Fifth Sunday of Lent

“Untie him and let him go free.” Jn. 11:44

“I’m not okay, you’re not okay, but that’s okay because God’s okay.”

Spoken by Rick Warren, pastor of one of the most renowned megachurches in America, and author of many bestselling Christian books, these words speak to the reality of one of America’s best-kept secrets:

The shocking issue of mental illness, and its cousin, addiction. 

Rick’s youngest son, Matthew, was first diagnosed with clinical depression at age 7! Throughout his life, he experienced major depressive episodes, panic attacks, obsessions, compulsions, and “heartbreaking problems in schools and relationships.” 

Life for the Warren family became a “painful revolving door of doctor appointments, medications, therapy, and adjustments to school.”

Later, Matthew’s suicidal thoughts became a part of their family’s daily life. “His anguish was our anguish,” Rev. Warren stated. Then, “on April 5, 2003, impulse met opportunity in a tragic way. Our beautiful son ran into the unforgiving wall of mental illness for the last time.”

According to the National Alliance for Mental Illness, more than 80 million Americans experience a mental condition every year – that’s more than one in four adults and one in ten children. Many suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in our country and become primary breeding grounds for entry into the world of addictive “solutions.” 

People of every race, age, and economic status are affected. In fact, each of us probably knows someone who is living with at least one form of mental illness. 

The gospel we read today, the powerful, stunning story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, along with all the events leading up to it involving Martha and Mary, has long fascinated artists, musicians, storytellers, and readers. 

Personally, though, I’ve always been taken, not so much by Lazarus coming forth from the tomb – as miraculous as that is – but even more so by what Jesus does after that. 

After Jesus’ demonstration of amazing, never-before-seen powers, he does something perhaps equally remarkable. 

Jesus turns to the crowd, to the people who had just witnessed this astonishing event, to the bystanders who saw with their own eyes a jaw-dropping phenomenon that must have left them utterly speechless – Jesus turns to them, and now to you and me, and says: 

“Untie him and let him go free.”

It seems like once Jesus made the point of how he and the Father are one; once he demonstrated in the most vivid way possible how he is the One sent by the Father, Jesus then turns to us, as if to say: 

“Now it’s your turn. I’ve done what I can; now you do what you can. Demonstrate your oneness with the Father – through reaching out in service to one another.” 

Lazarus was entombed. His hands and his feet were tied. His face was wrapped in cloth. His life was thoroughly disabled. 

A similar situation exists in our society when it comes to the mentally ill and the addicted. They too are entombed. They too are disabled. Sadly, we can add to that list those suffering from the newly discovered pandemic that is possible due to the deadly coronavirus COVID-19.  

All of these are people of today whose human capabilities have become tied up and twisted, whose brain has lost its proper functioning powers, whose actions are kept hidden from society, whose behaviors cause shame. 

Their tomb is their own mind – where they dwell alone in fury and deep anguish. 

They live amidst the madness that comes and goes, amidst the darkness that closes in, amidst the indignity that haunts them, amidst the terror that attacks them, amidst the rage that engulfs them. 

They are the Lazarus equivalents of our time – entombed and disabled. 

So today, let our prayer be that this one-of-a-kind gospel passage will break into our hearts and help us recognize the tragedy of mental illness and addiction, help us stop shaming others over what we too often see as a leprous condition, and help us become enlightened and outspoken in our efforts towards healing and aiding the “entombed” of today. 

The coronavirus COVID-19 adds a whole new dimension to our need to practice all the safe efforts to protect us from this deadly plague. 

Let us pray, then, that all of us will put into practice the advice given to us so that our homes, our churches will become a place of refuge, comfort, guidance and practical help to those who suffer so terribly with mental disorders or addiction. 

As Rev. Warren said, “I’m not okay, you’re not okay, but that’s okay because God’s okay.”  

Or, to put it more simply and directly in Jesus’ words: 

“Untie him and let him go free.”

Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D.

NOTE: Here is a beautiful message out of Ireland sent by Peter Bower, St. Jude’s Parish, Chicago, concerning the virus that is so prominent world-wide: 

Lockdown

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.

Yes there is panic buying.

Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.

But, 

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise

You can hear the birds again.

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet

The sky is no longer thick with fumes

But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi

People are singing to each other across the empty squares, 

Keeping their windows open

So that those who are alone may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland

Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

Today a young woman I know

Is busy spreading fliers with her number

Through the neighborhood

So that elders may have some someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples

Are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary.

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting

All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality

To how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters. 

To Love. 

So we pray and we remember that 

Yes there is fear.

But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation. 

But there does not have to be loneliness.

Yes there is panic buying.

But there does not have to be meanness.

Yes there is sickness.

But there does not have to be disease of the soul.

Yes there is even death.

But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic

The birds are singing again.

The sky is clearing.

Spring is coming. 

And we are always encompassed by 

Love.

Open the windows of your soul

And though you may not be able to touch across the empty square, 

Sing.

• Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM
• March 13, 2020