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!