How many of you like sequels? Yes, that’s my question for you. Do you enjoy seeing a sequel to a movie you didn’t want to end in the first place? How many of you are fans of the Lord of the Rings and are anxiously awaiting the Hobbit movie? Although I’m not sure if it will be a “sequel” or what we now call a “prequel.” At any rate, Hollywood certainly recognizes the money-generating potential of ongoing storytelling. Otherwise, how would you account for such productions as the Rambo series or, heaven up us, the multiple versions of the Halloween franchise?
Books were once like that. Have you ever disliked coming to the end of a book? You really wanted the plot to continue and not have an ending. And, perhaps, the author would oblige with another story about the same characters. In fact, another question for today might be: How do you know when anything really ends?
With a book, you turn the page and the next one is blank. That’s a sure sign the story has ended. With luck, a new one might lie in the future. With old movies, really old movies, the words “The End” would appear on the screen. I guess back then, viewers weren’t very sophisticated and would just keep sitting there in the dark until the houselights came on. But now, the film, as they say, “fades to black” and the credits indicate it’s time to leave.
Which leads to the real question for today: What happens to let us know that a real life has ended? Is it a case of “fading to black,” or turning to the next event and finding the page is blank? Today’s scriptural readings are about “endings.” Real life endings.
In our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, we heard about what the Israelites believed was the end of their nation. They had been held for many years as captives in Babylon. They thought the Lord God may have abandoned them. But then Ezekiel reminds them their God had not left them. Ezekiel uses the metaphor of dried bones to encourage the Israelites to see that their God, who could open graves and restore life to dried bones, their God would keep his promise and lead them back to Jerusalem. The words of the Prophet rang in their ears, “On my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the Lord. I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord.” Their story had not ended. They, as the Chosen People of God, would continue to praise him in a restored Jerusalem. This was not the end; it would be a continuation of what God had initiated many years ago.
In our Gospel Reading for today, we heard how two sisters, Mary and Martha, had thought the end had come for their brother, Lazarus. He had died. He was buried three or four days ago. The two women had hoped Jesus, who loved their brother, would have come to save him from death. They had informed him of their brother’s illness, but Jesus had not arrived in time to prevent the death. Yes, their perception was that their brother’s life had ended. However, this was not the perception of Jesus.
In his grief-filled meeting with Martha, the woman who may not have listened to his own stories as closely as had her sister, Mary, who sat at his feet while Martha busied herself with household chores – to Martha he now proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” If we listen closely to these words, we hear Jesus say death is not the end of life but rather a continuation of life, itself. Some might have misheard his words and thought he said death would be followed by a “new life,” that the old life is set aside by death. But this is not what he said. Rather he said, “… everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
A new life does not begin with death. The New Life in Jesus began when one became his disciple, his follower, when one began to believe in him and his teaching that the Kingdom of God, the reign of God, begins “now,” it exists “now,” at this very moment. The Kingdom of God does not begin at some future time.
And this is the remarkable fact of his preaching. We do not wait until death to begin a new life with him. We have his new life right now. It is a human perception that with death, something has ended, that the old life has ended. It is a divine perception that with death, something continues.
It is not that there is now “life after death,” but rather, life in the Spirit continues after we cease to breathe. Our true life does not end, rather, our true life continues. As human beings we are prone to ask the question: how can this be? How does it occur? How can life continue after the death of our bodies?
In physical terms we perceive that breath stops. Shortly afterwards, decay continues more rapidly than before. As practical Martha observed, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Actually, physical decay, biologically, begins at birth, if not at conception. Cells grow, cells die, cells are replaced. This decaying continues throughout growth and development, but the replacement is more rapid than the decay. Until at biological death, when the decay becomes more rapid.
Nevertheless, the soul created by God at the moment of our conception continues to exist. This is the soul which has been enriched through the grace given by the sacraments, beginning with our baptism, and nourished throughout our lives by other sacraments such as Eucharist. This Spiritual life can mature or it can languish depending upon our own actions and cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Yes, the physical body can grow while the spiritual life within stagnates. The choice is ours.
Saint Paul addresses this question in today’s second reading. He says the flesh, the worldly part of our humanity, is not what really matters. Rather, it is the Spirit of God who dwells within that merits our concern. Saint Paul wrote to the Romans these words, “But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. … If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.”
So, where does this leave us here, today? A day two weeks before we celebrate Easter, the day of the commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Although we formally celebrate His Resurrection every Easter, we actually celebrate it at every Mass at which we participate. Easter need not be an annual event. In fact, it is a daily event. An event that shows life does not end with our death. An event that celebrates the continuation of our life with Christ, so long as we choose to follow him and to be part of his life.
Today and every day we have a choice. We can turn the page of our life and see a blank page. We can believe that our end has come. When we look around and see the turmoil in the world today, this may become the easier choice. We may still be breathing but we are not really alive.
Or we can turn the page of our troubles and see a new chapter, even a new sequel. One that continues our story, until we come, at last, to the moment some might perceive to be the end of the story, but really is a grand continuation of the most magnificent sequel every composed, the never-ending sequel of our life with God for the rest of eternity.
5th Sunday of Lent; April 10, 2011
Ezek 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45