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 cousins, addiction and trauma.
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 health condition every year – that’s more than one in four adults and one in ten children!
Trauma is now the leading cause of death for individuals up to the age of 45 years!
There are almost 40,000 homicide and suicide deaths each year in the U.S., according to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. Last year alone there were over 30,000 suicides in the United States!
Sadly, many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time.
The heartbreaking reality is that, 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 story we read today, the powerful, stunning tale 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.
Following 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 and traumatized.
They too are entombed.
They too are disabled.
Sadly, we can add to that list those who have suffered so bravely from the recent pandemic that was made 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 often lost its proper functioning powers, whose actions have been kept hidden from society, whose behaviors have caused shame.
Their “tomb” has often become their own mind – where they so often dwell alone in fury and deep anguish.
The addicted, the traumatized, the diseased often live amidst a certain kind of 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 so often overwhelms 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 and any disease that results from the trauma that overwhelms them.
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.
Let us pray, then, that all of us will put into practice the advice given to us so that our homes, our churches, our social services will become places of refuge, comfort, guidance and practical help to those who suffer so terribly with the trauma caused by 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.
