This Illness will not End in Death

[[Dear Sister, when Jesus hears about Lazarus's illness, Jesus replies it will not end in death. But Lazarus dies! Also, Jesus says the sickness is for the glory of God and that Jesus will be glorified through it. Is he saying God causes illness so that he might be praised or glorified? My mind is really on this pandemic and all the "why?" questions that occur. It is ending in terrible numbers of death and awful suffering. How is God praised or glorified in this?]]

Thanks for your questions. I am sure they occur to many people during this Fifth Week of Lent when we reflect on Jesus and Lazarus within the context of this epidemic. The text you are referring to reads: [[3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” 4When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”]] There are a couple of ways of approaching its meaning. I think the key, however is the meaning of the word "end". It can mean the termination point of something and there is no doubt the NT generally uses the word telos (τελος) in this way, both here and in texts like those speaking of Jesus as the end of the Law, for instance. But, it can also mean a goal or purpose, so that when we speak of τελος in this way, we are saying that the very purpose of something and the place or goal it leads to is not death. (When we speak of Jesus as the end of the Law in this latter sense, we are saying he is the one who embodies the very meaning and goal of Law. He is the one who fulfills its meaning, perfects it, and reveals all of this for us in a way which empowers us to "obey" or respond to and embody in our lives the law's deepest reality.)

So, the statement, "This sickness will not end in death," means not only 1) there is something beyond death, but also 2) this sickness will allow the revelation of the real meaning and goal of life itself. I used this text as one of those which illustrated the place of chronic illness in my own life as part of my Rule of Life back in 2004 or 2005. I did so because chronic illness had led me to understand a number of things about my own life and the grace of God. Especially it has been tied to learning in a deeply personal way the paradox of God's power being perfected in weakness; for me illness became a source of grace. It would not end in death (that is, in a graceless, purposeless, absurd, and empty "life"), but to an almost infinitely meaningful life where God's love is profoundly redemptive and transformative. At no point do I mean that God sent this illness (either my own or COVID-19) so that a lesson might be learned; instead, I mean that the situation of sin (i.e., the situation of estrangement from the source, ground, and goal of Life itself whom we call God) produces a situation of life-subject-to-death (in this case in the form of illness) and that God accompanies us in a way which can bring life and hope out of even the worst of circumstances --- ultimately including Death (absolute separation from God) itself.

Glorification or Praise:

Sometimes people will say that "everything happens for a reason".  I am not saying this. I am saying, however, that with God everything can be made purposeful, everything can acquire a meaning or reason for being it did not originally have. No one could have believed that COVID-19 could be a source (or, better, an occasion since God is the source) of grace. But it has. Tonight I attended a "town hall" of my parish. It was a virtual meeting and I was there before most people except our pastor and pastoral associate because ZOOM opened up automatically a little before the meeting began. Suddenly the faces of parishioners began popping up on my screen, people who attend the daily Mass usually, some from my Scripture class, and more from Sunday Mass, and I felt completely overwhelmed just by the sight of them. Several people shared stories of the way people are assisting each other, the warmth with which people greet one another on walks or runs, the generosity people are meeting in others in what is ordinarily a me-first world. People shared resources for worship, suggestions for allowing Christ to be first in a strengthening and inspiring way when Mass attendance was not possible, etc.

Certainly in all of this God is being glorified. But let me be clear; the primary meaning of the term "glorified" does not mean praised but rather, "revealed" or "made real in space and time". The glory of God is God's presence made known; to glorify God is to make him real in space and time (history), to manifest God in human history. Yes, to do this is to praise God, but that meaning is secondary at best. In this pandemic --- as with the Cross of Christ -- we will see people revealing the very worst human beings are capable of, but we will also see human beings achieving the very best we are made and have the potential for -- with and through the grace of God. Whenever that happens, whenever human beings act out of a love which is (perhaps) more generous. more sacrificial, more inspiring than usual, God is glorified. In these cases our lives praise and celebrate God, not because of COVID-19, but because even here God brings light out of darkness, life out of death, and meaning out of senselessness. In this way, "this illness will not end in death." On another level, we Christians believe God will bring life out of death through resurrection as well and that too is part of what we proclaim, especially as we approach Holy Week.

I hope this is helpful! Please stay well!
Sister Laurel, Er Dio.