One of the lesser-known works of the great American playwright, Eugene
O'Neill, is a play called Lazarus Laughed. It tells the story of
the good friend of Jesus who briefly tasted death and saw it for what it
was. Ever after, Lazarus greets everyone he meets with these words
that become something of a refrain throughout the play:
Laugh with me! Death is dead!
Fear is no more!
There is only life!
There is only laughter!
The stage directions that follow indicate (and
here I quote) that Lazarus "begins to laugh, softly at first, then
full-throated - a laugh so full of joy in living, so devoid of all fear,
that it is infectious with love."
I like the image of the laughing Lazarus, but
it's well to remember that the laughter of Lazarus was preceded by
tears. Perhaps his own, when he knew he was irreversibly in the grip of
death; and certainly the tears of Martha and Mary, his loving sisters
who doted on him, and who were devastated by his untimely death. And
then there were the tears of Jesus. In what is surely the shortest but
also one of the most revealing sentences in all the gospels, we were
simply told that "Jesus wept."
Laughter and tears. Tears and laughter.
They are like waves that constantly wash up onto the shores of life.
And they are never very far apart, are they? Certainly not in
today's readings, and certainly not in life as we know it. Tears and
laughter are as constant and predictable as death and life. They are the
voice of death and life.
Serving as a priest for many years has brought
me close to the tears and laughter of a lot of people. And it's an
awesome thing to be that close to the agony and the ecstasy of another
human being. It’s something no priest ever takes it lightly.
I’ve shared with you before a story about being
with a young wife and mother at the bedside of her dying husband. He was
way too young to be dying, but Agent Orange from the Vietnam War and the
resultant leukemia were having their way, and we watched life slowly but
steadily drain from him as we prayed through our tears the Church's
prayers for the dying. He died one morning just after sun-up and before
sunset that same day, his wife gave birth to their second child, a
beautiful little girl. Tears and laughter can come very close together
in this mysterious life of ours, but I never saw them come any closer
together than that. I found myself standing in silent wonder before the
mystery of a God for whom life and death are intricately woven together
and sometimes even spoken in the same breath.
But we must not be too literal about life and
death. Death has more than one meaning and so does life. The scriptures
tell us that the story of the raising of Lazarus is more than a great
miracle story that showed beyond any doubt that Jesus had power over
death. It certainly did that, but it did even more because in John's
Gospel the miracles of Jesus are more than wonders: they are signs,
signs of something far deeper than physical. They are spiritual signs,
signs of faith. Think of them as sacraments that point beyond
themselves. You may remember that in last Sunday's Gospel, when Jesus
gave sight to the man born blind, his eyes began to see people and trees
and colors, yes, but he gained other eyes, too - eyes of faith that
opened up and began to see Jesus as Lord. "I do believe, Lord," he said,
and he fell down in worship. And it was the same with the Samaritan
woman. The water from Jacob's Well not only quenched her thirst, it led
her to an encounter with Jesus, the living water.
So, what is the deeper level of the story of
Lazarus? I see it as a story, not just about the raising of this
friend of Jesus, but the raising to life of every Christian believer,
including you and me. Lazarus represents Christians on their way to
faith, and he represents Christians struggling to believe and sometimes
finding it hard to believe. It’s hard not to think, for instance, of our
gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in the wake of the recent statement
from the Vatican regarding the blessing of same sex unions. As a pastor,
I’m painfully aware of what a challenge to faith this must be for them –
a deep wound, even a death experience. But in their pain and
disillusionment, I hope that they are able to hear Jesus saying to them,
”Lazarus, come forth!” and to hear those words as a personal expression
of his love as well as an invitation to walk in the light of day.
That’s one example, but, in one way or another,
each of us should be able to identify with Lazarus. Like him, we are the
friends of Jesus. We are also the ones for whom Jesus weeps, and the
ones to whom he speaks those liberating words, "Lazarus, come forth!"
That’s because there is something in each of us waiting to be brought to
life; something asleep in each of us, longing to be awakened. And you
know, that’s true of the Church, too. The Lazarus story is our story,
then, the story of every believer.
My friends, are there tears in your life? Hurts
that won't go away; painful memories that haunt you; limitations you
can't overcome; things that just don't make sense? Is there death in
your life: the recent death of a loved one, perhaps? Your own
approaching death? Your fear of death? Maybe so. And there is certainly
death in our world that can be so indifferent to the poor and so
indulgent toward the rich, our world that seems to feed on violence,
hatred, racism, and division. No doubt about it: we are surrounded by
death.
But that is not the whole story. There is
Lazarus and his story. With Lazarus, we need to hear Jesus say, "Come
forth!", and then we need to take our first steps into the light of day.
And that takes courage because we can be comfortable in our graves, we
can get used to drowning in our tears.
But my friends, as much as tears are a part of
our lives, we are still meant to laugh. Along with Lazarus, we are meant
to leave our tombs and to laugh. To laugh because, in the end,
there really is only life. And God’s enduring love!
Father Michael G. Ryan
|
|
