Deacon Tam Tran

PATIENTLY WAITING

(Ez 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45)

I doubt that there is anything I dislike more than waiting. It may be that you can identify with me in my annoyance with waiting, especially when it is a prolonged awaiting of someone’s arrival. I was watching the news during the snow storm two years ago, and much was made of the thousands who were forced to spend a day or more in a place that they did not want to be, waiting for the weather to clear and for the airline schedules to be untangled. I can easily understand how everyone feels while we are agonizingly waiting for the coronavirus to go away.  That would be the day!

Our culture is not inclined to wait, either. Think of credit cards that have a great appeal to us because we can buy the things, we want without having to wait until we have the cash to do so. Think of how many “fast food” restaurants there are in our town, as compared with those which cook food the slow and old-fashioned way. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, and Papa Ginos are some of my favorite places to spend time eating and playing with my grandchildren. I also love those instant noodles late at night because they only cost about 10 cents and 3 minutes in the microwave oven. Sound familiar?

I understand your dislike and annoyance with waiting, but it is in no way harder than what Mary and Martha went through. They were waiting for Jesus to come while their brother, Lazarus, was on his death bed.  What a painful waiting!

In the Gospel, the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, "Master, the one you love is ill," and they were in pain waiting for Jesus. Although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, Jesus did not go right away, but Jesus went on with his routine and remained for two days in the place where he was. When Jesus arrived in Judea, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

Can you imagine their disappointment when the sisters heard that Jesus was coming four days late, and their brother was already dead and buried? Mary sat at home, but Martha went to meet Jesus. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died," which basically meant, “You came too late!” This is a clear blaming tone, and everyone can understand her grief, sorrow, and sadness with this attitude.

Both Martha and Mary thought and felt they knew what the best was for their brother. Martha and Mary believed that if Jesus could come sooner, they could avoid the whole entire pain. Jesus was late, and they actually judged Jesus before Jesus could demonstrate to them that he arrived at the perfect moment. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus was in the front of Lazarus’ tomb and cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man Lazarus came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So, Jesus said to everyone around, “Untie him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews who had come to Lazarus’ tomb and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.

God’s time and our human time are not the same. We cannot treat God as a vending machine – just put in the coins and the products of our desire will immediately come out. When we judge God by our own definition and limited understanding, as Martha and Mary did, we make God small, remove his grace and mercy, and diminish his work on the cross and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us that waiting is a virtue because God always comes at the perfect moment.