Miracles Do Happen When We Cooperate With God’s Command

03-26-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp, V.F.

It is one of the most precious things in life to have a house and a home into which one can go at any time and find rest and understanding and peace and love. That was doubly true for Jesus, for He had no home of His own: He had nowhere to lay His head. (Luke 9:58) In the home at Bethany, He had just such a place. There, three people loved Him & there He could find rest from the tension of life. Their house was a home for Him.

A story is told of a boy whose parents were living in a very poor hotel because they could not afford money to rent a house. One day the small boy went to school and one of his classmates told him that they have a magnificent house but it is not a home; the small boy told the classmate we have a beautiful home, but we are looking for a house to make our home. A house alone does not make a home. What makes a home is the peace and love that is shared by the members of the household. How is your own home? Is it a place one comes in and finds peace, love and understanding as the home in Bethany? The greatest gift any human being can give another is understanding and peace. To have a home where you can go at any time knowing that your dreams will not be laughed at or your confidences will not be misunderstood is an amazing something to have. Jesus found that in the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary.

Of all the miracles Jesus did, the raising of Lazarus ranks as the most astonishing to the people of His time. Traditional Jewish belief had it that the soul of a dead person somehow remains with the body for three days. After three days the soul departs finally from the body never to return, and that is when corruption sets in. When Martha objects to the opening of the tomb and says, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days” (John 11:39), she is expressing the common view that this is now a hopeless situation. Is that why Jesus delayed coming to the funeral, to let the situation become “impossible” before acting on it? G.K. Chesterton once said, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.” In traditional Jewish mentality bringing back to life a person who is already four days dead and decaying is as unthinkable as the prophet Ezekiel’s vision in which the grey, dry bones of the dead are miraculously restored to life.

For the early Christians the story of the raising of Lazarus was more than a pointer to the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus rose on the third day; His body never saw corruption. For them this miracle is a challenge to never give up hope even in the hopeless situations in which they found themselves as individuals, as a church or as a nation. It is never too late for God to revive and revitalize a person, a church, or a nation. However, the miracle because Jesus issues three commands and all of them are obeyed to the letter. First, “Jesus said, ‘Roll away the stone.’ So they rolled away the stone”. The second command Jesus gives is directed to the dead man: “‘Lazarus, come out!’ and the dead man came out”. The third command again is addressed to the people, “Unbind him, and let him go” (verse 44). Even though Lazarus could stumble himself out of the tomb, there was no way he could unbind himself. He needs the community to do that for him. By unbinding Lazarus and setting him free from the death bands, the community is accepting Lazarus back as one of them. By listening to Jesus and obeying His commands a miracle happens.

Fr. Tony Okolo C.S.Sp., V.F.

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