Women and Christ

 

Meditation 16: Politics and Religion

John 11: 41-48

Lazarus (Greek Eleaser, God has helped) is raised from the dead. The rejoicing sisters and crowd praise God and honor Jesus although some skeptics and enemies went to the Pharisees and informed them of what Jesus had done. The Pharisees call an emergency council meeting and decide Jesus and Lazarus must die.

There are many lessons in this story:

Mary and Martha show us how to live with doubts and fears about death, while embracing divine promises of resurrection and life with Christ.

Jesus gives us a reminder that God always hears our prayers.

Lazarus will gratefully tell his story again and again to eager listeners. He will never fear death knocking at his door again.

Politics and religion are deadly bedfellows. Jesus was perceived as an acute danger to the sensitive status quo of the occupying Roman government and the Jewish peoples’ freedom to practice their religion in a precarious coexistence. The religious authorities unit in a bipartisan effort to protect their lifestyles and political, social, religious and financial interests through a sinister plan.

Ancient and modern history provides many examples of how religious institutions easily corrupt with politics.

Prayer: God, who would have thought these few verses, could generate so many lessons. Open our eyes to contemporary religious-political corruption locally, nationally and globally. Show us how to take action and be agents of change. Amen.