Gospel Reading:  John 11:1-45

"So Jesus...came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.  Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.'  Martha, the dead man' sister, said to him, 'Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.'  Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?'  So they took away the stone.  And Jesus raised his eyes and said, 'Father, I thank you for hearing me.  I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.'  And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!'  The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.  So Jesus said to them, 'Untie him and let him go.'  Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him."

I think I begin half of my homilies by saying, “This is a great Bible story.”  This story of Lazarus is one we’ve heard all our life, and we all have images of what happened, but do you know the purpose of this story?  The purpose of the raising of Lazarus wasn’t just that Jesus loved him and restored him to life, it wasn’t just a miracle, it was a sign.  As a matter of fact, St. John in his Gospel doesn’t use “miracle” for this; he uses signum, which means "a sign."  If you notice, there are hints of that in the Gospel.  One hint is that Jesus hears his friend is very sick, but he doesn’t go to see him, he waited two days. That’s intentional.  When he got to Bethany, Judea, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.  The reason for that perhaps, is that many of the Jews believed that souls stayed with the body for as long as 72 hours after death.  It was important for Jesus to get there when they knew Lazarus was dead dead.  He was really dead.  Also, when he heard he was sick, he said, “This will not end in death.” Jesus said, “God will use this so that people might have faith in me and people will know that if they believe in me they will never die.”  The story of Lazarus is really not so much a miracle as a sign and a message to all of us here. 

Having said that, I also had the image visually in my imagination…if he was bound head and foot, how did he come out of the tomb?  Hopping.  Not hopping mad, but hopping happy.  Boing, boing, boing.  It’s kind of comical.  Then Jesus untied him; even his face was wrapped.  The burial cloths were prepared for death like a mummy.  I used to think that Lazarus got a bad deal, because he had to die twice.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not really looking forward to that first time, you know what I mean?  Often times, frankly, when people are near death, they are very clear about their wishes.  I know my mother said, “Just don’t do anything extraordinary…let me go.”  She told me once, “If you don’t, and I come back after I’m near death, I’ll kill ya.”  I’ve since changed my mind, and I think Lazarus got a great deal.  I’ll tell you why. 

A few years ago I heard the story of a man named Leo Boyd, who was one of the first heart transplant recipients.  He had been very sick and was close to death, and had been in the hospital for about a year, when one night he received a heart from a mother who had just given birth to her child and died.  The family thought maybe she could give life to two people on that one night.  So they gave her heart to Leo Boyd, and although the transplant was successful, he never regained much strength.  He was sick for the 16 months that he lived after the transplant.  When he died his wife was asked the question over and over again, “Was it worth it?”  He only lived 16 months, and most of those days were filled with suffering and pain.  She said without hesitation, “Yes it was worth it.  In those 16 months, Leo didn’t have any anxieties at all about bills, career, his future, even about death, because he had been so close to it.  He got to really spend time with these grandkids whom he loved dearly.  He saw a man walk on the moon.  He was kind of a VIP so he got to meet a lot of big shots.  But here’s the key to it.  In those 16 months, Leo lived more than he had in his whole life combined before then.”  Leo praised God for the gift of life every day.  He had very few worries and concerns.

I think we all know people like Leo.  As a priest, I meet them perhaps more often than most people.  But you have stories about people who almost died and then came back, if you will.  I hope they used their years well.  I bet they did.  I hope they did.  I can think of many stories, I will just mention two briefly today.  I had a friend named Charlie Cantrell whose father George suffered a lot these last 10 years and had a brain tumor removed.  We thought we were going to lose George then.  About three years ago, he had a massive heart attack and I was called to the hospital to be with the family, and as I was waiting in the ICU waiting room, I’ll never forget this, this little doctor came in who was from New York.  He came and he said, “Is this the Cantrell family?”  They said, “Yes.”  He said, “The George Cantrell family?” They said, “Yes.”  He said, “ He got no chance.  He’s not going to make it, I’m sorry.  We did everything we could.  Any questions?”  This was Dr. Bedside Manner.  He was a very good doctor, though, and actually, the family liked him.  George is still alive, I think you probably figured that part of this story out.  I went in to ICU to see George and the nurses were very quiet.  Everyone said he’s gone.  I went to visit Charlie a couple weeks ago in Phoenix, and Charlie will tell you that he has enjoyed spending time with his father the past three years more than ever before.  He never misses a chance to go fishing with Dad, to take Dad up to the cabin, to be with his dad.  And let me tell you, George Cantrell is very happy that God pulled him back from the grave. 

