HOMILY – 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT – A

ST. MARY OF THE ANGELS CHURCH – ANDERSON, SC

APRIL 1&2, 2006

 

May the Lord turn our hearts and give us His peace.

 

Dead, Deader, Deadest.

 

Dead.  Imagine the person who has forgotten the words of the Prophet Ezekiel!  Dead!  God speaks through the prophet and says, “O my people, I will place my Spirit within you and you will live.”

 

If we don’t hear that, you and I can walk around like the living dead.   But sometimes we fly on “how things are going at home or school or work” and forget something that also exists, and is also measurable: the Spirit of God within us. 

 

We might be out of practice trying to feel it, living from it.  But we can start right now living from strength.  In this moment you and I can feel the warmth of the room, see the colors, the people, the shapes of their faces – all gathered here for you by God, AND yes, we can feel His own spirit within us.  Here’s how.  Try this - think of a person you are struggling with.  Bring them as much to mind as you can right now.  Ok, in quiet, try to hear in your heart what God wants for them.  What God would say to you about them, we’ll get quiet to listen for it.

 

If you heard nothing, you have a joy-filled task in front of you – getting to know God.  And that would give God praise.  If you heard something, you can check with someone you trust and see if it seems like God to them too.  We don’t have to walk the earth spiritually dead.  We don’t have to.  Listening to God we cannot be dead.

 

Deader.  I know that is not a word, but it works for me here.  What is deader than dead?  Living by our bodies.  I’m hungry, so I avoid going to help someone.  I’m ruled by my belly.  I deserve some fun, so I go off alone or with others and use my body to get a quick fix.  We can be deader than dead if our bodies rule. 

 

Why?  Flesh is not the Lord but an instrument of the Lord.  It is to be ordered and employed by the Spirit.  A body can also be an indicator of the Spirit.  Like when we get tired because we have failed the commandment to rest.  They’re not the ten suggestions.  The body as a Lord, makes me deader than dead.

 

Deadest.  The worst death is the death of HOPE.  All the characters in the Gospel story came very close to losing hope about Lazarus, even his sister.  Thankfully Jesus came and broke the silent death of hope.  “I am the Resurrection and the life.  Do you believe this?”  She snaps out of despair and answers Him.  “Yes.”

 

We lose hope when we allow the down side of life to stack up unchecked against the good, the beautiful, the ordered realities.  Suicide, the death of a baby, a couple splitting up, a student failing, clergy walking around ashamed.  There is so much data that can be stacked up to support a reason to despair.  But don’t fail God.  God gave you and me more than that.  God offers many reasons to hope.

 

Spring!  Puppies!  Hugs!  Sculpture, plays, colors, flavors, baking bread or cookies in the oven, licking the beaters, roller skating, body surfing, fresh cut grass, baby smiles, new books, singing, laughing uncontrollably.  Need I go on?  Check your list against God’s goodness toward us.  To leave them out is the deadest thing to do.

 

God is alive, calling us in the middle of our sin!  His own Spirit is placed within us, an eternal one.  Head to the pet store and let a puppy have his way with you.  Work with it.  Lazarus isn’t the only one God is calling to new life.