Fifth
Sunday of Lent (Year A)
John 11:1–45
There was a sick man named
Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was Mary,
the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and
wiped his feet with her hair. The sisters sent this message to Jesus, ‘Lord,
the one you love is sick.’ On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not
lead to death, but is for God’s glory so that through it the Son of God may be
glorified.’
Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that he was sick he stayed where he was
for two more days. Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go back to
Judaea.’ The disciples said, ‘Rabbi, just now the Jews were trying to stone
you; are you going back there again?’ Jesus replied:
‘Are there not twelve hours
in the day?
No one who walks in the
daytime stumbles,
having the light of this
world to see by;
anyone who walks around at
night stumbles,
having no light as a
guide.’
He said that and then
added, ‘Our friend Lazarus is at rest; I am going to wake him up.’ The
disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he is at rest he will be saved.’ Jesus had
been speaking of the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by ‘rest’ he meant
sleep. So Jesus put it plainly, ‘Lazarus has died; and for your sake I am glad
I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ Then Thomas –
known as the Twin – said to the other disciples, ‘Let us also go to die with
him.’
On arriving, Jesus found
that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. Bethany is only about three
kilometres from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort
them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went to
meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house.
Martha said to Jesus,
‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died, but even now I
know that God will grant whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your
brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know he will rise again at the
resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her:
‘I am the resurrection and
life.
Anyone who believes in me,
even though that person
dies, will live,
and no one who lives and
believes in me will ever die.
Do you believe this?’
She said, ‘Yes, Lord. I
believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,
the one coming into this
world.’
When she had said this,
she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, ‘The Master is here and is
calling you.’ Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not
yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him.
The Jews who were in the house comforting Mary, seeing her get up quickly and
go out, followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was, seeing him she fell at his feet, saying,
‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw
her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also, he was distressed in
spirit, and profoundly moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said,
‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept; and the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’
Some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have
prevented this man from dying?’ Again inwardly distressed, Jesus reached the
tomb: it was a cave, closed by a stone. Jesus said, ‘Take the stone away.’
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, ‘Lord, there is already a stench;
he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus replied, ‘Have I not told you that if
you believe you will see the glory of God?’ So they took the stone away. Then
Jesus lifted up his eyes and said:
‘Father, I thank you for
hearing my prayer.
I myself knew that you
hear me always,
but I speak
for the sake of all the
crowd standing around me,
so that they may believe
that you sent me.’
When he had said this, he
cried in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his feet and
hands bound with strips of material, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus
said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’
Many of the Jews who had
come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him.
(Revised
New Jerusalem Bible)
Other readings: Ezekiel
37:12–14 Psalm 129 (130) Romans 8:8–11
Commentary and
guidance for
Lectio Divina
By Fr Adrian Graffy
of the Pontifical Biblical Commission
This Sunday’s extended
passage from the Gospel of John is the story of the raising of Lazarus. The
words of Jesus to Martha give us the theme: Jesus is the resurrection and the
life. No wonder he goes on later in the chapter to restore earthly life to
Lazarus as a sign of the life to come.
Just as the healing of the
man born blind was a ‘work of God’, inviting faith, similarly the raising of
Lazarus shows the ‘glory of God’ and strengthens faith. All the so-called
‘signs’ in the Gospel of John do this. The raising of Lazarus is the last and
greatest of the signs. Both Martha and Mary are ready to witness that Jesus is
‘the resurrection and the life’.
The story concludes with
the statement that ‘many believed in him’. But this sign also provokes strong
opposition from the religious leaders who plot to destroy Jesus. The one who
gives life will have life torn from him in return.
In this Sunday’s other
readings there are other clear pointers to the Resurrection to come. The
prophet Ezekiel relays God’s promise to give the people a new spirit and raise
them from their graves. St Paul teaches the Romans about the life-giving Spirit
of Christ, the Easter gift of the risen Jesus. The Psalmist cries ‘out of the
depths’ to the Lord with whom there is ‘mercy and fulness of redemption’. The
prayer is heard by the God of life.
How does this story
prepare us for the celebration of the Easter mystery?
In what sense is this
the greatest of the signs worked by Jesus?
We pray that we may
understand and truly believe that God is the God of life.
We ask for the grace to
live the time of Christ’s passion and death to the full.
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