RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD: DO YOU BELIEVE?

HOMILY FOR 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT - YEAR A

THEME: RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD: DO YOU BELIEVE?

R1: Ezekiel 37:12-14 

R2: Romans 8:8 - 11

Gospel: John 11: 1 - 45

Dear friends, we are gradually approaching Easter which is the summit of our Christian belief. We are gathered here because Christ resurrected from death. With Christ’s resurrection, we are sure and we have hope of resurrection. With the resurrection of Christ we have a view of what resurrection is like:

1. Liberation from earthly suffering 

2. A total transformation.

As long as we remain on earth, we, like the Israelites who were carried to exile in Babylon, may experience several persecutions, rejection, condemnation and trials. 

Within our trying times, we may pray like the siblings of Lazarus who sent a message “Your friend Lazarus, is sick.” The term your friend, stands for every follower of Christ. It indicates someone close to Jesus (a Christian). On receiving this message, Jesus stayed for an extra two days; he didn’t go immediately until after  Lazarus’s death. Jesus’s delay was intentional for two major reasons: 

1. That physical suffering and death is a common experience of everyone and Jesus  didn’t come to stop physical death.

2. Jesus wanted to teach about the resurrection and to manifest God’s glory.

Even though everyone will! have to die someday, not everyone will resurrect to life of everlasting happiness. So who are those who will resurrect? It is only those who believe in Jesus that will resurrect to life. To confirm this Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe?” Believing in Jesus is a necessary condition for resurrection. By the time we got baptised, we were initiated into the family of those who believe; we become interested in spiritual things. With baptism we are committed to the life of Christ, hence, we must live and act like Christ always  so that even though we may die a physical death, we shall rise with Christ. 

Resurrection sets us free from every physical chain of mortality and makes us immortal. In resurrection we are liberated from slavery to sin and the world of corruption to a better experience to live in freedom in the presence of God. Resurrection leads to a total transformation, our physical bodies will become a glorified body. It is a total change, that was why even Jesus’s closest companions didn’t know him when he resurrected.

May God help us to focus more on the things above, Amen.

HOMILY by:

Rev. Fr Chukwuemeka Vincent Livinus, SMMM