Last month, our Lovers of Newman group met at the Formation House of the Sisters of the Immaculate of Mary in Colwich, Kansas to read out loud, meditate on, and discuss one of St. John Henry Newman's Parochial and Plain Sermons, "Tears of Christ at the Grave of Lazarus".
You could say that this sermon is Newman's homiletic dissertation on the shortest verse identified in the Gospels, John 11:35: "Jesus Wept", as he explores why Jesus wept and what those tears mean in the Incarnate Son of God, as a Divine Person and in His human nature. Newman also applies the poignant statements of Martha and Mary, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (remember that Jesus had delayed returning to Bethany, so close to Jerusalem and danger, after hearing that Lazarus was ill) to his listeners and readers as we face trouble and grief.
These things doubtless, among a multitude of thoughts unspeakable, passed over His mind. He felt that Lazarus was wakening to life at His own sacrifice; that He was descending into the grave which Lazarus left. He felt that Lazarus was to live and He to die; the appearance of things was to be reversed; the feast was to be kept in Martha's house, but the last passover of sorrow remained for Him. And He knew that this reverse was altogether voluntary with Him. He had come down from His Father's bosom to be an Atonement of blood for all sin, and thereby to raise all believers from the grave, as He was then about to raise Lazarus; and to raise them, not for a time, but for eternity; and now the sharp trial lay before Him, through which He was to "open the kingdom of heaven to all believers." Contemplating then the fulness of His purpose while now going about a single act of mercy, He said to Martha, "I am the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me, shall never die."
Wherever faith in Christ is, there is Christ Himself. He said to Martha, "Do you believe this?" Wherever there is a heart to answer, "Lord, I believe," there Christ is present. Blessed be his name! Nothing can rob us of this consolation: we will be as certain, through His grace, that He is standing over us in love, as though we saw Him. We will not, after our experience of Lazarus's history, doubt an instant that He is thoughtful about us. He knows the beginnings of our illness, though He keeps at a distance. He knows when to remain away and when to draw near. He notes down the advances of it, and the stages. He tells truly when His friend Lazarus is sick and when he sleeps. We all have experience of this in the narrative before us, and henceforth, so be it! will never complain at the course of His providence. Only, we will beg of Him an increase of faith;—a more lively perception of the curse under which the world lies, and of our own personal demerits, a more understanding view of the mystery of His Cross, a more devout and implicit reliance on the virtue of it, and a more confident persuasion that He will never put upon us more than we can bear, never afflict His brethren with any woe except for their own highest benefit.
If you attend a Mass this Sunday, April 3 with the final Scrutiny for the Elect who will receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil, you will hear this Gospel, John 11: 1-45. Otherwise, you'll hear the Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, also from John, 8:1-11.
In The Tears of Christ, which we are using for our weekly discussions on the Son Rise Morning Show, this sermon is excerpted in two parts for the Sunday and the Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent, and I chose to focus on the second part, because of these two remarkable passages from the third and fourth points Newman makes about why "Jesus wept":
3. . . . Was He not in Joseph's case, who not in grief, but from the very fulness of his soul, and his desolateness in a heathen land, when his brethren stood before him, "sought where to weep," as if his own tears were his best companions, and had in them a sympathy to soothe that pain which none could share? . . . Christ's was a different contemplation; yet attended with its own peculiar emotion. I mean the feeling that He had power to raise up Lazarus. Joseph wept, as having a secret, not only of the past, but of the future;—of good in store as well as of evil done—of good which it was in his own power to confer. And our Lord and Saviour knew that, while all seemed so dreary and hopeless, in spite of the tears and laments of his friends, in spite of the corpse four days old, of the grave and the stone which was upon it, He had the power which could overcome death, and He was about to use it. Is there any time more affecting than when you are about to break good news to a friend who has been stricken down by tidings of ill?4. Alas! there were other thoughts still to call forth His tears. This marvellous benefit to the forlorn sisters, how was it to be attained? at His own cost. Joseph knew he could bring joy to his brethren, but at no sacrifice of his own. Christ was bringing life to the dead by his own death.
Joseph, whose brothers had sold him into a slavery, had become the Pharaoh's trusted counselor: he would be able to help his father and brothers with the grain that Egypt had stored based on his advice ot Pharoah. He was able to give from a huge supply of grain; it cost him nothing personally.
In this next passage, Newman offers us a preview of everything we are going to hear at Mass in the next two weeks, mostly from the Gospel of John:
His disciples would have dissuaded him from going into Judea, lest the Jews should kill Him. Their apprehension was fulfilled. He went to raise Lazarus, and the fame of that miracle was the immediate cause of His seizure and crucifixion. This He knew beforehand, He saw the prospect before Him; He saw Lazarus raised [John 11:43-44]; the supper in Martha's house; Lazarus sitting at table; joy on all sides of Him [John 12:2]; Mary honouring her Lord on this festive occasion by the outpouring of the very costly ointment upon His feet [John 12:3]; the Jews crowding not only to see Him, but Lazarus also [John 12:9]; His triumphant entry into Jerusalem; the multitude shouting Hosanna [John 12:13]; the people testifying to the raising of Lazarus [John 12:17]; the Greeks, who had come up to worship at the feast, earnest to see Him [John 12:20-26]; the children joining in the general joy [Matthew 21:15-16]; and then the Pharisees plotting against Him [John 11:45-53, 57; 12:1], Judas betraying Him [John 13:21-30], His friends deserting Him [Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:50], and the cross receiving Him [John 19:17].
Newman then boldly enters into the human feelings of Jesus:
Finally, Newman applies these meditations to our own dealings with the illness and death of loved ones, the faith we need to bear them, and the confidence we should have in Jesus:
I heartily recommend that even if you don't hear this Gospel passage on Sunday, April 3, you read it and then read the two substantial excerpts from Newman's sermon in The Tears of Christ, or at the Newman Reader website. It is certainly a good meditation for the week before Holy Week as we enter the Passiontide of Our Lord.
Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus of Bethany, pray for us!
Image Credit (Public Domain): Rembrandt's Raising of Lazarus, 1630–1631
Image Credit (Public Domain): The Raising of Lazarus, 1857, Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat
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