The encounter in today’s Gospel concerns one between Jesus and a man who is dead as well as his grieving sisters. It is often the case that we concentrate in Homilies on this Gospel passage on the persons of Mary and Martha, but quite clearly this is also a very dramatic encounter that Lazarus has with the Lord. Mary and Martha are trapped in their grief with seemingly no hope; while the body of Lazarus is trapped in the tomb and, because Jesus had not yet opened the gates of Heaven for the righteous, Lazarus' soul would have been resting in Sheol, the Place of the Sleeping, where all souls waited prior to Jesus' Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Then, when Jesus descended to hell He brought the righteous back with Him.
It is also interesting to note that Lazarus came forth from the tomb wearing his burial wrappings, indicating that he would die again, whereas Jesus arose without them, signifying that He would live forevermore.
IX. Jesus falls for the third time
This third fall of Jesus has often been likened to the fall from grace of those who reach old-age. Here our Lord and Master lies once more in the dust having collapsed as he almost reaches Calvary. Once more the ground rushes up before his eyes and with every ligament, muscle and bone being once more wrenched he crashes to the ground, to lie helpless until dragged to his feet once more. Yet gain he is taken by force, compelled to go forward..... having no choice in the matter.
We are all used to that portrayal of the cantankerous elderly Victor Meldrew, and for many people this is a very vivid and real portrayal of the exasperation that being elderly can bring. The body is not as strong as it was and yet the mind and soul still feels as young as that of a 16 year old. The values of the world all around seem to change and yet there isn’t the physical energy to engage with trying to solve the world’s problems.
Even worse is the attitude of those in middle-age who regard the elderly as a nuisance. Compare that attitude to the elderly with that of children who so often treasure the wisdom of their grandparents.
It is symptomatic of a culture of death that it fails to see value in old age. It is symptomatic of a culture of death that it sees progressive illness as weakness and incapacity as simply a waiting station for death. The culture of death in our society is growing stronger and the progressive emphasis on human life only being worthwhile while it is productive, young, good-looking, energetic and exciting is adding to the degrading of human life in later years.
Even now we see Doctors and Health Care Managers being compelled by budget considerations to limit the medical care available to certain groups. It is not unknown that we hear reports of the elderly being refused a place on a GP’s register because of the cost to the Surgery’s budget.
Oscar Wilde’s condemnation of one group of politicians as “knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing” pervades far more of political, civil and social life today than he probably foresaw.
So often the elderly are dragged from pillar to post, made to feel a nuisance, compelled to leave their homes and go into residential care; where they say to the likes of me, “You don’t know the half of what goes on in here.” While there are exceptions too many of our residential homes for the elderly are like prisons. Pray God that we never get to the stage of hearing so called relatives say: “Go on, you’re becoming a burden, don’t you think you should take the pill?”
Anyone at any age can fall from grace, and the elderly are not immune from the sins that affect us all, but sometimes like children they are led into sin and they are treated appallingly.
At this Station we should pray for the elderly and those that care for them.... that the elderly may always have love shown them; we should pray that their lives would always be valued and respected; and pray that those who care for them would be given grace to always show love and compassion.
X. Jesus is stripped of his garments
Psalm 22:18 they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.
Job 1: 21 And Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
At this station we are brought face to face with the beginning of the end in all its swift terror. Jesus garments having been put back on him after his being scourged would, by now, have become congealed with the drying blood on his flesh. There is no reason to think that the Roman Soldiers would have taken great care when removing them – in reality they would have pulled them off him as quickly as possible, thus tearing open once more every wound in his already atrociously bruised and lacerated body. One can only begin to imagine the agony that this treatment caused. As many of us know the swift ripping off of a bandage by a nurse can be bad enough, but that trifle must pale into insignificance when compared to this moment in Christ’s last few hours before his death on the Cross.
His eyes would have become convulsed in agony along with the rest of his body.......... this was the beginning of the end....... and in the midst of this excruciating agony was the knowledge that worse pain was to come.
It is also common in reflections at this Station to think of the humiliation that nakedness brings along with the jeering of the mob. As we have seen all the way along his Way of the Cross there are those whose eyes flash with contempt and scorn. So often nakedness is seen as shameful and this was no different in ancient times. The Roman practice of stripping a person before crucifixion was designed to strip away all dignity and to leave a person open to ridicule as well as pain. The intention was to destroy both mind and body – to crush the spirit of a person and break them completely. Killing them wasn’t enough they wanted them to despair... which is the very opposite of hope.
Is our world any different today......... do we treat people any better. How often do we see people’s lives exposed to intense scrutiny in the newspapers and other forms of media? Indeed, how often do we see journalists not letting truth stand in the way of a good story? And how often do we avidly read every miniscule detail and enjoy sharing what we have read or heard with friends and neighbours? How often do we look down on those we consider weaker than ourselves? How often do we self-righteously condemn those with problems? How often do we notice the speck in someone else’s eye and conveniently ignore the plank in our own?
At this station as well as praying for those who are weak and helpless, who are frail and vulnerable; we should also pray for ourselves......... for at this Station more than any other surely the word’s of Jesus ring so true: (Luke 7:1) "Judge not, that you be not judged. (2) For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
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