This Sunday we celebrate the Fifth Sunday of Lent. On this day, the RCIA holds the last of the three Scrutinies and looks a little more closely at the third of the great symbols of Easter, life, itself. Jesus said “I am the life.” The readings today call us to consider, with some honesty, what Jesus’ claim means to us. In what way and to what extent is Jesus really my “life?” What must change if He is to really be my Life?

First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14

12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! 14 I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

NOTES on First Reading:

Ezekiel was one of the prophets of the exile who helped to maintain the faith of Israel among the population that had been led away into exile after having been conquered by Babylon. Our reading comes from the second part of Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones, which dates from around 570 or 580 B.C. It begins in verse 1 of Chapter 37 and is essentially a message of hope meant to assure the downtrodden and discouraged survivors of a terrible war that God has not utterly abandoned them. He will restore Israel whose surviving but conquered population is living in the midst of a pagan nation during the Babylonian exile.

The vision of the dry bones consists of two parts: Vs 2-10 Description of the vision. Vs 11-14 Interpretation of the vision. The reading is taken from this section.

The story plays on the contrast between dry, dead bones and the “ruah” (wind, breath or spirit) of God. The image summarizes the mission of Ezekiel to the exiles. He preaches the word of God to bring new life to a dead Israel. The bones, very dry and bleached as they lie scattered on the ground represent the total destruction of Israel by the invading army of Babylon. Now God is offering to breath His own life into the dead dry bones, the exiles. Thereby, He will raise up a restored Israel. This text was not originally intended as a reference to individual resurrection of the body but as an image of God’s future restoration of the “people of God.” Later the early church interpreted it as an Old Testament foreshadowing of the resurrection that was revealed in Christ. Our reading comes from the last part of the story where the interpretation of the vision’s meaning is provided.

Second Reading: Romans 8: 8-11

8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 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 that dwells in you.

NOTES on Second Reading:

In verse 8, Paul chooses a neutral way of expressing the goal of human life. Pleasing God is the aim of both Jew and Christian and yet it can not be accomplished by one who is dominated by his own wants or is “in the flesh.” Only one who lives “in the spirit” or who lives according to the Spirit can please God. For Paul the term, “flesh,” meant anything that was not of God or that distracted one from God. It need not have anything to do with sex as some later interpreters mistakenly insist.

In verse 9 the words, “if only ” (in the NAB), are sometimes translated as “since” (as in NRSV). In fact, Paul probably meant something like “if, in reality. ” It is not the behavior that results in being “in the spirit” but rather it is being “in the spirit” that results in the behavior that is pleasing to God. We as followers of Christ have the Holy Spirit within us as a result of our death and rebirth in Christ (Baptism). The Holy Spirit is now the new principle of life within us. Paul uses the terms, “Spirit of God”, “Spirit of Christ,” and “Christ” interchangeably as he struggles to express the multifaceted reality of the Christian’s experience of participation in the Divine life. This is much more than a simple or external identification with the cause of Christ. Paul sees it as a “spiritualization” of the believer who is empowered to “live for God” by the “Spirit of God” Himself, Who takes up residence within the believer. We sometimes tend to make this idea of the indwelling Spirit so spiritual that it becomes meaningless. Paul sees it as an absolute reality with very real and practical consequences.

Paul plays on the meanings of “pneuma” in verse 10. It clearly means the Spirit of God but the word is also used for a component of our humanity that can be contrasted with “flesh.” Without the Spirit as the source of Christian life the human “body” is like a corpse because of the influence of sin. However, in union with Christ the human “spirit” lives because the Spirit of God resuscitates the spiritually dead human being through the gift of uprightness.

In verse 11 as in 9 the “pneuma” is the Spirit of the Father to Whom the efficiency of the resurrection is attributed. So the power vivifying the Christian is traced to its ultimate source, for the Spirit is the manifestation of the Father’s presence and power in the world since the resurrection of Jesus and through it. The future tense refers to the eschatological resurrection of Christians in which Paul sees the role of the Spirit as central. At His resurrection Christ became, through the Father’s glory (6:4), the principle of the raising of Christians (See 1 Thes 4:14; Phil 3:10,21;1 Cor 6:14; 2 Cor 4:14).

Paul concludes the previous discussion and introduces the next section with verses 13-14. He tells us that the Baptized Christian could still be occupied by the “deeds, acts, pursuits” of one dominated by “saryx,” flesh. However, use of the Spirit received in order to abandon those things is the debt owed to Christ.

Although mortification mentioned in verse 13 is a necessary part of the Christian life, it does not capture its essence. The essential point of Christian life is a new relationship with God for which Paul uses the image of “sonship.” The new status of the Christian is modeled on the relationship of the resurrected Jesus with the Father.

Gospel Reading: John 11: 1-45

1 Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 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. 3 So the sisters sent word to him, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” 4 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” 9 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. 10 But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” 12 So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” 13 But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. 14 So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. 15 And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat 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 whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, 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 have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” 29 As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. 31 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. 32 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.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” 35 And Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” 37 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?”

