By chhotebhai

Kanpur, April 4, 2023: Most of us would have heard of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1970 musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” It was an attempt to re-present Christ in a modern day idiom. Nobody will have heard of Jesus and The Rolling Stones, the jazz group Mick Jagger founded in 1962. Rightly so, for the rolling stones that I am now writing about have nothing to do with that jazz group.

This piece was inspired by a video that a friend forwarded to me (something that I usually avoid). But its message struck a chord in me, forcing me to meditate deeper. It was based on the Gospel reading of the fifth Sunday of Lent, the raising of Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11:1-44). We have heard umpteen sermons about it, including on that Sunday. Yet we seemed to have missed its many nuances.

I begin with what I saw in the video. Jesus asked those present to roll the stone away (v 39) and then called Lazarus out (v 43). The person in the video then asked a poignant question, “If Jesus had the power to raise Lazarus from the dead; surely he also had the power to roll away the stone. Then why did he ask others to do it”?

The preacher gave an amazing answer: “Jesus expects us to do what we can, then he in turn will do what we cannot do.” Words of wisdom. So don’t sit back and expect the Lord to do everything. Let us first do what is in our ability to do. I cannot emphasis the point enough because I invariably hear people, especially during adversity, bemoaning their fate, saying, “Let us wait and pray for the Lord to act”! This is spiritual nonsense, not faith. As St James strongly asserts, “Faith without actions is dead” (Jas 2:26).

Back to Lazarus and Bethany. I was fortunate to visit the tomb in 1980. Let us visualize the scene. As one turns the shoulder of the Bethany hill, Jerusalem comes into view. Looking at it Jesus weeps. The shortest verse in the Latin translation of the Bible is “Dominus Flevit” (Lk 19:42), meaning the Lord wept. A chapel, in the shape of a tear drop, is built at that spot.

There is a lot more to the Bethany story. Let us play it out again. On receiving the news of Lazarus’ illness/ death Jesus deliberately delays going there for two more days saying that “it is for God’s glory” (v 4). He knew that he was on the threshold of performing his greatest miracle that would also be the prelude to his death. The chronology of events is that this happened just six days before the Passover (Jn 12:1) and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday (Jn 12:12).

Raising Lazarus was literally the last nail in Jesus’ coffin. The chief priests and Pharisees had now had enough (Jn 11:47). It was then that Caiphas prophetically uttered that it was better for one man to die than for the entire nation (their hegemony) to be destroyed (v 50). “From that day onwards they were determined to kill him” (v 53) and accordingly gave their orders (v 57).

Jesus, being antaryami (knowing what is going on within) knew too well what he was getting in to. He was inviting trouble. Yet he did not baulk at it. He knew that it was the father’s will that he die a shameful and torturous death. It did not deter him. Jesus was in turmoil. He was distressed (v 34), he wept (v 35) and sighed deeply (v 38).

Jesus, being human, also needed a sign, a reassurance from the Father, that his death would not be in vain. The Father was now confirming to Jesus that he too would rise. That is why he then strongly affirmed, “I am the resurrection and the life” (v 25). As we are in Holy Week let us try to enter deeply into the mystery of Jesus’ thoughts and actions. Only then will we be able to joyfully proclaim “He has risen to die no more”.

At Bethany there were other players who have often been maligned for their lack of faith and understanding – Martha and Thomas. Clergy and religious remind us ad nauseum that “Martha was distracted with all the serving” (Lk 10:40) while her sister Mary had “chosen the better part” (v 42).

But at Lazarus’ death the roles are reversed. While Mary remained steeped in sorrow, sitting in the house (v 20) Martha was pro-active and ran forward to seek Jesus’ intervention (v 21).

In like manner, Thomas is also maligned as the Doubting Thomas. But while the other disciples were here cautioning Jesus to not go back to Judea where Bethany was located, for fear of the Jews (v 8), it was Thomas who spoke up: “Let us also go to die with him” (v 16). So we find that the raising of Lazarus is rich in meaning.

Not just at Bethany, stones have great significance in the life of Jesus. His first temptation in the desert was to turn the stone into bread (Lk 4:3). His first miracle at Cana was with stone jars (Jn 2:6). One of his biggest tests was when the Pharisees tried to corner him over the Mosaic Law for stoning an adulteress to death (Jn 8:5). In Gethsemane, that incidentally lies between Bethany and Jerusalem, it is just a stone’s throw that separates the Redeemer from the sleeping disciples (Lk 22:41).

In his ministry too Jesus often alludes to stones to make his point. For those who cause others to sin he says that it is better that a millstone is tied around their necks (Mat 18:6). He described himself as a stone of destruction (Mat 21:44) and called himself the stone that the builders had rejected which would in turn become the cornerstone (Mat 21:42). But of human endeavours he warned that not one stone would remain standing on another (Mat 24:2). That infuriated the Jews enough to try and stone him ((Jn 10:31).

Finally we read about the stone placed over the mouth of his burial place (Mat 27:60) and the subsequent need to remove it (Mk 16:3).

Stones are also used to depict the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist. When the Jews boasted that they were sons of Abraham and did not need Jesus, the Baptist retorted by saying that God could raise sons of Abraham from these stones (Mat 3:9). When Jesus’ own authority was challenged he countered by asking by whose authority the Baptist preached? They were silenced lest the crowd stone them for denigrating the Baptist who was revered as a prophet (Lk 20:6).

The stony message was not lost on the disciples. Before the Sanhedrin Peter boldly affirms that Jesus “is the stone which you, the builders, rejected but which has become the cornerstone” (Acts 4:11). Paul uses a similar analogy to describe Jesus as a foundation stone for those who believe, but a “stumbling stone, a rock, to trip people up” (Rom 9:33) for those who reject him. Peter sums it up by describing Jesus as the ‘living stone, rejected by human beings, but chosen by God and precious to him’” (1 Pet 2:4).

Wishing people “Happy Easter” is far easier than following the lead of Martha and Thomas at Bethany. Let us not shed crocodile tears over an empty tomb, for he has gone ahead of us into Galilee (Mat 28:7). Let us meet him there and share in his redemptive mission, for indeed he has risen, to die no more.

Jesus is not a rolling stone that gathers no moss. He is, rather, the corner stone that is “like a hen that gathers her brood under her wings” (Mat 23:37).

(The writer often expresses his thoughts on spiritual, scriptural and mystical themes.)