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Everyone wants to make the best of their lives. We love life, but we experience daily how fragile it is. We do our best to adjust to the ups and downs of life. Thanks to God we have our faith to help us along the way and give us hope. “Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get,” says Bertrand Russell. But there are people who try to live life without restraints. They follow the Epicurean philosophy of the pagan Romans: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.” These are those who look at life solely from the viewpoint of the flesh, and they get nowhere, says St. Paul in today’s epistle.
As baptized Christians, we are not in the flesh. If we act as if we are still in the flesh, we are not our real selves and we have not sufficiently died to our old selves. For example, If I want to become a mature and grown-up person, I must leave my youth behind me. Does this make sense? Is it meaningful to be generous and dedicated to ideas, to mature in Christ, if everything collapses with death anyway? In the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, Christians discover the love of God who calls us to an everlasting life-sharing with Him.
The raising of Lazarus is a sign of Jesus’ victory over death and a sign of hope for all of us. Lazarus’ illness was not to end in death, but was for the glory of God. We hear Jesus calling Himself: “the resurrection and the life.” In faith, we can now see a life of dedication to ideas as budding into the full blossoming of life everlasting, because Jesus died to inaugurate the resurrection of human beings. The incident of raising Lazarus reminds us of God’s purposeful presence with us, even in our hardest moments.
As we face struggles and unanswered prayers over our health, our jobs or the loss of something that meant a lot to us, we are reminded that “God’s delays are not His denial!” But that our faith needs more than belief; it needs trust – a profound confidence in God’s timing and wisdom, even when we feel abandoned. We should put our faith in Jesus, as many Jews did when they witnessed the raising of Lazarus.
Human pain is not without purpose; it’s often a reminder that we are loved and are being prepared for something greater. The Israelites’ experience was horrible, and it resembled death and burial in the grave. Like gold tested in the fire, our faith strengthens through trials. By moving from merely professing with our lips to trusting with our hearts, we embrace a life of resilience, assured that every struggle is for our good. “We know that all things work for good for those who love God,” [Rom. 8: 28]. This is the hope that we live by and that gives new life to all of us, as God promised a new life and a new beginning for the house of Israel in the first reading. Remain blessed.