Fifth Sunday of
Lent (A) [Jn 11:1-45]
22.03.2026
The
Raising of Lazarus
1.
Theme in brief:
Jesus is the giver of
supernatural lif to those who are spiritually dead.
2.
Focus Statement
Jesus is the
giver of supernatural life to those who believe in him as the Resurrection and
the Life; they will never die spiritually, even though they die physically.
3.
Explanation of the text
Today’s gospel text is about the restoration of physical
life to Jesus’ “friend” Lazarus after four days of his death. The main message
of this text is that Jesus
is the source of supernatural life or the supernatural Life-Giver to those who are spiritually dead.
It points out two of the ironies in John’s gospel: (1) The Life-Giver himself
is going to give up his life on the cross, in order to give supernatural or eternal
life to all those who believe in him. (2) By raising Lazarus to life, Jesus takes
the risk of facing his own death through which he will attain his glory
(11:50-53). John states it clearly that from the time of Lazarus’ coming back
to life the chief priests and the Pharisees “planned to put him to death"
(11:53). Further, it is Jesus' very claim, "I am the resurrection and the
life" (11:25) that provokes the Jewish authorities to plan his death.
Secondly,
the evangelist presents this episode of raising Lazarus from death as a symbol
for freedom from the bonds of
spiritual or eternal death for
those who put their trust in Jesus and
his word. For
believers, this trust becomes the gateway to experience full blossoming of eternal life received in
rudimentary form at baptism, and the hope
of the final resurrection of the body. Lazarus is presented as the "one
whom Jesus loves" (11:3, 36) and as his “friend” (11:11), probably to tell
us that he represents all those whom Jesus loves, all those who are his
friends, including his present disciples.
Another irony is that Jesus
purposely delays his visit to
For a belleiver, who is Jesus? In
addition to the many titles attributed to him, this passage gives us another: he
is our Resurrection and our Life. Hence, the episode of raising Lazarus from the
dead is meant to reveal further Jesus’ identity as “I am
the resurrection and the life” (11:25), the source
of our hope both now and in eternity. Already in the beginning of his gospel
John has stated that in Jesus is the life of God in its fullness, or he fully
shares the life of the Father, because of his oneness or unity with the Father (1:4).
That is why he is the Life itself. And that divine life he shares with those who “believe” in him, that is, those
who are personally attached or committed to him and put
their trust in him.
This self-revelation of Jesus as the
resurrection and the life implies that he fully shares the power of
God
over life and death. The power which death holds over people to separate them
from God and his divine or eternal life is defeated by Jesus’ resurrection. For
those who believe that Jesus is the Resurrection, their physical death has no
power over them, because their future destiny is determined not by
their physical death, but by their faith in him and his promise of “raising
them up on the last day” (Jn 6:44). For those who believe that Jesus is the Life, their present life is also
determined by his power to share with them God’s own life (eternal life). Thus,
he claims that he is able to raise people from death to life on his own, now
itself, as well as at the general resurrection. But there is a condition – put
by Jesus to Martha – to be fulfilled: "Do
you believe this (11:26)?" Faith
in Jesus creates such a close communion with him that divine life which
is in him flows into believers. And physical death cannot cut off that life. Since
the believer is in close union or intimacy with Jesus who is the Life, how can
this spark of divine life be extinguished with death? One who has faith lives
even after death, in fact never dies in spirit.
Jesus brings the gift of divine
life to those who believe in him so that those who receive it shall never
die spiritually, even if they die physically (11:26). Physical
death is not the end of their life, but a gateway to another life (spiritual
and eternal). They share not only in divine life here on earth but also, because
of his triumph over death, in his resurrection hereafter also. In other
words, believers in Jesus will experience resurrection because, death cannot
defeat the life of God (1 Cor 15:53-57).
Hence, death’s curse and sting is removed by him. At the end we
notice that when the dead man (Lazarus) comes out of the tomb, his hands and
feet are bound. Jesus orders them to “unbind” him and let him go free (11:44). This symbolizes Jesus’
power to loosen the bonds of death and set the believers free from
eternal death.
4.
Application to life
It is interesting to note that
the gospel texts prescribed for all the three Sundays of Lent this year deal
with three spiritual truths: of the third Sunday that identifies Jesus as living
water
points to our spiritual thirst for God and his love; of the
fourth Sunday that identifies him as the Light of the World points to our spiritual
blindness to our sins and to recognize Jesus; and of today’s fifth Sunday that identifies him as the Resurrection
and the Life points to our spiritual death which separates us from God.
What is spiritual death?
Lent
is the fitting time to come out of the grave of sin, selfishness and fears,
and rise to a new
life of grace. This realization
will reach its climax on Easter when we renew our baptismal experience of ‘dying’ with
Christ and ‘rising’
with him. This metaphor means putting to death (or destroying) sin
and selfishness and living the resurrected life of holiness
and grace. As we move towards the celebration of Easter, we are called to
symbolically resurrect from the tomb of sin to a life of grace through
repentance and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (‘Confession’). Jesus comes to unbind the forces of sin, evil, death and
decay, and sets us free, just as he told them to unbind Lazarus. This
is the story of the power of faith over the forces of death, or the victory
of life over death. Let us submit ourselves to his power to free us from three negative
forces that can chain
us – of sin, evil and death.
