Daily Gospel Reflection

The Power of Your Tears

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant where we're exploring the genius of Catholicism, the genius of Jesus, the genius of the Gospels, and each day, looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea from the Gospel to anchor our day. Take a moment, take a deep breath, welcome the Spirit, allow the Spirit to guide you to your word, your phrase, your idea for the day. Today's reading is from the Gospel of John 11:1-45. Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him while Mary sat in the house. Martha said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." And Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day." And Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world." When Martha had said this, she went and called out her sister, Mary, saying quietly, "The teacher is here, and he is calling for you." And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews, who were with her in the house consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came to where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him." But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave. And a stone lay upon it. And Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time, there will be an odor for he has been dead four days." And Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you hear me always. But I have said this on account of the people standing by that they may believe that you did send me." When he had said this, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, his face wrapped with cloth, and Jesus said to them, "Unbind him and let him go." And many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him.

It's a long reading today, so many words, so many phrases, so many ideas, but two strike me really powerfully today. The first is just that two words. One of the shortest sentences in the Bible, it says, "Jesus wept." He wept. Now this is his beautiful humanity coming forth. We know that Lazarus and Mary and Martha, they were friends of Jesus. And Jesus is overcome. He wept for his friend. And I think that's powerful. It's powerful to understand that weeping can be a holy moment, and that sometimes we're tempted to hold back our tears, but weeping can be profoundly human and profoundly healing. But the other thing that strikes me today is Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. But he's bringing him back into a world of problems, right? He's bringing him back into a world of chaos and confusion and problems and turmoil and all this sort of stuff. And I can't help but wonder sometimes, you think Lazarus would have rather stayed dead, you know? It's only a couple of weeks till Jesus is going to die. And I just, I sometimes wonder that. It's maybe a strange thought, but what's your word? What's your phrase? What's your idea today? How is the Spirit drawing you to live out the gospel, to anchor the gospel in your day-to-day? Have an amazing day. Remember, don't just be yourself, be the very best version of yourself. All that God created you to be.