This passage from John 11 completes the triptych of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays of Lent using the Gospel of John for Baptismal instruction. The other two Sundays mentioned the Woman at the Well and Jesus offering her living water (John 4); and a Blind Man who is healed by washing in the Pool of water called Siloam (John 9). Their references to water evoke Baptism. This Sunday’s Gospel about Lazarus mentions no water but it does mention death and life, realities connected with Baptism (See Romans 6) and the Paschal Mystery: the Dying and Rising of Christ.
"By baptism all are plunged into the paschal mystery of Christ: they die with him, are buried with him, and rise with him." (Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 6)
The First Reading from Ezekiel sets the stage for the miracle Jesus will perform:
"You shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and make you come up out of them, my people!" (Ezekiel 37:13)
Also the Second Reading proclaims to us who received the Holy Spirit at "Baptism:
"If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you." (Romans 8:11)
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you." (Romans 8:11)
"Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is ‘the man of heaven’." (Catechism# 646)
The point of this story about Lazarus does emphasize, however, that Jesus as the Son of God has power over death. As the Paschal Mystery promises, death is not the end of our passage through life.
"Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, a the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill." (John 11:1-2)
Right from the beginning this story alludes to the Death of Jesus by mentioning Mary of Bethany and her anointing of his feet. This anointing and her drying of Jesus’s feet is described in John 12. Jesus interprets Mary’s anointing as a preparation for his death and burial (See John 12:7).
Since Lazarus also dies in the story of John 11, the death of Jesus is connected with every person’s death.
So the sisters sent word to him, saying, ‘Master, the one you love is ill.’ When Jesus heard this he said, "This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’" (John 11:3-4)
There is foreshadowing here: the illness of Lazarus is not to end in death–even though Lazarus does die, Jesus brings him back to life. This will be for the glory of God. St. Irenaeus said, "The glory of God is the human person fully alive."
"Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was." (John 11:5-6)
The Gospel of John gives several windows into the humanity of Jesus as well as his divinity. Jesus had friendships when he dwelt among us. He loved the particular people named here: Lazarus and his two sisters. This might also be an allusion to a later passage and saying of Jesus: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13)
Something, however, doesn’t sound correct in this passage where love is mentioned and yet Jesus remains two days more where he was while his friend is ill. Jesus knows that he will revive Lazarus and so Jesus had to wait for Lazarus to die. It could also be teaching us that God’s timing is not always our timing and this can cause us to complain as Martha and Mary will do in this story.
Also, sometimes in our illness or the illness of others, it may seem that Jesus is absent. But Jesus will come.
"Then after this he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.’
"He said this, and then told them, ‘Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.’ So the disciples said to him, ‘Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.’ But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, ‘Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.’
"So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go to die with him.’" (John 11:7-16)
The Gospel of John uses Light images a great deal. Last Sunday Jesus had described himself as the Light of the world. (See John 9:5) He also spoke about doing the works of God while it is day:
"We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (John 9:4-5)
Jesus keeps mentioning a "night." Compare this to the beginning of his Passion when Judas betrays him. Jesus tells the disciples at his last Supper that he would be betrayed. He gives Judas a part of the meal and tells him to go and do what he intended. Then somberly the Gospel says:
"So [Judas] took the morsel and left at once. And it was night." (John 13:30)
May we who partake of the Lord’s Supper never betray him!
Death and darkness are connected; but there will be a new Day, a Day of everlasting light: the Resurrection.
Some say Thomas is showing his loyalty to Jesus by exhorting the other disciples to also go and die for Christ. I don’t see it this way. It sounds more like Thomas is being ironic. But perhaps unaware, Thomas actually is stating a rule of discipleship, i.e. a requirement for following Jesus: "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 44)
With the help of Christ and the Holy Spirit, we must die, i.e. put to death sin and selfishness in order to live the new life of Christ, the beginning of the Risen life. This is part of living the Paschal Mystery.
"When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days." (John 11:17)
According to Jewish culture at the time of Jesus, it was believed that the soul hovered near the body for three days after death, but after that time there was no hope of resuscitation and decay would begin. (According to the Anchor Bible: Gospel According to John, 424)
"Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. [But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.’" (John 11:18-22)
Martha voices a complaint that many make in suffering: "Where is God in this suffering? Why didn’t Jesus do something?" If we are to grow in spiritual maturity we must wrestle not with God’s Presence but with God’s seeming Absence at times. A ministry student, Damon Garcia writes:
"Even though the void in our soul may be painful, Christianity widens the void and digs it deeper as we thirst and hunger for a God we seek to know, but cannot ever fully grasp. We seek the infinite knowledge of this God’s character, that his presence and absence breaks open. We seek for this void to be filled that may not ever be entirely filled. Even when God fills the void he also widens it the more we desire God. As the psalmist writes, ‘Deep calls out to deep.’ His presence brings wonders, but the feeling of his absence opens us up for that wondrous presence."
