Taking a Stand
(Ezek.37:12-14; Rom.8:8-11; Jn.11:1-45)
‘When you were younger,’ Jesus says to Peter, ‘you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you’re old … someone else will dress you and lead you where you don’t want to go’ (Jn.21:18).
I used to think these words were only for the apostle Peter, but now I know that Jesus is speaking to us all. In our youth, we naively thought we could do whatever we wanted, but now we know that’s not true. In so many ways the future is not our own; we are in the hands of others.
Thomas Merton often criticised secularism and the secretive military–industrial complex that dominates society. He once wrote that 90% of all news is a combination of pseudo-news, manufactured events and propaganda. All this misinformation means that we live in a kind of pseudo-reality, a universal trance where people can’t see what’s really going on. [i]
He also wrote that powerful people in industry, politics and the media are trying to grab our attention and harness our energies to suit themselves. In the meantime, we’re left struggling, confused or angry, and drifting away from the truth of our existence. [ii]
Merton wrote this long ago, but it’s still very relevant. So many nations today are struggling. Why? Because of the few who seek wealth and power instead of the common good.
Where, then, are we to put our faith?
Throughout history, a few people have had the courage, conviction and faith to take a stand against ignorance, injustice and repression. Churchill, Gandhi and Moses are good examples, but above all so is Jesus Christ.
In 1941, in Auschwitz, St Maximilian Kolbe offered to die in the place of another prisoner. He stood unarmed before the machinery of death, moved only by love. That moment became a light in one of history’s darkest tombs. Like Lazarus, he shows us that even in a world wrapped in fear, faith in Christ can bring life out of death.
What does all this mean for us?
Last week’s Gospel of Jesus healing the man born blind reminds us of the spiritual blindness pervading our world today. It reminds us that when hearts are closed, suffering inevitably follows. The good news, however, is that Jesus has the power to heal both visual and spiritual blindness (Jn.9:1–41).
In today’s Gospel, Lazarus is lying lifeless in his tomb when Jesus says, ‘Untie him, let him go free.’ Lazarus then emerges into the light, freed from death and released from his bindings to begin again.
In a similar way, Jesus is now saying to us, ‘Leave your dark tomb; be free of your bondage and come into the light. Don’t be afraid, but believe in me.’
Jesus uses the word ‘believe’ six times in today’s Gospel. He wants us to seriously believe in him, and to let go of all that binds us, especially those things that confuse and stifle our spirit and hold us back, including our fear, anxiety and anger, but also our selfish ways (Mk.8:35).
People secretly plotted against Jesus before his crucifixion, and it’s no different today. Many still actively oppose all he stands for, and yet it’s precisely the selfless love of Jesus Christ that the world needs right now.
So much of the world’s misery today points to the emptiness of worldly ambition, so we ask ourselves: What do we really believe in? What will sustain our families and society into the future? And what are we going to do about it?
Thomas Merton wrote this famous prayer:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I don’t see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end, nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I’m following your will
doesn’t mean that I’m actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I’m doing.
I hope that I’ll never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always, though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.
It’s time to recognise that our world is going nowhere without Jesus.
Like Lazarus, and Jesus himself at Easter, it’s time to rise again to new life.
Like St Maximilian Kolbe, it’s time to take a stand — not with weapons or anger, but with love that conquers fear, and faith that conquers death.
[i] Merton, T. Faith and Violence: Christian Teaching and Christian Practice. Notre Dame, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1968
[ii] Merton, T. Confessions of a Guilty Bystander. New York: Doubleday, 1966:84.