Fifth Sunday of Lent A March 9, 2008

John 11:1-45  We don’t know the original connection between Jesus and the family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. The gospels don’t tell us if they were related to Jesus, friends of the family, or people he had met during a visit to Jerusalem in his younger days. It is clear from the gospels, however, that they had “adopted” Jesus as part of their family and that he was a frequent guest at their place whenever he was in the area of Jerusalem. Bethany was a good location for Jesus to get away from the crowds of the city, situated a couple miles east of the temple of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley, up and over the crest of the Mount of Olives. Before reaching the crest, Jesus liked to stop at an olive grove called the Garden of Gethsemane where he could look across at the Jerusalem temple and pray. When news of Lazarus’ illness reaches Jesus, he and his disciples were a couple days’ journey away on the east side of the Jordan River, an area outside the jurisdiction of the Jewish authorities who were searching for a way to convict Jesus and have him put to death. Should he go back into their territory? Thomas expresses the danger of doing so when he suggests the apostles should go back with Jesus “to die with him”. Jesus does return, but why did he wait? Given the number of days necessary for the journey and the timing of Lazarus’ death, Jesus would not have gotten to Bethany before the death of Lazarus anyway. Perhaps Jesus knew that the Pharisees, who were aware of his friendship with Lazarus, would be keeping an eye out for Jesus to return to Bethany but would have ended their vigil when Lazarus died. It is also possible that Jesus was simply giving time for word of Lazarus’ death to spread, thus making more dramatic the news of his subsequently being raised by Jesus. Lazarus became a celebrity in the weeks following his return to life. Hundreds of people went out from Jerusalem to see him and hear his testimony about Jesus. There was even a plot to kill Lazarus (John 12:10) because of the strength of his testimony to Jesus. Can you imagine Lazarus, who had already died, being afraid of a death threat? What a grace for us to not be afraid of death, to be so strong in faith that we even welcome challenges as opportunities to give testimony to what we believe.

Reading 1, Ezekiel 37:12-14  Ezekiel was a prophet during the time of the Babylonian captivity and received his call in the land of exile. Pre-exile prophetic messages had focused on the need for conversion. With their defeat and exile, the Jewish people had come to repent for the sins which had led to the destruction of their country and their present situation of servitude. What they needed now was hope, a prophetic message from God to turn their thoughts to the future, to a time of restoration. This was the prophet Ezekiel’s message. Keep the faith for you will rise again.

Reading II, Romans 8:8-11  Paul is not suggesting that Christians striving to be open to the Spirit are free from the influence of sin. After all, we are human beings susceptible to the drives of our human nature. Paul acknowledges his own weakness in that regard in the letter to the Romans (see Romans 7). But Paul wants his fellow Christians to remember that we are more than mere physical beings. We have a spiritual nature as well. As such we need to ground our self-awareness in the realm of the Spirit rather than giving ourselves over to the control of fleshly desires. Although we are incapable of victory over sin and temptation by our own power, Jesus Christ shares his victory with us. Righteousness comes not from our personal accomplishment, then, but by aligning ourselves with Jesus. By his grace we share in the victory and receive forgiveness when we fall. May we live with the Spirit of God alive within us.