38 So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 39 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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. 42 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.” 43 And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 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.”

45 Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

NOTES on Gospel:

The raising of Lazarus is the last of the “signs” and forms the longest continuous narrative in John’s Gospel outside of the passion account. It is the climax of the signs that Jesus works. In John’s account it leads directly to the decision of the Sanhedrin to kill Jesus. The story focuses on the theme of life. Lazarus is symbolic of the real life that Jesus’ death and resurrection will give to all who believe in him.

Johannine irony is found in the fact that Jesus’ gift of life leads to his own death. This story is not found in the synoptic gospels, but Mark 5:21 and Luke 7:11-17 are parallels. In the synoptic stories however, the dead person who is restored to life has just died. Only this story deals with someone who has been dead for a period of time. It illustrates the image of Jesus as the “Life” just as Chapter 9 presents Him as the “Light.” Another, lesser parallel is found between this story and Luke’s parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). In both stories, a man named Lazarus dies. In Luke, there is a request that he return to convince his contemporaries of the need for faith and repentance, while in John, Lazarus does return and some believe but others do not.

John identifies Mary as the woman (never named in Mark 14:3-9) who anointed Jesus before the passion (John 12:1-8). Once again John uses the device of misunderstanding (11:4) to give Jesus a reason to explain something. Here, however there is a double misunderstanding. In verse 4, the disciples are referring to physical death, but it is meant by Jesus as spiritual death. They are told that the illness has as its purpose to make the “glory of God” manifest. This points back to John 2:11 and forward to the real glorification of the cross (13:31-32; 17:1). Later (11:11) Jesus refers to physical death as sleep and the disciples think he means slumber.

The statement (11:5) that Jesus “loved” Martha and her brother and sister points to Jesus’ love for the disciples.

In the ancient world common belief was that light was present in the eye (11:10) rather than that light entered through the eye. See Luke 11:34 and Matthew 6:23.

Didymus is the Greek word for twin (11:16). Thomas is derived from the Aramaic word for twin. His given name is said in an ancient Syriac version and in the Gospel of Thomas (80:11-12) to be Judas.

The distance in verse 18 is literally given as “about fifteen stades”. A stade was 607 feet.

Martha expresses (11:24) belief in the eschatological resurrection of the dead (5:28-29). Jesus responds to the confession of faith with the “I am” statement. Use of “I am ” in John is nearly always a reference to the name that God used when He met Moses and which became identified as God’s self-revelation to His people (Exod 3:14; Isa 41:4-10, 43:3). The following statements explain “resurrection and life” in terms of the promises of life to those who believe. John’s phrasing recurs in 1:4; 3:15; 16:36; 5:24,26; 6:27,40,47;10:10,28. The term, “resurrection” occurs in John’s gospel only here and in 5:29. John brings together a traditional term, “resurrection,” which had connotations of the “last day” with one of his own titles for Jesus, “Life”. The result is a new insight into what the “last day” is really about as well as a new understanding of the power of the life in Jesus. In many ways verses 25 and 26 are key to this entire story. In verse 27 Martha repeats the titles given to Jesus earlier in this gospel which are also the main Christological affirmations made in John’s Gospel.

Verses 33 and 35 deal with the emotions and feelings of Jesus. The phrase used in 11:33 is startling in Greek. Literally, it translates as “He snorted in spirit.” This may be a reaction of anger at the presence of evil expressed in death or perhaps a response to the unbelief of the visiting mourners. Verse 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible. It shows the deepest emotion on Jesus’ part and illustrates Jesus grief at Lazarus’ death. Some have suggested that it may reflect a sadness in bringing Lazarus back into this world only to face death again.

John takes the opportunity in 11:39, to remind the hearers and readers of the gospel that Lazarus did not just die a few minutes ago but has been dead for four days. Jewish rabbinic tradition held that the soul of a dead person could remain in the vicinity of the dead body for up to three days after which it would go to the abode of the dead. The result is that there is no doubt that Lazarus is dead.

Since only the disciples were explicitly told that Lazarus’ death was “for the glory of God” it seems that Jesus’ statement to Martha in verse 40 may simply be a part of the traditional material used by John or was intended to be a parallel statement to the one made to Jairus in Mark 5:36.

As always in John’s gospel, Jesus’ prayer (11:41-42) is an expression of the relationship between Jesus and the Father. Here, as usual, it is also a form of instruction to the crowd around Him. It also serves to remind the reader of Martha’s statement back in verse 22.

The loud cry in verse 43 may be intended as a dramatization of John 5:28, “the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice.” Jesus calls Lazarus back to life and leaves his unbinding and freeing to the disciples. This is often interpreted to mean that when Jesus gives a new believer life at conversion or Baptism it is the job of the surrounding disciples to help that newly living one to free himself/herself of the bindings and restraints of the past. The disciples (church) accomplish this largely by teaching the word of God as Ezekiel did in the first reading and through prayer with and for the struggling believers.

Scripture text: New American Bible with revised New Testament copyright © 1986,1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
Commentary Sources:
Vince Del Greco
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990) (Eds. Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy)