Readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
I have this ongoing argument with my body. I continue to tell my body that we cannot end up eternally in two different places. To this day though, it remains unreasonable. My body won’t accept that it’s actions are taking us toward a place neither of us will want to end up. It is unyielding, but I continue to work towards training it to my will. With a great deal of work, hopefully, one day, my body will realize that I need it and it needs me in this life and the next. I have not gone to the extremes of St. Francis in training “brother ass” but I haven’t ruled them out either.
This is something that, for the most part, today’s world has forgotten. There is this false notion that we will become angels or spirits and the body will fade away. There appears to be this crazy idea that this life is for the body and the next life is for the spirit. We worship the body here and now and we will worship God in the next life. We couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In the first reading today Ezekiel tells us that the Lord will bring us back to life. Our body and soul will one day be joined again. Our graves will open and then we will know that He is the Lord. This is a wonderful reading in itself and full of hope. However, we cannot read it without the words of Christ concerning our own resurrection close in our heart – “Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. (John 5:28-29)”
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, it appears that Paul contradicts this idea that the body and soul are eternally linked when he says, “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Yet what Paul is alluding to is the fact that our bodies are dying. They are as good as dead. There is no hope for them in this life. However, if Christ dwells within us both body and soul will be brought to a new and everlasting life – If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you. Rather than teaching against bodily resurrection, Paul is teaching us not to let the body rule over us. We should consider it dead to the world but alive in Christ. We should make our bodies a slave or a living sacrifice. Better yet, we should allow Christ to rule over us – body and soul!
No one escapes the pain of death. Whether it be our own or the death of those we love, there is no escape. We find comfort in today’s reading knowing that even Jesus wept over the loss of a friend.
Here too, in the story of Lazarus, we learn the lesson that our bodies will be reunited with our soul. Jesus gives us a glimpse into the future. He allows us to see in Lazarus what will happen to us all. Jesus called out, “Lazarus, come out,” and there was no way for Lazarus to resist the voice of the Lord. The Lord called him out of the tomb and Lazarus was healed from the sting of death, if only for a time.
When we die, the separation from our bodies will be temporary. We will not become spirits or angels. Our bodies will not simply dissolve into some large matrix of existence. We will once more be joined together forevermore. Yet the questions remains, where will we spend eternity – body and soul together? If we want to spend eternity with our glorified, resurrected bodies in Heaven, we must take the time now to master ourselves and our disordered passions. We must train “brother ass” to help us in this life so that he may be glorified in the next. Lent is, of course, a great time for exactly that sort of training!
“Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” – Romans 8:12-17
James M. Hahn, Author 