1992, Summer Olympics, Barcelona Spain! Sprinter Derek Redmond is ready for the run of his life in the 400 meters; a gold medal in sight. The race begins and Derek is in a great position when all of a sudden, POP! He grabs the back of his leg and collapses in pain knowing that his hamstring is torn. With tears flowing, Derek Redmond knows there is no medal, but there is a chance to finish. So he rises up, and slowly begins to limp toward the finish line. Soon, a man comes running onto the track, it was Derek’s father. He grabbed him and supported him and asked him what he wanted to do. Derek’s reply came quickly: I want to finish. And the father said we will cross the finish line together.
The story of Derek Redmond is immortalized on video tape. The most moving tribute of this great moment in Olympic history is accompanied by the lyrics of Josh Groban’s song, You Raise Me Up:
"You raise me up so I can stand on mountains; you raise me up to walk on stormy seas; I am strong when I am on your shoulders; you raise me up, to more than I can be!"
http://vimeo.com/17940818
As people of faith, Jesus raises us up, he tells us to rise and finish the race with the loving help of the Father; Our Father!
For three weeks in a row now we have heard from the Gospel of St. John. Each of these readings proclaims Rise UP! Rise up, away from sin and towards newness of life. Jesus is the living water promised to the woman at the well and promised to all of us; living water that will never leave us thirsty! Jesus is the light of the world, promised to the man born blind; the spiritual eyesight that leads to newness of life. And in today’s Gospel, Jesus is the resurrection and the life; raising Lazarus from the dead, and he raises us too from the death of sin.
Yes, Jesus delayed his journey to Lazarus, and yes, he wept. He demonstrated the perfect will of the Father by raising Lazarus from the tomb for the Father’s greater glory. He raised Lazarus with three simple commands:
Roll away the stone Remove obstacles.
Lazarus come out Leave darkness and enter light.
Free him, unbind him Break free from what holds us back.
Commands now some 2,000 years old meant for Lazarus then and for you and me today. Roll away that stone; remove all obstacles that prevent us from being open to Jesus and all his holy teachings.
Lazarus come out; a call to each of us to come out. We are not in tombs of rock and stone, we are entombed in those places we turn to foolishly bury our hopes and joys, our love and yearnings. Come out of those tombs where we bury our faith, holding back from fully being all that we can be – loving fully, giving completely, following the will of the Father, running the good race, and crossing the finish line, together.
Free him, unbind him; a command today for us to experience fully the graces of God the Father, the love of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
How do we demonstrate that we are a people who rolls away the stone, like Lazarus, comes out of our tombs and are free? Drawing closer to Easter, we reexamine our Lenten promises and we realize it is not too late to recommit. We can run the race to reconciliation and make a good confession, to quench our spiritual thirst, to open our eyes and to rise from those spiritual tombs. Heck, just this past week Pope Francis gave us a model to follow as he went to a Priest in full view at the Vatican; a powerful witness! And we can ttend next week’s Stations of the Cross, or Thursday night’s Lenten mission.
Run hard run well, finish strong!
When I am down and oh my soul so weary; when troubles come and my heart burdened be; then I am still and wait there in the silence, until you come and sit awhile with me.
Derek Redmond’s father did not let his son down, and helped him finish the race. Our Father will not, cannot let us down. He will run the race with us all the way to the finish line and beyond.
He will raise us up to more than we can be!
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