Rain did not dampen enthusiasm for the Fete last Friday night. Especially the young children. Teachers were saying how unteachable the children were on Friday morning so excited had they become at the prospect of the Fete. Even though there are many ways in which children can be entertained these days a simple Fete can engender great excitement. Maybe it is because they are part of the action. They contribute to the event in all kinds of ways with their friends. And, as well, they do take on board the commitment of their parents who are working so hard for it.

With the passing of years life can take from us some of that joy. Looking forward to the future is not always so inviting for an adult. We can foresee all kinds of problems ahead. It might rain on the Fete! When you consider how many people suicide or seek other forms of destructive escape then you realise how much the innocent hopefulness of a child can become only a faint memory. What we see in a child is a constant reminder not only of what we once were, but of what we still could still be.

Dostoyevsky, the famous Russian novelist, is sometimes called the Prophet of Russia. In his book Crime and Punishment he has a character Rodion Raskolnikov who becomes a crazed murderer and despairs of his life. He meets Sonia, a young prostitute, who supports her family working on the street. Rodion thinks about her life. He thinks she has only three options. To make the most of her present disgusting way of life, or go mad because of the pressures of her life, or commit suicide to escape her situation. I have listened to people canvas just those options for themselves, as I am sure some of you have as well. People can be trapped in painful relationships or doing jobs that sap life from them. Or simply trying to live up to impossible expectations from others. Many of us search for a future of some kind in this way.

A quick look at the world around us shows that whole nations, too, take up the same solutions: Live with the contradictions of politics, descend into the madness of war, violence and terror, or end up with epidemics of suicide.

Sonia in the novel, on the other hand, does not agree with Rodion. There is still a future and a hope that she clings to. She eventually tells him the source of her hope. She reads to him the story of the raising of Lazarus from John's Gospel. That story is all she has. She reads it to him from a copy of the New Testament given to her by one of the very women Rodion has murdered. He finds this hope difficult to understand. Later, at the end of the novel he is in prison in Siberia. Reflecting on his life he has come to appreciate Sonia's love for him, and he reaches for the New Testament that she gave him which he kept under his pillow. He reads that story of Lazarus again to find hope in his own life.

In the story of Lazarus Jesus says the same kind of thing he had said about the blind man a couple of weeks ago in John's Gospel. "He was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him." His blindness will give glory to God. Here he says to Martha, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" He is not just speaking of a miracle that would bring people to believe and praise God. If that were all he was about he could have cured every blind person in Israel and raised everyone from their tombs on the spot. He was also saying that even our disabilities, even our defects of personality, even our failures, even our death, can reveal God's glory. So while situations may be impossible, and seemingly futile, hope remains. Even Sonia's dreadful existence can give glory to God. So in spite of appearances, hers is a beautiful story. It is especially Jesus' humanity, his suffering and death, that manifests God's glory so clearly for us.

The raising of Lazarus, who eventually would die again, points to Jesus' own death and resurrection. Martha's profession of faith in the Messiah was simply what her Jewish background taught. But she is called further in her faith in Jesus. He says to her, "I am the resurrection and the life!" It is through faith in Jesus that life is to be found even in the midst of death. It is a life and a resurrection that can begin right now. Conversion to Jesus is the penance of Lent. We can stand beside the graves of all our hopes just as Jesus stands beside the grave of his friend Lazarus. And we too can be raised. But we need to help each other as Sonia helped Rodion. And also just as Jesus told his friends to help Lazarus, "Unbind him and let him go." To that shared life we are called by our Baptism which we will celebrate at Easter.

Fr Graham