I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Readings for Year A: Ezekiel 37:12-14; Psalm 129; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45
Today’s Gospel is the raising of Lazarus. It ends with the dramatic scene of Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb. Lazarus has comes out bound in the cloths used in laying out the dead and Jesus says, “Unbind him, let him go free”. Jesus demonstrates his power over death.
Despite the display of power the Jesus we see in this Gospel is not a detached figure manipulating those around him. Lazarus and his sisters are among Jesus closest friends. Even though he knows he is going raise Lazarus he experiences and shares the grief of the sisters, the disciples and their friends. Jesus response to Mary’s tears is a sigh that came straight from the heart and he himself weeps. This is a human Jesus who shares human relationships and feelings. Jesus is one of us, his experiences are our experiences. In some ways a God who comes in and puts everything right so we do not experience grief, distress or suffering would be easier to accept. However, we have a God who shares our lives, stands with us and transforms the meaning of our lives through being part of them. It means that we are enabled to share in the life of God but this much deeper relationship is challenging.
A large part of today’s Gospel is the discussion between Jesus and Martha. This does not have the emotional power of his encounter with Mary. However, its importance is the way in which Jesus draws out the Martha’s profession of faith. He takes her beyond her focus on the idea that he could have performed a miracle for her brother to the fundamental awareness that Jesus himself is “the resurrection and the life”. He is our life and our hope, the life and hope of the world.
Jesus asks her, in the midst of her grief, “Do you believe this?”. Her response is to take it further, “Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world”. This is the question which today’s Gospel puts to us as we prepare to remember Holy Week and Easter. It is the question that Jesus puts to us in the middle of the difficulties we face today. As our lives are turned upside down and many people are likely face that same experience of grief as Martha and Mary this will be part of the challenge of this Easter. Do we believe in a God who shares our life, who knows our confusion and our grief? Do we believe in a God who in the midst of all of this is our hope? Can we say like Martha that we believe in the one who is the resurrection and the life? That perhaps can be our part of our prayer, that our faith will be sustained what ever we are called to face.
The Jesus humanity in the Gospel also suggests another prayer. That we can be with those who are grieving, anxious and suffering. That we can understand what they are experiencing and reach out in their need. That “social distancing” does not mean a retreat into self-centredness.
Finally we pray that we may indeed experience the healing and saving power of Christ not just in an ultimate sense, but, like those friends of Martha and Mary, that we might experience it in the here and now.
Fr Chris Pedley, S.J.