatic cancer
the night before so I had to break that news to Paul
because they made a pact together
that whoever died first would come back and get the other one.
It was sort of powerful pact.
I just didn’t think it was going to happen.
But it did really happen.
Fr. Dave died on the 29th and
Dave came back to take Paul on the 30th that very next day.
It was very real.
Back when we were at Stanford in the middle of the COVID protocols
and all the nurses asked the family to leave
but because I was wearing my clerical clothes,
I called the chaplain card and got to stay. I said,
“Oh, I’m the Chaplain. I need to stay as a minister.”
I didn’t say I was also related but that didn’t matter.
Paul leaned in as best he could and said,
“You know, I am ready to go. I’ve done what I can.
Will you just hold my hand?”
So, I did!
For nearly 7 hours, I held his hand
and that was his last night.
Showing up.
Accompanying somebody.
Beautiful but painful.
Healing and transformative.
Death and resurrection.
What can we do to live this gospel?
We can show up.
We can show up when somebody is suffering
whether it be physical or emotional or mental;
or whether they are in fact are dying themselves.
We can be there and accompany them
and assure them of our love by our presence and by our silence;
but also that we believe that God’s silence can be trusted
because Jesus is the resurrection and new life.
And that in the end, we will be joined together in the heavenly kingdom.
We will be together again.
We give them the assurance that the resurrection is real
and we’ll give them the courage to take that last step into eternal life,
which we will all need.
So, what can we do?
We can show up and accompany them
for he is the resurrection and the new life.
