5th SUNDAY OF LENT
Readings: Ezekiel 37:12-14
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45
“I am the resurrection… whoever lives
and believes in me will never die.”
If in last gospel Jesus does a wondrous thing to the man born blind, in
today’s gospel we see him perform the greatest miracle: he brings a dead man
back to life. Certainly, the resurrection of Lazarus is a masterpiece when one
meditates on the Christian meaning of life and death.
1. The reality of death is most painful. Yet, it is that reality, which
no one can ever escape from. What causes our sorrow over death lies not so much
on the certainty that sooner or later we have to leave this world. Rather, it
consists in the fact that: first, someone so
dear to us is gone of our sight; second; while the departed exits from this
life, he leaves something behind for his loved ones to remember. The first is
physical; the second is spiritual or moral. That is why we not only cry, we
also weep.
This is a proof that we are human beings with minds that think and
hearts that feel. Animals may echo shrill cries when hurt. But it is only man
who knows how to grieve even without uttering a single word or shedding any
tear. Sorrow is, therefore, part of life. It makes life more human and human
life more normal. Now, sorrow is bitterest in death. Thus, to cry and weep, to
mourn and grieve over someone who dies are sentimental expressions of a normal
man.
2. Jesus acts just exactly as any normal person does. "At the
sight of her tears, and those of the Jews who followed her, Jesus said in great
distress, with a sigh that came straight from the heart, ‘Where have you put
him?’ They said, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept; and the Jews said, ‘See how
much he loved him!’” --- Jesus reacts in such manner not simply because he
does not anymore see his friend Lazarus. In that case, the level of pain would
have been merely physical. Should Jesus
react immediately the ‘physical reason’ of pain, he should have also wept with
the poor widow of Nain (cf Lk 7:11-17). So, if ever we see him weep today, it
is because he has a ‘moral reason’ for his sorrow. With his death, Lazarus left
behind something, which Jesus treasured so much: the bond of friendship. The
gospel describes how close Jesus close is, to this family. Lazarus must have
been his intimate friend. Now he is gone. Jesus loses a friend. He misses, too,
the love that accompanies such intimate friendship. He is greatly distressed. He weeps.
With the reaction of Jesus, he gives meaning to human feelings and
sentiments. He shows that tears are not a proof of weakness or a sign of
effeminacy. Rather, they are an external expression of a normal heart deeply
affected by sorrow. We must even be glad to have a true God who is also a true
man. We can be sure that someone who is truly
greater than us is one with us in confronting the reality of death and
the pain of separation.
3. But Jesus does not stop in his
humanity. He transcends into the higher plane of the divinity and takes the
opportunity to teach his listeners the meaning of death and of the life after
death. This seems to be his purpose right from the start "On receiving
the message, Jesus said ‘This sickness will not end in death but in God's glory
and through it the Son of God will be glorified.’”
Moreover, by staying for two more days, the gospel even suggests that
Jesus seems to intend to arrive at Bethany with Lazarus already dead. And the
purpose is evident. Not only to manifest God's glory and through it he too may
be glorified, but also to instill faith to those people around - and to us, for
that matter. "Jesus put it plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead; and for your sake
I am glad I was not there because now you will believe.’” Thus, this
miracle Jesus performs today is not so much because of the human sentiments
that urge him to raise his friend to life. Rather, it is because of his nobler
intention to reveal his divinity and thus win the people's faith. Only a divine
can give life. Only a divine can get it back. Only a divine can give it again.
4. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And he is precisely so
because he is the Christ, the Son of God. This is what we discover in the
interesting dialogue between Jesus and Martha. Let's get a closer look at it.
“I am the
resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jesus ends up with a clear-cut question.
Such question is answerable by a simple yes or no. But the answer of Martha is
surprisingly so striking: "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the
Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world”
At the surface, Martha's answer appears ridiculous. True, she begins
with a big "yes" but what follows seems to have nothing to do with
Jesus’ premise. Instead of going straight as to say something like “Yes, I
believe that you are the resurrection and the life,” she seems to go
elsewhere. But Martha is not that stupid. Nor the evangelist John simply puts
these words in Martha's mouth without a purpose. Getting closer at the gospel,
we find a profound theology in it.
The gospel wants to teach us that the person of Jesus - as the Christ,
the Son of God, and the One who is to come - contains everything including life
and death. Thus, to believe in the person of Jesus is even more than believing
in him as life. Mere believing in Christ is already life itself. He is the
resurrection and the life, after all.
The resurrection of Lazarus therefore, becomes actually a prelude to
his own resurrection. And Jesus performs this big miracle to enable the people
to prepare themselves for the greatest faith they have to profess at his final
victory. If they believe now because Lazarus is risen through him, there is no
reason why they would refuse to believe in him once he is risen by his own
power. Hopefully, they may proclaim in unison with Martha that Jesus is the
Christ.
With this, our own death is given a Christian meaning If Christ is life, it goes on to say that he has authority over death itself. Death to a Christian is not the end of everything. It is simply a passage and a transition from one state to another. True, death becomes a horizon that puts limit to the human sight. But although we can no longer see our beloved dead with our human eyes, we can still see vividly through the eyes of faith that he who dies in Christ lives in him forever. This is the fruit of his triumph on the cross. By his own death and resurrection, we gain the light of life, and death simply becomes a shadow of the past. Indeed, death becomes powerless. Was it not St. Irenaeus who once said, "by the death of Christ, death was put to death?”