John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45
So the sisters of Lazarus sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
Jesus was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
New Life in Christ
The theme of this Sunday’s liturgy is “resurrection and life.” St. Paul also relates baptism to resurrection and life (Romans 6:3-4): In baptism, we die to sin and rise to new life in Christ.
This is an important teaching for the Elect, adults approved to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil of Holy Saturday night, as they near their reception of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist.
It is an important teaching for all the baptized who in Lent seek to die still more to sin and know new life in Christ – to become and to be all that Christ’s Church and the world around them need them to be.
—Fr. Bob Hagan, SJ, is a member of a community of senior Jesuits at Saint Ignatius Hall in Black Jack, Missouri. He offers spiritual direction; gives sacramental care to the lay Catholics at the adjacent retirement community; posts reflections on his Facebook site at Bob Hagan SJ; and drives fellow Jesuits who no longer drive wherever they want to go.
Prayer
Merciful God, you showed your glory to our fallen race by sending your Son to confound the powers of death. Call us forth from sin’s dark tomb and break the bonds that hold us, that we may believe and proclaim Christ, the cause of our freedom and the source of life, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, holy and mighty God for ever and ever. Amen.
— ICEL collect for the 5th Sunday of Lent (A).