Dear Friends,
Have you ever ignored a phone call…
not because you didn’t hear it,
but because you just didn’t have the energy to deal with whatever was on the other end?
Sometimes it’s not that we’re busy.
Sometimes we’re just tired. And sometimes life can wear us down so much that parts of us begin to shut down.
This week’s Gospel is not only about a man who died. It is about what God does when parts of our life feel shut down.
When Jesus arrives at the tomb of Lazarus, he does not rush past the moment. He stands there… and he weeps.
And that matters.
Because it tells us something important about God. God does not skip over our grief. God stands with us inside it.
Then Jesus calls into the tomb:
“Lazarus, come out.”
Not “someone come out.”
Not “whoever is in there.”
He calls him by name.
Because that is how God works.
God does not call crowds back to life.
God calls people personally… by name.
And Lazarus does come out.
But the Gospel tells us he is still wrapped in burial cloths—
alive, but still bound.
That may be the most honest line in the whole story. Because many of us know what that feels like.
We may be functioning.
We may be showing up.
We may be technically “alive.”
But parts of our lives can still feel wrapped in fear,
wrapped in grief,
wrapped in old wounds,
wrapped in stories we struggle to let go of.
And here is something people sometimes miss.
Jesus does not unwrap Lazarus himself. Instead, he turns to the community and says:
“Unbind him, and let him go.”
Last week I sat with a family in the hospital on one of the hardest days of their lives. What struck me was not only the tragedy, but what happened next.
Doctors came. Staff came. Advocates came. Our team made sure the family had food, parking, phone numbers, someone to call, someone to sit with them.
No one could erase what had happened. But no one allowed them to face it alone. And I remember thinking:
This is what “unbind him” looks like in real life.
Resurrection begins with God. But healing often happens in community. We do not come back to life alone.
We help unwrap one another.
And perhaps that is the invitation for us this Lent:
To listen for the places where Christ is still calling our name…and to notice who around us may still be standing there —alive — but waiting for someone to help loosen whatever still binds them.
Peace and Blessings,
Father Jerry