Gospel for 29 March 2020
Fifth Sunday of Lent Year A
John 11:3-7,17,20-27,33-45
I am the resurrection and the life
Mary and Martha sent this message to Jesus, ‘Lord, the man you love is ill.’ On receiving the message, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will end not in death but in God’s glory, and through it the Son of God will be glorified.’
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed where he was for two more days before saying to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judaea.’
On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. 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?’
‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’
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!’ But there were some who remarked, ‘He opened the eyes of the blind man, could he not have prevented this man’s death?’ Still sighing, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening. Jesus said, ‘Take the stone away.’ Martha said to him, ‘Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day.’ Jesus replied, ‘Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said: ‘Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. I knew indeed that you always hear me, but I speak for the sake of all these who stand round me, so that they may believe it was you who sent me.’
When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, here! Come out!’ The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, let him go free.’
Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what he did believed in him.
Reflexion
When the novel coronavirus first emerged into the limelight in January, few paid attention to it. But as the epidemic began to take its toll with mounting deaths, lockdown in the city of Wuhan and surrounding areas and eventually the whole of China, the world paid attention. But little did anyone guess that it would eventually become a world wide pandemic. The spread of the contagion got me thinking about the scenario painted by zombie movies: reanimated human corpses roaming the world seeking to devour living flesh, a scenario that could one day actually become a reality. But another reality may now be emerging - the human race may become extinct because of this virus.
But the idea of corpses rising from the dead is not just confined to stories about zombies. There are actually three resurrection miracles - the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus (Lk. 8:41ff), of the son of the widow of Naim (Lk. 7:11 -15), and of Lazarus. But the resurrection of Lazarus was most striking because “he had been in the tomb for four days already.” He was already stinking. So picture the reaction of the onlookers. But unlike zombies who become mindless and soulless creatures, Lazarus came back alive and went on with his normal ordinary life until his “second” death.
The resurrection of Lazarus isn’t so much about a dead person being resuscitated as it is about the One who openly declares, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Those are words with most profound hope and joy for all of us. Those words are also a reminder that our focus is on the Lord’s own resurrection because it is the source of great power and favour, a power so great that it will one day raise up the bodies of all believers to Eternal Life! The demonstration of our Lord’s power over death was a sign of His own coming resurrection, and of Lazarus’s and ours as well.
This is at the heart of the Christian gospel, the good news we proclaim today, every Sunday and in fact every day of our lives. The resurrection of the Lord is primarily a saving event. The Lord may have defeated death momentarily in the case of Lazarus, because Lazarus would have to eventually die like all of us. More than just this temporary escape from death, our Lord’s resurrection is the final and ultimate defeat of death. The Resurrection of our Lord is more than a miracle and topic for faith. It is a saving event in its own right, since the dying and rising of Jesus together constitute the victory over sin and death. And through His resurrection we are brought into that “newness of life”, a share in the fullness of our salvation, a life we received through our baptism, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4).
The raising of Lazarus is the last recorded miracle or “sign” in John’s gospel. Our Lord’s gift of life to Lazarus would ultimately lead to His own death. Our Lord took upon Himself our humanity, including death, so that He may share with us His divinity. Our Lord died for us so that we may have life, abundant life, eternal life.
Death is but a doorway into eternal life. We need not live in fear of dying from some incurable virus, or a sudden heart attack or a freak accident. We should not fear death because we don’t have to imagine how life would be like after death. No, we have it from the Lord Himself. We have seen it in the miracle of Lazarus. Death is not a dead end. It is the doorway to eternal life with our Lord waiting for us on the other side. This is the Good News that all of mankind longs to hear, especially now when we are beset with so much bad news on how things seem to be getting from bad to worse. But in spite of all that bad news, we Christians have our good news: Death does not have the final say. Covid-19 does not have the final say. Jesus Christ does.