During each Divine Liturgy, the readings from the gospel and the epistle often form a unity. So it is today on this Lazarus Saturday. The gospel is from the eleventh chapter of St. John about the death and resurrection of St. Lazarus, while the epistle is from the Book of Hebrews, at the end of Chapter 12 and the beginning of Chapter 13. The epistle concludes with the powerful proclamation that: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” In that reading from the book of Hebrews the author is affirming the Prayer of Moses in Psalm 90 (91): “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations, for . . .a thousand years in your sight [O Lord] are like yesterday when it passes by or as a watch in the night.”

It is clear that time is very important in both this gospel and this epistle. However, as a note about the Second Epistle of St. Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 8 reflects: “God does not view time as humans do. He stands above time, with the result that when time is seen in the light of eternity, an age appears no longer than one short day, and a day seems no shorter than a long age.” St. Peter wrote this second epistle near the end of his life, shortly before he was martyred in Rome in the year 68 in the midst of Nero’s persecution of Christians. St Peter brought us the same message as Moses and the same message as the author of the book of Hebrews. The precise words of St. Peter were: “Do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord,” wrote St. Peter, “is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

Dimitri Brady has reminded us that the monk, Elder Sophrony, who died on the 11th of July 1993 at the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights in Maldon, Essex, once said: “To communicate, pray for those you wish to reach. Transcend the moment. See them—past, present and future.” That remains sound advice throughout the centuries: “To communicate, pray for those you wish to reach. Transcend the moment. See them—past, present and future.” That was precisely what Christ did as He prayed in Galilee and then deliberately waited to arrive in Bethany, near Jerusalem, until His friend, Lazarus, had been in the tomb for four days. When Christ said, “Remove the stone,” Martha, the sister of Lazarus, said to Christ, “Lord, by this time, there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

At times in my life, I have felt like Martha. I have been too late in a particular situation. I have procrastinated or done something else or not prayed often enough, and the stench of failure and death has surrounded a particular situation in my life. Yet, as that note on the Second Epistle of St. Peter concluded: “God waits patiently, while human beings stew with impatience.” That’s each of us, is it not? We all stew with impatience for what we wish to happen; we stew with impatience for how we think God should treat us and our friends. Yet Christ, through how He is treating Lazarus, is saying to us what Elder Sophrony said: “To communicate, pray for those you wish to reach. Transcend the moment. See them—past, present and future.”

What then was Christ waiting for when he delayed coming to see Lazarus? What is Christ waiting for when He does not answer our prayers immediately? St. Peter says that Christ is waiting for each of us “to come to repentance.” Christ is teaching the Jews around Jerusalem a lesson. Christ is saying in summary: “Repent, and believe in Me and in My power to raise not only Lazarus, but each of you from whatever is dead in your relationships, in your hopes, in your lives.” He is teaching that same lesson to us when He makes us wait before He answers our prayers, or when He responds to our prayers in ways that we had not anticipated. We too are among those Jews who are standing around the tomb of Lazarus and of whom Christ says, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that you always hear Me, but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”

In this remarkable situation in which everyone is gathered around a tomb in which a deeply loved person has been dead for four days, the final words of Christ are very powerful indeed. First, Christ says to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come forth;” and then Christ says to the people, “Unbind him, and let him go.” That is the message of this Great and Holy Week that we now begin. We are each called forth to a life of a deeper oneness with Christ and a deeper participation in the life of the Orthodox Church. We can only achieve that deeper oneness with Christ and His Church through our prayers and with the help of others in our community to unbind us from our own fears and problems. We each can let go and leave our fears and problems behind us as we move into a new oneness with Christ and His Church.

Yes, to communicate, we do need to pray for those we wish to reach. During Great and Holy Week we have an opportunity to transcend the moment, in the midst of the past death and the present resurrection and future ascension of Christ. However, let us not forget that the first person we each need to reach is ourselves—our inner selves, within which there is on this Lazarus Saturday a growing faith in Christ in our hearts and a growing confidence that next Saturday at midnight when Pascha is upon us, we will have changed. Our participation in the services of Great and Holy Week does draw us closer to Christ and empowers us to be strong members of His Church—committed to serving Christ, to serving each other, and to serving those in need of our help.

And so we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen

Father Deacon Emmanuel Kahn