Another story is of a young man named Joseph Gonzales of my former Parish.  Joseph is 35 years of age and had a heart defect that he wasn’t aware of which caused a massive heart attack.  I didn’t know Joseph; he wasn’t a churchgoer.  He is now.  I was called to the hospital and I went to the ICU waiting room first and the family was there.  There were about 60 of them.  Any time a Gonzales, or Garcia or Griego or Gutierrez gets sick, there are like 60 relatives, you know.  So I went into the ICU waiting room and they were in grief, someone told me he was dead.  Some said he’s just minutes away from death, or certainly tonight.  The doctors had opened him up to operate, and didn’t even put him back together again.  I went in to anoint him and to bless him, and I thought that was very strange.  The nurses said no, he’s gone, and so I looked at the calendar and suggested the funeral might be Wednesday or Thursday, trying to help them plan.  The call never came, never came, and I called and said, “How’s Joseph doing?”  They said, “He’s hanging in there.  We can’t believe he’s still alive!”  Then I went on to other business, and I didn’t think about Joseph.  Then about two months later at the five o’clock Mass on Saturday night, there was Joseph!  Now Joseph didn’t know any of this stuff.  All he knew was he had a big scar.  He was saved the agony of most of the story.  Now Joseph was at Mass every Saturday night at that Vigil Mass, and I bet he’s still going to church.  Like Lazarus, he will thank God the rest of his life. 

You know, for Joseph and Lazarus, for Leo Boyd and George Cantrell, and for so many other people, what they learned is that what they thought was important before their death is no longer important.  Given this second chance, they realized what is important, and it’s not the things they used to worry about.  What’s important is God.  What’s important is loving God.  What’s important is family.  What’s important is loving family.  If those are not your priorities today, then you are not happy.  You are just not happy.

I spoke to a lovely couple earlier this morning.  They’ve been married 35 years, and I said,” You really love each other, don’t you.”  They said, “Yeah.”  I said, “What’s your secret?”  He said, “Well Father, when we got married, we decided I’d make all the big decisions and she’d make the day-to-day decisions.  It’s really worked out great.  So far there haven’t been any big decisions!”  I knew I had to fit that in somehow.  That’s a great one.  Wouldn’t it be great if we can learn the lesson of Leo and Lazarus and George and Joseph without the suffering?  But we can’t.  The answer is to simplify your life.  We are asked to simplify our lives. 

We all know Pope John XXIII, the great Pope of the Second Vatican Council.  He’s the little fat fellow.  There’s a picture in Archbishop Sheehan’s kitchen of John the XXIII smoking a cigarette and having a drink. He was a real person.  He wrote in his diary on his 60th birthday, “I am getting old.  I must prepare to die.  I must simplify my life.”  After that he became the Pope.  He stuck to his pledge and every year on his birthday he wrote in his diary this pledge.  He wrote, “I am getting old.  I must prepare to die.  I must simplify my life.”  That’s the answer.  I don’t care how old you are.  How old are you?  You must simplify your life.  It’s true for all of us.  We learn a lesson from Lazarus.  It’s simple, this great sign.  If you believe that Jesus is Lord, you will never die.  Even if you die, well, when you die, you will not die.  That’s our Christian Faith and that’s why we live life to the fullest.  That’s why we live life without worry.