Spring is on the way that will, God willing, become summer. In my former home I had the benefit of a seasonal garden with different things in bloom at different times of the year. I wonder how the many daffodil and bluebell bulbs planted there will be getting into full swing. I also loved seeing the buds on the cherry trees thickening. Seeing nature wakening from its sleep was and is magical, almost supernatural.

In these ways we glimpse the perfection of God which he intends for the whole of his creation not just in the seasons but forever. And yet everything in our world and cosmos is effected by something called entropy, the second law of thermodynamics. This is where, over time, there is a tendency in nature for everything to lose order and cohesion; eventually flowers fade, galaxies and stars decay, and we become older; we die.

And yet we are more than cells and atoms. It seems to me that every human being since the dawn of time senses this, including people who do not believe in God, who still have a sense of something greater than themselves.

At our conception in the womb we take on the image and likeness of God in our souls. At our baptism the Spirit of the living and eternal God is given to us. God pours into us more of his very self in the other sacraments. In the Eucharist we become one with Jesus; at Confirmation we all receive the Holy Spirit, as priests and deacons do again in a particular way at their ordination.

Think about it, we are nothing less than the temple of the Holy Spirit. Amazingly, beautifully, by God’s gift, each and every one of us has living within us the living and eternal God. God is not effected by time, is immortal, cannot be killed, and does not decay. What we are called to do is to nurture this divine life in our souls, to turn a spark into a flame by our lives, a flame that lights the way to eternal life.

Concerning this Sunday's gospel, at the time of Jesus the Pharisees too had a sense of the eternal destiny of humanity, they believed in the resurrection from the dead but they were unsure what this meant in practical terms. The other main Jewish sect, the Sadducees, did not hold this belief. We see that Martha, Lazarus’ sister, was a Pharisee as she believes in the resurrection. In the gospel, in a few short phrases, Martha also has a journey of faith from Jesus being a person being favoured by God; to Jesus being much more, the Christ (the anointed one), the Son of God, the Messiah, the long awaited saviour.

As well as in Sunday's gospel elsewhere we see also Jesus raising others from the dead. As in other traditions, Jewish funerals are big events. In Sunday's gospel the people at the tomb argue about Jesus, why he is there and whether he could have prevented the death in the first place. You can imagine how it’s all very public and must have been deeply upsetting for Martha who, despite everything, keeps faith with Jesus and does what he says, though we see that she doesn’t really know what Jesus is going to do. Take a moment to imagine seeing her brother Lazarus emerging from the tomb, how would you have responded, joy, fear, perhaps both. What would you say to Lazarus? What would you say to Jesus?

And yet there more is to come. Sunday's events, stupendous though they are, point towards something far greater. Even though Lazarus was raised from the dead yet he was still mortal – effected by entropy, eventually Lazarus dies again. In a couple of weeks we will hear of another death, this time a very public and humiliating event, the death of Jesus in unimaginable pain and suffering. Again people will think that it is all over; those who hate him rejoice and those who love him hide in grief and fear.

But Jesus does not need anyone to roll away the stone from his tomb, he breaks the chain of death and decay; he is the same human Jesus yet he is somehow different, the difference of a radiant immortality, a radiant sense of peace, an offer to all of us of a life without fear. A life of eternal joy and love. Already he stretches out his wounded hand to hold ours in forgiveness, love and tenderness. We all have the seeds of divinity and immortality planted within us; the spring time of our souls is nearly here.

I hope and pray that Lent is going well for you. God bless and keep you all.

Fr Chris