Homily of 5th Sunday of Lent
By Fr Oluwafemi Victor Orilua CSSp
Ezekiel 37:12-14, Romans 8:8-11, John 11:1-45
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Theme: When God Chooses to Delay
Sometimes we find ourselves complaining about the painful situations we go through. We express anger, feeling that after all our efforts in serving God, we are rewarded with pain and shame. In such moments, we may forget that some delays and trials are not outside God’s awareness or permission. He sees all things yet waits to act in His own time so that His glory may be revealed.
However, one may wonder why God chooses to manifest His power through suffering rather than in moments of joy, especially since in Him there is fullness of joy and redemption. If we measure God’s presence only by pleasant experiences, we risk attributing difficult times solely to the work of the devil. But the devil is not the opposite of God. No one can be compared to Him. God remains sovereign and works through a process. He forms us in the spirit of sacrifice and reminds us that life will not always be easy. What He ultimately promises is victory.
Moreover, the family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus always welcomed Jesus into their home. They loved Him deeply, and He loved them in return. Having witnessed His miracles and wonders, they may have assumed that their closeness to Him would shield them from suffering. Yet, through His deliberate delay, Jesus taught them that intimacy with God does not exempt us from the pains of human life. What He assures us is not the absence of trials, but a way through them. And sometimes, that “way” is not the removal of the problem, but a deeper understanding of its place in the unfolding of our lives.
Jesus deliberately delayed when he was told that Lazarus was ill. “So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” He didn’t go until he had been buried for four days. Moved by His deep love for Lazarus and his family Jesus returned to Judea despite the danger to His life there. Because of this unique bond, He chose to perform an extraordinary miracle for them. “Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Though Martha believed He is the Lord, she did not fully grasp that He could literally raise Lazarus from the dead. This reveals that God is able to do far more than we can ever think or imagine. He has greater plans for us; we need only to keep our eyes fixed on Him. He promised, “…..And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.” Ezekiel 37:12-14. Paul said to the Romans and to us, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
Is there anything in our lives, which seems to defer remedy? Is there any situation in our lives that we think is unredeemable. Jesus calls us to wait on Him. He will sure come.
May all that is dead in us hear the word of God and live through Christ our Lord. Amen.
