5th sunday of Lent A

I was thinking this week how St Paul must turn in his grave sometimes at the way, over the centuries, we have misinterpreted or misunderstood the things he says, today’s passage from Romans being a classic example. Far too often, the distinction Paul makes between the spiritual and the unspiritual has been the basis of the kind of pious religiosity which attaches too much importance to what goes on inside churches at the expense of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and engaging with the complex social, economic and political issues which deeply affect the way people live. Steeped in the Jewish tradition, such an interpretation would never have entered Paul’s head and he would have been horrified to think that anyone would have understood him in this way. He is not saying that christians should not be involved in the world. What he is saying is that any attempt to deal with society’s issues which fails to take God and Jesus into account is doomed to failure. Humanity cannot find the happiness it seeks through social or political reform on its own. Only through Jesus and the values of the Gospel can any real and lasting change in the world take place, an idea that takes us right back to where we started four weeks ago on the First Sunday of Lent.

We saw that day in the book of Genesis how a person who ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden was someone who would submit to no law and who decided for him/herself what was right or wrong without reference to any higher authority. In the Adam and Eve story, therefore, God, or the author, is warning against this, telling the reader that humanity can only find the happiness it undoubtedly seeks by living in harmony with the mind of the creator. To eat of the tree in the middle of the garden is to rebel against God’s dream for the world, upset the whole balance of creation and condemn the world to never ending chaos and disharmony. And so in the weeks since, in the stories of the Transfiguration, the woman at the well and the man born blind, the liturgy has been inviting us to recognize our need to be healed of what it itself called ‘the original darkness’ which distorts our vision of reality and prevents us seeing the world as God sees it.

And in the light of all that has gone on in the world since the book of Genesis was written 2,500 years ago, who could doubt the rightness of its message? Evidence of the imbalance we speak of is everywhere, three very obvious examples being sufficient. First of all, there is the damage our modern, industrial, consumer-driven economy is doing to the environment. Homo Economicus, if you like, has gorged himself on the tree in the middle of the garden and the whole balance of nature is under threat. Then there is what even politicians today call the life-work balance. Driven by those same economic forces, a whole new form of slavery has developed, as people’s entire lives are dominated by work and the demands of the god money to the serious detriment of family relationships, not to mention our physical and mental health. And on the grand scale, the imbalance we speak of is seen in the way the enormous gap between rich and poor grows ever wider and millions throughout the world go hungry while millions of others spend hours in expensive gyms struggling to lose weight. And it’s against this background that we have to hear St Paul’s words today. These ancient and profound imbalances, he is saying, cannot be changed by purely human effort, no matter how well intentioned these efforts may be. No political theory, no governmental programme of change can do it, since what is required is a spiritual revolution, a conversion brought about by the Spirit of Jesus living and working in us. It can only happen when the world stops eating of the tree in the middle of the garden and begins to live again in harmony with the mind of the creator expressed in Jesus and all that he teaches.

But if it is true that humanity can never make sense of life without reference to God and what Paul calls the spiritual, there is one particular area where this is more true than anywhere else. And that is in relation to death. From the beginning of human existence people have felt the same things about death. They have feared it, stood dumbfounded, confused and despairing before it, wept bitterly in the face of it, had their hearts broken by it and struggled with the most fundamental of all questions: what might or might not lie beyond it. In the past, primitive religions developed stories and myths to explain it and in every part of the world all manner of burial customs which reflected these myths grew up around it. In today’s world, of course, the story millions tell themselves is that any talk of life beyond death is an illusion, a way of thinking that ultimately lies at the root of so many of our modern problems. It accounts for the hopelessness and pessimism about the future that so many people experience today and helps explain our attachment to so many short-term things like money or fifteen minutes of fame on the tele.

But beside all of this there is a christian story to be told. It is why the author of John’s gospel wrote today’s account of the raising of Lazarus in the first place. This is not so much a real event – if it were, then surely the other three gospels would mention it too – as an invitation to embrace the christian story about death, Like Martha and Mary, weeping at the death of their brother and so many others weeping at the death of loved ones down through the ages, Jesus also wept at the death of Lazarus. But in the New Testament version of the story, it does not end there. Through this story, the early christian community is telling us what it has come to believe about Jesus, that he is the Resurrection and the Life and that anyone who believes in him will not only never die, but will see the glory of God.

And so, as we stand on the threshold of Holy Week and Easter, in a world where many, having lost touch with what Paul calls the ‘spiritual,’ no longer feel able to believe this most basic and fundamental of truths, turning Easter itself into little more than an excuse for a holiday, the question facing us in the days ahead is the same one Jesus asks Martha in the story:… ‘Do you believe this?


BIDDING PRAYERS



We begin today, on what was once known as Passion Sunday, by praying for the world in which we live. Having eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden, it has upset the balance of creation, replacing harmony with chaos and division And so we pray that the world today will be healed of its blindness, see reality transfigured before its eyes, feel a spring of living water well up inside itself, and emerge from the darkness of its self-made tomb………Lord hear us

ForSt Paul, the spiritual is what comes from God, the unspiritual what does not. And so we pray for the grace we need to recognize the difference between the two in the course of our daily lives so that we are not seduced by what is ultimately empty and futile in our modern consumer-driven society, preferring instead the things of the kingdom…………………….Lord hear us

If we are to live spiritual lives, then we must become a prayerful and reflective people. Prayer is the first of the three elements which lie at the heart of Lent and is what enables us to move beyond the surface of things and enter more deeply into the reality of our daily lives. And so we ask for the grace we need to embrace a life of prayer which is adult, mature and adapted to the circumstances of the time we are living through….Lord hear us

Fasting and penance are also central to Lent. As the liturgy puts it: You give us strength to purify our hearts, to control our desires and so to serve you in freedom. You teach us how to live in this passing world with our hearts set on the world that will never end. And so we pray that, through fasting and penance, we may become free to do what is right rather than what we feel like…………Lord hear us

The third element of Lent is almsgiving. When prayer has opened up to us deeper ways of seeing the world and fasting has freed us from attachment to riches and material possessions, the next stage is to reach out to all who are in need around the world. And so we pray, not only that our almsgiving this Lent will continue to be generous, but that we will have the commitment we need to move to the next stage and begin to address the political and ecoomic causes of poverty and injustice whether here in Kilmarnock or in other parts of the world……………….Lord hear us

The Gospel today invited us to believe in Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life. Those who believe in him, St John tells us, will never die but will, after what appears like death or the end to us, see the glory of God. And so we pray for the faith we need to embrace this great truth over the Easter period so that we may become what we are called to be, witnesses to the resurrection in a world where many have lost touch with this most deeply joyful and hopeful message……….Lord hear us