Sermon on Fifth Lent, Year A: What is the Human Condition?
"That person whom you love is ill." In these days, similar words are being said by many people. We are in a time of pandemic—although not so unusual or new, as I’ve been reading in the history of plagues this week. And if plague is not the source of illness or death, we are nonetheless all travelling together on the same road. Such is the human condition. How are we to cope with that finality?
In the famous Lazarus story of the gospel this week, Jesus confronts the death of a loved one. Of course, Jesus knows something his followers don’t: he will face his own death soon, but he he will rise from the dead afterwards. That is the Easter story, toward which we are also heading.
And that is also our own story, if we choose to believe it. We know we are going to die, hopefully not soon, but death is certain. A miracle such as Jesus did for Lazarus, and a few others in the gospels, will not happen for us. But the miracle of our own resurrection, of life after death, because of Jesus' love for us, is the essence of our faith. We live and love until we die, then we live and love again.
Written for the parish of St. James & St. George 2020 March 29
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