frequently revolve around death, heaven, hell, purgatory, angels, demons and the end of the world. When we talk about the Resurrection of the

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1 Homily for the 5 th Sunday of Lent, Year A 2017: (Ez 37:12-14; Jn 11:1-45) When I make classroom visits at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Basil s Schools and open the floor for students questions, I find that they frequently revolve around death, heaven, hell, purgatory, angels, demons and the end of the world. When we talk about the Resurrection of the Dead, many conjure up images they have seen in zombie movies or TV series, making this teaching of our faith rather unappealing and even down right terrifying as they envision the day of resurrection to be akin to a zombie apocalypse! For both the modern Christian and the Jewish people of ancient days, the belief in the resurrection of the dead was startling and often out right rejected. In the prophet Ezekiel s vision of the resurrection, he witnessed as dry bones began to rejoin, with flesh, sinew and bodily organs beginning to refashion themselves and those once thought to be dust and shadow were given a new breathe of life, the sleepers had awoken, arising from their tombs, reunited to the flesh long forgotten. God did not explicitly reveal to the Jewish people the reality of bodily resurrection until roughly 400 years before the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

2 It was a teaching that slowly began to be accepted by God s People, but was not universally believed by all. In the time of Christ, we know that the Pharisees, who were pious members of the laity and at times opponents of Our Lord s teaching, agreed full heartedly with Jesus in the belief that the dead would rise again on the last day. So too do we find many Christians, be they Catholic, Orthodox or from one of the tens of thousands of Protestant denominations who believe that the dead will rise at the end of time. But the Sadducees, who were members of the cultural and aristocratic elite of Jerusalem and much of the temple priesthood, rejected the idea of resurrection, in addition to belief in angels and the possibility of heavenly afterlife with God. So too do we find in our day those who reject and belittle faith in the Resurrection, be they the cultural and intellectual elites who hold resurrection to be a superstitious belief of the ignorant past, or more disturbing, when bishops, priests and pastors dismiss the resurrection, saying it can be interpreted in a spiritual or figurative manner but that actual bodily resurrection was something the Church once believed but is no longer necessary for the Christian of the 21 st century.

3 Many Christians, from various denominational backgrounds, struggle to believe that our bodies will rise again. Many believe that Lazarus rose from the tomb, but that is seen as a one time event, not be repeated after the resurrection of Christ. Others seem put off by the idea of bodily resurrection as they do not see its practical purpose: Why do we need our bodies once again after we have died? Is it not good enough that the soul can now be at peace with God in heaven or purified in purgatory or tragically in that realm where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies? Or it could be that we did not much care for the body in this life, how it looked, how it made us perceive ourselves or that it was afflicted by sickness, cancer and pain and so why would I want to get back what caused me so much suffering in this life? Yes it was necessary for Jesus to rise from the dead to fulfil the scriptures, but why is it necessary and of value for us? The Book of Revelation is quite clear that the Resurrection of the dead will take place at the end of the world. When Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, so too will all rise again, with the righteous knowing eternal glory with the body they once had and the damned knowing eternal torment with the body they once possessed.

4 If we find it hard to believe what is revealed in the final book of the Bible concerning bodily resurrection, let us not remain in our doubts but instead seek to understand and belief why resurrection is so essential to our identity as Christians. Our bodily resurrection will occur because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the plan of redemption, Christ not only sought to save all of sinful humanity, but also to restore a fallen creation, one that had been wounded by the sin of Adam and Eve. Humanity lost the immortality that we enjoyed in Eden and the created world felt the death that comes from sin begin to seep into the fabric of being when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree. For Jesus to die and rise again was for humanity and creation to share in the fruits of His sacrifice and victory. We would be given the privilege to share in His death and resurrection, dying to sin in waters of baptism and given faith to await the day of resurrection, when our souls, dwelling (hopefully) with Christ in heaven, would regain our bodies, but see them transformed and freed of all defect, sickness and short coming, patterned after the glorious resurrected body of Jesus! But that is not all! All of creation will also have a sharing in the Lord s resurrection, when He will

5 make all things new, recreating heaven and earth, bringing them together to form a New Eden, an eternal dwelling of the Blessed, now free from sin and death, the paradise that was lost but now regained! The closing weeks of Lent allow us to consider the importance our Church places in the Resurrection of both Jesus Christ and of all men and women. The resurrection of Lazarus brought joy to those who mourned and allowed many to believe in Christ. So too should Our Lord s resurrection fill us with that same joy and help us to believe, especially in moments of unbelief, that the Resurrection was not only the privilege of Lazarus, who would die once again and so also awaits the resurrection at the end of time, but the gift that Jesus offers to all who believe Him to be the Resurrection and the Life, for whoever believes in Him, even if he dies, will live and everyone who lives and believes in Him will never die...