Deus semper maior! God is always greater! This phrase is meant to stretch our imagination. Fear and anxiety are often brought on when we see only hardship and difficulty. We are unable to imagine a happy outcome. We think that God has abandoned us, or that God does not care. But Deus semper maior! God is always greater than what we can imagine.
In today’s gospel the best friends of Jesus are in extreme difficulty. Jesus’ friend Lazarus is near death and his two other friends Martha and Mary want Jesus to know about. They have seen Jesus work miracles. They know that he can heal sick people. They probably imagine Jesus coming and laying hands on Lazarus. But Deus semper maior! Jesus has something greater in store than they imagine.
We can imagine a God who is powerful enough to take away our suffering. Like Martha and Mary, we want God to come and make everything better. But then Lazarus dies. And it’s not like the other people whom Jesus raised from the dead. Those people had only just died. Lazarus has been dead for four days! Now there seems to be no hope. But Deus semper maior! Jesus uses the occasion of pain and suffering and death to show that he is even greater than our greatest fear.
The present pandemic has changed the daily routine of nearly everyone. All of society from greatest to least have had to bow down before this virus and hide in fear in our homes. It would be easy to focus on how vulnerable we are and to become saddened by all we have had to give up. Martha and Mary cried when Lazarus died. Even Jesus cried! So we should grieve. But then we should never forget that Deus semper maior! God will bring a greater good out of this pandemic than we can imagine right now.
There has been great suffering already and there is surely more to endure. But when the suffering seems great and the triumph of evil seems great, it is especially at a time like this that we can look death in the face and hold our heads high as we march undaunted toward the surety of Easter. We have such confidence because we know, although the suffering is great, God is always greater… Deus semper maior!