We might wonder what exactly Martha meant by saying "[But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." If Martha’s brother is dead, what more can there be in this life? Someone like St. Augustine, however, sees this as perfect faith on Martha’s part. In other words, it is as if she is saying, "If you had been here this tragedy would not have happened, but I still believe in you, Jesus."
"Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise." Martha said to him, ‘I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.’
Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’
She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.’" (John 11:23-27)
Jesus speaks of the Resurrection: that he is the Resurrection. "Jesus links faith in the resurrection to his own person: ‘I am the Resurrection and the life.’" (Catechism #994) If we are united to Christ, then we are already participating spiritually in the Resurrection. This will culminate in a physical Resurrection after we die, called "The Last Day." St. Augustine taught that there is this two-fold Resurrection, of the soul and of the body:
"See how here He delineates that twofold resurrection. "He that cometh unto me" immediately rises again, being made humble in my members; but I will raise him up again on the last day also according to the flesh." (Homilies on John, XXV, Ch. 6:15-44)
St. Augustine is also correct when he said Martha has "perfect" Christian faith: Here she makes the same confession as St. Peter in the Gospel of Matthew (see Matthew 16:16 ): "You are the Messiah, the Son of God."
"When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, ‘The teacher is here and is asking for you.
As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’" (John 11:28)
 |
| Mary of Bethany sits at Jesus' feet |
Such a beautiful invitation is made to Mary of Bethany: "The Teacher is here and asking for you." Sometimes Jesus comes to where we are, as he did to the Blind man in last Sunday’s Gospel. Sometimes we seek him and we can seek him because he has called us to do so. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Mary has the same complaint as her sister, Martha: basically, "Where were you?" However, like her sister, she is still depicted as a disciple who believes, for she falls at the feet of Jesus. She is depicted in a similar way in the Gospel of Luke 10:39: "Mary sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak." Students sat at the feet of their teachers and we still use that phrase today.
Obviously we can question and even complain to God in prayer and still believe. Prayer is real when we are real in our communication with God.
"When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Sir, come and see.’
"And Jesus wept.
"So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him.’ But some of them said, ‘Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?’" (John 11:33-37)
Jesus is deeply distressed at the grief of his friends and at the way death seems to rob us of our loved ones. With those who have died, we must also deal with their presence and absence–mostly their absence. Jesus shows that he truly shares our humanity as he weeps at the grave. But did he not already know that he would perform a miracle for Lazarus? Yes, but he can still grieve at the devastation death brings.
Jesus is also criticized; it probably shouldn’t surprise us when we are criticized!
"So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’
"Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, ‘Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone.
"And Jesus raised his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.’" (John 11:38-42)
The tomb with a large stone blocking the entrance might remind us that Jesus was buried in a similar tomb from which he would rise from the dead: "But at daybreak on the first day of the week they [some women] took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." (Luke 24:1-3)
Martha reminds Jesus that the body had been in the tomb for four days and decay had set in with its stench. This detail reinforces once again that Lazarus is really dead. Jesus reminds Martha to trust him and take him at his word: "If you believe you will see the glory of God." Then Jesus prays. He is perfectly in line with God’s will, but he prays to give us an example. He is also concerned to generate belief in others. This was the goal author of the Gospel of John also:
"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31)
"And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
"So Jesus said to them, ‘Untie him and let him go.’
"Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him." (John 11:43-45)
Jesus calling out in a load voice fulfills what he had said earlier in the Gospel, John 5:28-29a: "The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out..."
The command of Jesus indicates an additional ministry to Lazarus now brought back to life: the burial clothes which bind Lazarus (similar to that of a mummy) must be removed, so that he can be free.
"St. Augustine gave a beautiful analogy comparing Lazarus coming alive out of the dark tomb to the repentant believer through confession who ‘comes forth’ from the darkness of sin and into the light of grace: ‘For what does come forth mean if not emerging from what is hidden, to be made manifest. But for you to confess is God's doing; he calls you with an urgent voice by an extraordinary grace. And just as the dead man came out still bound, so you go to confession still guilty. In order that his sins be loosed, the Lord said this to his ministers: ‘Unbind him and let him go’ [Recall what Jesus said to his Apostles:] What you will loose on earth will be loosed also in heaven. [that is, what sins you forgive will be forgiven; see Matthew 18:18]’ St. Augustine: The Gospel of John 49.24" (From Agape Bible Study)
For a good explanation of this correspondence of "being untied" and Confession see "The Confession of Lazarus," by Fr. Paul Scalia HERE.