Jesus
does not promise that believers will not die physically. Lazarus himself died
after he was raised. What he promises is that physical death is the gateway to
a resurrected life. Christ raises us up from our spiritual death to a new life
in the spirit. He wants to resurrect us from the state of spiritual
death. We are spiritually
dead in various ways: (1) when we allow selfishness and sin to rule
over us; (2); when are inactive or lose zeal and enthusiam for service; (3) when we are dead to the needs and
feelings of our neighbours; (4) when we are totally unconcerned and insensitive
to the sufferings of others; and (5) when we live a life without any hope. When
we accept Jesus as our sole Master, we become fully alive. But the condition
put by him applies to us also: We need to believe in him and his word, that is,
willingly should submit ourselves to him. Jesus is the Resurrection since he
gives spiritual life to the physically dead. He is the Life since he prevents the
spiritual death of those who put their faith in him.
Lazarus represents all those
whom Jesus loves, which includes you and me – those who believe in his name. This
event, describes our own life-story – how we can come to life from death in
this present moment, not only after death. What happened to Lazarus happens to
us in stages: first at baptism, then at each moment of our lives, then when we
die and at the final resurrection of our bodies. Jesus is the resurrection and the
life
for us at each moment of our lives. Everyday we are living in the face
of death; more so due to the insecurity caused by international
terrorism, natural calamities triggered by ecological changes and horrible
accidents. Life is so fragile that it is always at risk more
in modern times than before. Jesus invites us to decide which power determines
our existence here on earth – whether God's life-giving power in Jesus or the power
of death. If the former is true, then how we live our lives is more
important than how we are going to die.
What
marvels faith can do to those who really believe that Jesus liberates them
from the bondage of death here are hereafter. Each one of us could be a Lazarus
who is bound and laid in tomb and wants to be unbound. Unlike the Lazarus of
the gospel, it is possible we have been in our ‘tomb’ for more than four days
and may not like Jesus to open it for fear of the stench of what is inside – habitual sins,
addictions, negativity,
bitterness, revenge, jealousies, lust, corruption and all other evils. Or in another
sense, we could be like another Lazarus in the tomb, discouraged, frustrated
with life, depressed, rejected, finding life meaningless and not worth living.
Lent is the time to hand over our lives to the power of Jesus and hear him
crying with a loud voice: “Lazarus, (or
so-and-so) come out of your tomb” (cf.11:43). Then hear him saying: “Unbind
him/her, let him/her go free” (cf. 11:44). Sometimes in healing
sessions and in mass media we listen to the powerful testimonies of those who
were once lost and are found now. With the power of faith, if those who were
once written off by people as “dead” can come out of their deeper and bigger tombs,
why not we from our smaller tombs? Of course, if this ‘miracle’ has to happen,
we need to come out from another tomb – the tomb of mediocrity of faith and a
Christian life lived without vitality or zeal. Sometimes we live as if we have
not shared in Christ’s resurrection at baptism and act as if we are already ‘dead’
by our lack of enthusiasm or zest for life. If we really believe that he is our
resurrection, we are freed from meaninglessness of life and are led to live a
life of purpose.
A life without a purpose is not worth living; it is a ‘dead’ life.
At
Lazarus’ tomb when Jesus sees Mary and all those are present weeping, he is
greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved; then he also begins to weep (11:33,
35). Does he not weep over us today when we allow the spirit in us to die,
since we too, like Lazarus, are his “friends,” among those whom he loves? Is he
not emotionally moved by our existence in ‘tombs’ of lifelessness, lovelessness,
inactivity, unenthusiastic life, alienation from God and neighbour? Once we accept
Jesus as resurrection and life we cannot live a loveless and hopeless
life. So
today’s gospel invites us to march towards the blessed hope of living a
resurrected life with total trust in Jesus’ promise that those who believe in him
will live for ever.
Today’s gospel has another
message for our mission for so many Lazaruses in our society who are physically
alive, but in reality in the tomb – those who are addicted to drugs, alcohol,
electronic gadgets; those who have lost meaning in life and are disoriented.
Can we be a Jesus to them with our love, compassion and life-promoting actions?
5. Response to God's Word
What
are the forces of death that have engulfed us? What are the signs of spiritual
death in us? Are we trying to submit ourselves to the life-giving power of
Jesus? How would we like to see ourselves? Happy and bubbling with enthusiasm
or dull and difficult to please? Do we exhibit a great zeal for life so that
others can come to know that we have glimpses of eternal life and resurrection
already? Am I a person whose enthusiasm never dies? Is there any truth in what experts say: “Most
people die at twenty and are buried at eighty?” What am I doing to come out of
my ‘tomb’ or ‘grave?’
6.
A prayer
Even
if I sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, I believe Lord, you are there
tolead me to new life and vitality. Yes, Lord, I do believe, you are the Son of
God, the one coming into the world; you are the resurrection and the life. I am
spiritually dead. Come and set me free from the bondage of sin and death so
that I can live with you for ever and ever. Amen.
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