Deacon Steve's Homily, Lent Week 5 - Cycle A - Untie the Knots

When my boys were younger we were involved in boy scouts. One of the things that all the scouts need to do is to learn how to tie knots. Knot tying is really useful, especially when you’re camping or boating. Pitching a tent, tying up a boat, or tying an anchor to a boat. A properly tied knot will serve its purpose and hold or bind something in place.  Learning to tie those knots requires some patience and lots of practice.  Even I managed to master a few knots, however, sometimes I had problems untying some knots. It was then that I had to ask for help to untie the knot.

I thought about tying and untying knots when I read today’s Gospel about Lazarus. We just heard from John the following:

The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.” 

Lazarus was literally bound and tied up and Jesus told some onlookers to untie him.  

My friends, how many times do we become ‘tied up’? Maybe not physically but spiritually?  How many things are in our lives that ‘tie us up’ and prevent us from being in right relationship with God?  Perhaps we have some bad habits or ‘sins’ that we just can’t seem to get rid of.   When we think we’ve eliminated them, they keep coming back and ‘tie us up’ again.  We seem to repeat the cycle over and over again.  Just as Lazarus was bound in the burial cloths of death, we become bound in ‘sin’ which can lead to a spiritual death.

As we continue our Lenten journey, this gospel reading again reminds us that Jesus is in control.  In our gospel reading from 2 weeks ago Jesus tells the Samaritan ‘woman at the well’ all about her life.  She became a believer because of this encounter with Jesus, whom she called a prophet. In last week’s gospel, Jesus gives sight to the blind man. We were reminded that Jesus has the power to heal the body.   We were also reminded of spiritual blindness and the need for spiritual healing.   The blind man, too, became a believer and called Jesus a prophet.

In this week’s gospel, Jesus raises Lazurus from the dead. Imagine the scene – imagine being there and witnessing this miracle. A dead man raised to life. The people must have been amazed! Jesus has control over time, over knowledge, over the body, and over death.

Following Jesus, my friends, keeps us in right relationship with God. Right relationship means, true happiness, true peace, and true joy. Isn’t that something that we all want? Sometimes, though, we are unwilling to do what is necessary to improve our relationship with God because we don’t think that we deserve God’s love. The reality is that each of us is a child of God. And God loves each of us so much that he will do anything for us including forgiving all of our sins.

As we prepare to celebrate the Easter season, we need to look inward and identify those things, those sins that have us bound and in knots. Once we’ve done that, we need to repent and seek God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation. God’s forgiveness will loosen the knots and remove the bindings of sin in our lives. Sometimes, though, God uses people to help others untie the knots of sin in their lives. Jesus told the onlookers to untie Lazarus and let him go, didn’t he?

We, too, are called by Jesus to help others untie their spiritual knots. We can do that through prayer and through encouragement. You know, my friends, today we have some wonderful support groups that are available to people who are bound and tied spiritually. There are groups for people who have problems with gambling, with drug and alcohol dependencies, and with sexual addictions to name a few.  Most of these people feel trapped and they want to be freed. When they finally realized that they needed help, they joined a support group. By joining and participating in support groups, people not only find the support they need but they also provide support to the others in the group as well. Support groups can help untie the knots that are binding people spiritually.

Did you know that there is a Marian devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots? The theology of Mary undoing or untying knots goes back to the second century. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

wrote “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.  For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.” 

Pope Francis has a special devotion to Our Lady Untier of Knots. Last year he had this to say:

“But we know one thing: nothing is impossible for God’s mercy! Even the most tangled knots are loosened by his grace. And Mary, whose "yes" opened the door for God to undo the knot of the ancient disobedience, is the Mother who patiently and lovingly brings us to God, so that he can untangle the knots of our soul by his fatherly mercy. We all have some of these knots and we can ask in our heart of hearts: What are the knots in my life? (we may say)"Father, my knots cannot be undone!" It is a mistake to say anything of the sort! All the knots of our heart, every knot of our conscience, can be undone.”
 

My sisters and brothers, as we approach Holy Week, we are reminded in these readings that God loves us beyond our comprehension and that he wants us to have a right relationship with him.  And being in right relationship leads to new life. Let’s ask God to shower us with his abundant graces so we can examine our lives, seek his forgiveness, and untie the knots of sin. Let’s ask God, too, to make us his instruments so we can help untie the knots that others around us may carry. The next time you tie or untie a knot, think about Lazarus, think about new life in Jesus. God bless!

Deacon Ron's homily, Fifth Sunday of Lent, cycle A - Untie the burial cloths binding you and have life in Jesus!

