Alive But Still Bound

When I prepare to preach, I try to do a little research on the scriptures of the day and explore what other people have said about them. I often find some really amazing stuff and would humbly want to just say in my homily, “What they said!”

This would be true for me this week as I explored the reading from John 11 where Jesus brings his friend Lazarus back from the dead. One resource I came across is Fr. James Martin’s book, Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle. 

When reflecting on the book, Fr. Martin describes being in the Holy Land and going to the actual site where this bible story happened and he says, “And I thought, “What am I going to pray about here?” And I used some Ignatian contemplation and said, “I can pray about what kinds of things I want to leave behind in the tomb, what kinds of things make me unfree or bound or enslaved. And how can I hear God’s voice inviting me out into the into the fresh air?” And I found that very powerful. And then when I subsequently took pilgrims to that same place and invited them to do that same meditation – “What can we leave behind in the tomb?” – a lot of them came out of the tomb crying. And so I thought, this really says something to people. And that’s what led to led to the book. I thought, I really have to write about this because of my experience and also other people’s experiences, but it was important for them to be there in that place. And that’s what I tried to describe to the reader.”

While there is much that we can focus on from today’s reading, I want to just stay with this idea of what we need to leave behind.

This past week, we had two evenings of reflection at Spiritus. At both the men’s and women’s gathering, we heard so many stories of what people continue to carry in their lives: old messages, old wounds, old fears. These weigh us down. And often, like Lazarus, we may be “alive” but we are still bound by the past and cannot move freely.

In the gospel reading, Jesus urges the crowd, “Untie him and let him go.”

Just let those words sink in.

Part of our Lenten journey is letting go of things we no longer need to carry, and part of that journey is helping to release others from what they are carrying. And while this may be easier said than done, it is possible for us to do. We can ease and release the burdens that we carry.

God wants us to be free and unencumbered – in order that we, too, can become agents of freedom and release in the world. Jesus could not have said this more clearly when he “announced” his mission in Luke 4 that he was here to help heal the brokenhearted and set captives free. That’s not just for someone else. It’s for us as well.

Of course this is not often work that we need to do alone. It can be good to do this work of release and letting go with a therapist, spiritual director, trusted friend or group. But we can start with setting an intention and asking, “What do I want or need to release? What still has me bound?”

Maybe today in our prayer, we can imagine ourselves joining Fr. Martin in the Holy Land. Maybe we can imagine being in the tomb ourselves. Maybe we can imagine Jesus calling our name – calling us out. And maybe we can imagine what we will leave behind as we step out into the light.

Note: My sister-in-law, Jeanine, who is a spiritual director in Portland, OR, regularly posts on her Caring Bridge site that she made to chronicle her journey with cancer. In a recent post, she described a simple practice – the “threshold mindfulness practice” – that we can regularly use to be more mindful but also to more deeply engage these themes of letting go and moving into a new space in life. She says, “I’ve taught people over the years about a simple threshold mindfulness  practice. At a threshold/ doorway, in your busy day, we can look at our two feet and then take a deep breath, Two feet and a breath-that’s all – and it was taught to healthcare practitioners to help them make some space in their very busy days for a pause at doorways and through research they’ve  found that that simple practice, if done regularly,  time stands still, just for that breath, it miraculously brings more spaciousness to their days, makes them feel less frenetic and improves their overall mental health. Try it.”