March 26, 2023: Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A Ezekiel 37:12-14 Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 Romans 8:8-11 John 11:1-45
The Movement of LentA reflection by David Jackson The three readings for this Sunday speak of “rise,” “raised,” and “resurrection and life.” The Gospel is 45 verses! In Ezekiel, we read, “Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them … Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live” (vv. 12, 14). In Romans 8:11, Paul states, “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you. Finally, in John 11:21-27, Martha and Jesus have this dialogue: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise. ”Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.
I single out this passage from today’s Gospel because it captures so much for me. At funerals it brings consolation and hope. It also gives me hope because Martha was able to acknowledge that her belief in Jesus has been a process. We too are in process. We hear this popular saying: ““Please be patient, God is not finished with me yet.” It is important that we say this to ourselves as well as to others. Another reason I love this passage is that, as we come to the last Sunday before Palm Sunday, it sums up the gospels of the previous two Sundays: the Woman at the Well and the Man Born Blind. These three readings affirm that we need Lent every year. They give us examples to reflect on our own process of conversion, of coming to know Jesus better, and of putting into practice Jesus’ example and teachings. There is constant motion in this gospel passage: the message of distress goes from Bethany, near Jerusalem, to Jesus across the Jordan; Jesus and his disciples move toward Bethany; the Jewish friends of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus come out from Jerusalem to comfort Martha and Mary; Martha moves to Jesus; Martha moves to Mary; Mary moves to Jesus; all move to the tomb; Lazarus moves out of the tomb; informers move to the Pharisees; and, after this passage (11:54), Jesus and his company move to Ephraim in Northern Judea. This constant motion gives me cause to reflect on the movement in my life. Do I practice any disciplines? Am I satisfied with the tempo of my life? Do I feel that I have too much to do and too little time to do it? Do I create time and space for reflection? Do I do any kind of continuing education? How about exercise, diet? Each of us can raise our own questions. In Catholic Update, the scholar Raymond Brown noted that we can assume John’s intended audience was familiar with this story. John introduces Mary as “the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill” (11:2).
After Jesus receives the news about Lazarus, he hesitates. Why does this happen? “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.” Does it kind of give you a “Huh?” Why the delay? Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?”… [Jesus replies], “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.”
Jesus is willing to face the risk. And the risk comes to its conclusion when the raising of Lazarus becomes the catalyst leading to his passion and death. Sister Barbara E. Reid in her reflections on the Sunday readings for year A, speculates: “The two days Jesus delayed in going to Bethany may have been time that he needed to discern whether it was ‘the hour’ for him to take this fatal step. It is clear that to go to Judea would put Jesus at great risk. His disciples twice try to dissuade him from going there (11:7-8, 12) Thomas’s wry remark, ‘let us also go, that we may die with him’ (11:16 NRSV) proves to be exactly true; the chapter ends with the Sanhedrin planning to put Jesus to death” (11:53). Facing death often constitutes a unique challenge to belief. It will be precisely at that moment, when we are confronted with the visible reality of the grave, that we need to hear and embrace the bold message that Jesus proclaims in John’s Gospel: ‘I am the life.’ Despite all human appearances, “Everyone who believes in me shall never die at all.” We began Lent with the reminder that we will return to dust and yet throughout Lent we move toward Easter and the proclamation of new life. As with today’s gospel, the whole movement of Lent is from death to life. Does my own movement this Lent reflect that same pattern? |
