Raising Lazarus

Raising Lazarus

Jn 11: 1 – 45

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Introduction

Lazarus has died. Now Jesus comes and does the impossible. He raises him back to life. In doing so, Jesus tells all who were present that He is the resurrection and the life and that anyone who believes in him, even if he dies, will live.

The Gospel

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,^[a] “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ 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.” ⁵ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶ after having heard that Lazarus^[b] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰ But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹ After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³ Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Thomas, who was called the Twin,^[c] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus^[d] had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles^[e] away, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.^[f] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,^[g] the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴ He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus began to weep. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ 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.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴² 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.” ⁴³ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ 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.”

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Reflection

Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent. Our reading today is about the raising of Lazarus back to life. This detailed account of the raising of Lazarus leads us to consider the following points:
 

First, Jesus had close ties with Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. Jesus’ intimate bond with the family can be seen in his dialogue with the sisters, Martha and Mary. The two women demonstrated a certain familiarity with Jesus to a point that they showed no difficulty airing their disappointments directed at Jesus who despite being notified of Lazarus’ illness did not respond immediately to heal their ailing brother. Had Jesus come earlier, Lazarus would have lived. Notwithstanding their candid outpouring of grievance and disappointment with Jesus, the two sisters don’t lose faith in him. Martha, continues to profess her faith in Jesus, saying that he was the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world. 

The story, however, doesn’t give us an elaborate description of how close Lazarus was with Jesus. But the evangelist John gives us a glimpse of that closeness through the words of those who were there who noticed Jesus weeping. This prompted them to say: “See how he loved him.”  

The story of the raising of Lazarus back to life is a sad story about death framed within the context of deep friendship and intimacy. This tells us that death is indeed a story of loss not only for us humans, but indeed also for God. As we grieve at the loss of a loved one, so too God grieves over the death of his faithful. 

Secondly, this story about raising Lazarus back to life has literary markers that overwhelmingly speak about death; not simply about the death of Lazarus, but mainly about the death of Jesus. Early in the story, we are told that Jesus and his disciples were moving away from Judea. We learn why they were moving away from Judea only when Jesus tells his disciples that they would go back to Judea. To which, his disciples tell him: “ Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” The situation in Judea was already hostile to Jesus. There, they already wanted to kill him. As we move towards the end of the story, after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, we hear of the Pharisees beginning to plot against Jesus to put him to death.  The framing of this story with two literary markers that speak about death tells us that the death of Lazarus was a mere foreshadowing of the death of the Lord. But the raising of Lazarus back to life also foreshadowed Jesus’ own resurrection and his own power to rise again from the dead.   

Thirdly, even if the story is marked by death, death becomes a mere backdrop against a greater reality which is the resurrection. When Jesus tells Martha that he is the resurrection and the life, he tells us that he is the agent for this new life. He raises up those who believe in him and gives back eternal life because he is the author of life itself. The evangelist John builds up the story in such a way that the characters in the story, particularly Martha, speak of the impossibility of raising Lazarus back to life particularly when she said: “ Lord, by now, there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” When Jesus then commands Lazarus to come out, the figure of Lazarus, still in his bandage and burial clothes emerging from the cave, becomes an incredible sight to behold and becomes a testimony of Jesus’ power to raise the dead and give new life. 

The story of the raising of Lazarus back to life is an apt reading for this season of Lent. The somber mood of Lent reminds us of death, the death of Jesus. But just like the story of Lazarus, death is not the final destiny of man. Death is a passageway for those who believe in Jesus, the resurrection and the life. 

But this story is also an apt story for our struggling times during this outbreak. We are surrounded by death on all sides. Our streets are lifeless, many lack money, food and the means to survive. The number of deaths rises at each passing day. Sad stories are told of brave and heroic front liners losing their battle against this deadly contagion. The story of the raising of Lazarus back to life, even if framed by death, also becomes our story as a nation and as a society. Beyond all these stories of death from all sides, will be our own stories of new life that will emerge, like Lazarus, out of the caves of our collective lock outs and quarantines. But this promise of new life can only be true only when we believe and confess that Jesus will bring us new life. 

Prayer

Jesus, we are surrounded by death on all sides. Our streets are lifeless. The number of deaths rises at each passing day. Many do not have money and the provisions to survive. Raise us back to life, Lord just like Lazarus so that one day, we may emerge like him out of the caves of our collective lock outs and quarantines into the newness of life that you promise those who believe in you. Amen.

 ^“Precious in the sight of the Lord
    is the death of his faithful ones.” – Psalm 116: 15