Tonight likewise marks a historical event in my life and in the life of the RM parishioners, my first homily. It is not my first time to give one, but it is my first time to give a Sunday homily without a printed outline in front of me. Only God knows I nervous I was before the mass, but with God's help and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I did not have mental block. Truly if you are doing God's work, you will find yourself lacking in nothing, for he will provide. Like God promising Moses, Aaron, Samuel and the great prophets and fathers of old, God will speak on their behalf. Here is the draft of my homily.
Dead Rising (Homily on Lazarus on the 5th Sunday of Lent)
What will you do if you are in a funeral or a wake and suddenly the corps of the dead suddenly wakes up, gets out of the coffin and start walking around the house or the funeral parlor? Would you still stay in that place or be the first one to look for the nearest exit and run?
Who is not afraid of zombies? I have a confession, I like watching horror movies. And one of the scariest, are those which has zombies, which suddenly appear and start eating other people. There is even a computer game called plants versus zombies where the zombies eat the brains of the homeowners if they don’t protect their lawn with super hybrid plants. Many if not all have encountered one or two ghost stories in their lifetime. Peaople particulalrly, Asians have a penchant for telling and listening to ghost stories. Gatherings, most specially campings come alive when people start sharing popular urban legends, which are either invented, based from experience or are just heard from other people. But why this attraction to the supernatural? Why do are we fond of seeing movies where the good and evil forces fight for power? Come to think of it, today’s Gospel is a good plot for a great horror movie. Just imagine going to the cemetery and someone calls out the name of a dead person, and suddenly here he comes, wrapped in burial clothes, like a zombie, the undead hungry for fresh meat, and that’s the cue for the people around to run for their lives. But today’s story is far more than that, it is a story of hope, of triumph of life over death, of a promise of eternal life in Christ.
The tomb is a symbol of death, cold and gloomy. It is a symbol of hopelessness, of an end to a mortal existence. Before Lazarus finally got out of the tomb, there were three things that had to be done. First is the rolling of the stone which sealed the tomb. During our lifetime, we sometimes start to build big and great walls, high fences which shut us out of the world. Initially we wanted to protect ourselves from the seemingly cruel world, we build defense mechanisms in order to protect our weaknesses and frailty. But in the long run, without even realizing it, this wall and fense becomes not just a security but a prison for us. Yes people can not get in, but also we won’t be able to get out. We need to open our tombs, we need to open ourselves in order to come out.
Then Jesus called out the name of Lazarus and ordered him to come out. If Christ would just say, rise and come out, probably it will really be zombieland because all the dead people might rise again. But Jesus called lazarus to come out. Coming out means going out of our security blankets, of our comfort zones. We open our tombs and start walking out, slowly walking towards Christ. This encourages us to step out of our comfort zones, and start doing something good for other people. Start soiling our hands and reach out to those who are in need. Many times we are so used to our routine that any slight change becomes a threat to our peace. We see these as a threat to whatever normal life we have, but sometimes it is when we start doing new things that we discover that there is more to liife than this. I have been in the Philippines for almost 30 years and stayed in the seminary for almost 12 years. Most of my life I have been studying. And whileI was there all I wanted to do was to finish my studies and do mission work. Now that I am here, I wanted to go back to the Philippines to study. There is a tendecy for us to revert, to go back to a more easy life, eating, sleeping, studying. But do we really grow if we do that? Do we become mature individuals if we do that? Do we really learn if we just remain in our former life, in our tombs?
Lastly, Jesus asked the people to untie Lazarus and let him go. This isan assurance that Lazarus was really alive and that he is not a zombie who would hurt them. But more than this, the wrappings signify our unnecessary attachments to material things. The reason why people have a hard time letting go of bad experiences, of hurts, grudges, anger etc is because they keep a lot of things to remind them of these hurts. Take for instance a girlfriend who claims to have let go of a past boyfriend but clings to the clothes, pictures, love letters which the guy gave her. And whenever she sees them she is reminded of the pain caused by the guy. We should likewise untie ourselves of the wrappings of pride, selfishness, sin which hinders us from totally accepting Jesus and embracing him as the true source of life.
Let us not be like zombies this lenten season who wonder aimlessly looking for victims. We must rather be like Lazarus who found the source of eternal life, and stopped wondering looking for other sources of satisfaction, pleasure and happiness. Today, more than just a celebration of a dead man walking again, it is also a challenge and a hope for all of us to experience life in Christ by rolling away the stones that shut us from the world, or hearing Jesus call for us to come out of our comfort zones and untie our wrappings which hinders us from embracing the hope and promise of Jesus eternal life.
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