RESURRECTION FREEDOM: THE POWER OF TRUE LIVING

READINGS: FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

The gospel of this 5th Sunday of Lent, Year A (John 11:1-42), tells the story of Christ Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Christ commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb, and he did, but he was still wrapped in grave clothing—unable to walk freely and unable to embrace life fully. So Jesus commanded, “Untie him and let him go.” Resurrection is not just life restored, but life released, a shared communal responsibility.

Too many people look like they are functioning, with smiles on their faces, but who are inwardly tied; carrying their own “grave clothes”—old wounds, unspoken tensions, unmet expectations, hurtful memories, grief, fear, shame, past failures, family wounds, loneliness, bitterness, anxiety, rejection, or silent struggles no one sees. We can find people in these situations in various families; people wrapped in grave clothing by our negative and painful labels, our unforgiveness, our rehearsal of old wrongs, keeping score that traps others in the history of who they were, not who they are becoming. The joy of this Gospel is that Christ is calling our families to become a place where love unties knots, where mercy cuts the silence, where patience softens rash judgment, and understanding releases a suffocating soul. Yes, our home may not be perfect, but it should, at least, be a holy ground where we help others step out of what once kept them in the tomb, where we help each other breathe again, chose forgiveness over resentment, speak healing words not castigations, allow one another to grow beyond past mistakes, while making room for new beginnings.

This is also a challenge for the Church. Our Church should never be a tomb of the living, but a place where people can rise again—where people can rediscover hope, dignity, and purpose. Many people who come through our doors carry burdens from the world, from sin, from broken relationships, from mental exhaustion, from hidden guilt, and from spiritual discouragement. The last thing they need is a community that adds more weight through harsh judgment, exclusion, gossip, coldness, impatience, discrimination, or the inability to welcome people who are still healing. What is needed is a community that knows how to unbind and untie. Christ did not say, “Inspect him” or “Remind them where they have been.” Rather, He said, “Unbind him and let him go.” We are truly the Church when we become experts at freeing, restoring, and encouraging others unto freedom.

It is easy to trap others in their worst moments, binding others with our suspicion, public shaming, tribalism, resentment, and merciless memories, reducing them to their failures, mistakes, weaknesses, etc. But Christ is challenging us, as a world, to become agents of liberation, offering kindness where there is indifference, advocating for justice where there is inequity, building bridges where there is division, lifting burdens where there is struggle, choosing compassion over convenience, solidarity over silence, and hope over cynicism.

So, let us pray that our Lenten observance will lead us to set others free from fear, the prison of old names and old failures, loneliness, rejection, and despondency, and help them move into the freedom of being loved, forgiven, and renewed. Amen!