Today’s Gospel brought back memories of someone very dear to me, my Aunt Helen.    She was more like a grandma to me than an aunt.   Aunt Helen was not able to have any children, but she had many nieces and nephews and treated us like her own.   She would always welcome us to stay overnight and my parents would often get a break by having us stay with her. She’d always have a special treat for us when we got to her house, and a bag of treats or toys to take home. After my wife and I had our own kids she was just as eager to have our kids stay with her.  She treated them just the same and they were just as endeared to her.

Aunt Helen was widowed very early in life and lived alone.  She was always a joy to visit and lived very simply. She grew up in a poor family and was content with what she had. We lived several hours away so we would call her often and visit when we could.   As years progressed her health declined, but she wouldn’t see a doctor.  She blamed it on the cost, but it was really out of fear of being diagnosed with a serious illness.  She had many friends who had died from cancer and was afraid it would happen to her.  She eventually had a stroke and also was diagnosed with cancer.  When we heard this we wanted to be with her right away, but were unable to do so due to work and school schedules.  But we were able to go there in a few days.

In today’s Gospel we hear the main purpose of why Jesus came into the world.   Some very dear friends of Jesus, Martha and Mary, come to tell Jesus their brother, Lazarus, was ill.  They were very close to Jesus and He loved them. When we hear Lazarus was ill, we expect Jesus to heal him. But instead Jesus stays for two days. Why would Jesus do this? You’d think He’d go right away if he loved him.   We know Jesus has the power, having healed a blind man who did not even know him.  Surely he’d heal Lazarus. But the story turns for the worse: Lazarus dies.

When Jesus arrives Martha meets him and says: “Lord if you had been here my brother wouldn’t have died”. Martha’s grief causes Jesus to be perturbed and deeply troubled. But why did Jesus let Martha experience this grief when he could have healed Lazarus? Early on Jesus tells Martha and Mary that Lazarus illness was for God’s glory.  Even though Martha grieves at the loss of Lazarus, she still has faith in Jesus telling him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus then reveals his mission: “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.” Jesus came to give us life! Martha has faith, but she does not fully understand Jesus’ power over death.  So He asks Martha to get Mary.  Mary comes and falls at the feet of Jesus saying: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”.  In seeing her weeping Jesus shows his human nature: Jesus wept. 

After this Jesus shows his divine nature and power by glorifying God in raising Lazarus from the dead. We’ve heard of some other miraculous stories of Jesus raising the dead, but in

these other stories the people were not yet in the tomb.  Lazarus had been in the tomb four days and his body was surely beyond saving.  As the stone is rolled away we hear a sign that death has come, “surely there will be a stench”.   But Jesus prays to the Father demonstrating his power over death and commands in a loud voice “Lazarus come out!”  Lazarus emerges wrapped in burial cloths and Jesus responds, “Untie him and let him go”.  Many of the witnesses came to believe in Jesus at the seeing Lazarus being raised. 

Today we live in world does not want us to believe that Jesus gives life.  The forces of the world desire to keep us wrapped in our own burial cloths and kept in a tomb.   We are constantly distracted away from the life giving power of Jesus by placing too much importance on entertainment, improving our appearance, climbing the success ladder, or seeking approval of others just to name a few.  These are ok if we keep the perspective that they don’t give us life.  But if we are totally wrapped up in them we won’t be able to obtain what really gives us life: Jesus.

We can have the gift of life through the Church and Lenten Season helps to restore our life.  By unwrapping the burial cloths of sin Christ can restore us to life through prayer and the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation.   Just this past week over 100 people had their life restored through the sacrament reconciliation. It’s a life giving experience if you have been away for a while.    There are still more opportunities to do so before Easter.  

Returning to my Aunt Helen, we drove up Northwest Indiana to visit after few days.  I knew the hospital would bring her a lot of anxiety.   I really didn’t know what so say or do for her, but I wanted to let her know things would be ok. It had been many years since she had been to church.  I really wanted give her some sign that Christ was with her.   I found a small cross in the gift shop and decided to give it to her at the right time.  She looked very confused and afraid when we first saw her.   She couldn’t talk, but she could understand us.   After we had visited with her a while she became more of her old self, so I gave her the cross and told her our Lord would be with her. She clutched it tightly and shed a few tears.  Even though she had not been to church in years I think the cross gave her comfort and reminded her of the life Christ gives.  She had a look of peace in her eyes that only Christ could give. I told her we would be back in a few days to visit.   We did return, but it was for her funeral, to return her to God.  I do believe that she had Christ was with her, weeping for her and welcoming her to new life.

My dear brothers and sisters, Christ gives us life, if we believe in Jesus and live as his disciples.  He tells us that, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.  He can give us life now by unwrapping the burial cloths in our own lives that keep us away from him.  I pray that the rest of your Lent be a life giving time. God bless you.