Fifth Sunday Of Lent
JOHN 11:1-45 (Ezekiel 37:12-14; Romans 8:8-11)
There are seven major miracles attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John. The resurrection of Lazarus is the last of the seven. John calls Jesus’ miracles “signs,” because they are clues or signs that proclaim who and what Jesus is. John introduces the three leading characters of the story besides Jesus. The three are siblings: Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Mary would distinguish herself later at a supper in their family home sometime after Lazarus was raised back to life. She anointed the Lord with precious nard (a costly oint-ment), and wiped his feet with her hair. This would happen in John 12, but John refers to this event in chapter eleven as if it had already happened. From the point of view of John the author, it had in fact happened five to six decades ago. The author’s concern is not accurate chronology, not even biography but catechetical instruction.
The two sisters send a message to Jesus, “The one you love is ill.” Jesus notes that this illness will not result in (permanent) death, but is for the glory of God. The statement is similar to Jesus’ statement about the man born blind. In reply to the disciples who wanted to know whose sin caused the affliction, Jesus replied that neither the blind man’s sin nor the sin of the parents was the cause of blindness but “that the works of God might be made apparent.” John assures us a second time that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Jesus tells his disciples he and they would be going south from Galilee to Judea. The disciples are alarmed because Jesus has already been the object of homicidal critics. He brushes aside the objection, implying that his time to die had not yet arrived.
Then Jesus speaks clearly, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to awake him from sleep.” “Falling asleep” was a Christian expression for death. The disciples play the role of the dummies who understand Jesus on a purely material, secular level.
In their view, if a sick person falls asleep, it is an indication that he is recovering from sickness. Jesus has to speak even more clearly to penetrate their thickness, and says bluntly, “Lazarus is dead!” He adds, “…and I am glad I was not there.” This sounds uncaring, but Jesus explains that it will be an opportunity for them to believe in him.
When they arrived in Bethany, Lazarus’ body had been in the tomb four days. After four days it was considered impossible to come back to consciousness. It was believed that the dead person’s spirit hung around for three or four days, then left permanently. In this way John meets the objections of anyone who might claim that Jesus merely revived an unconscious man. John will make the same point at the tomb, as he depicts Martha saying, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” An older translation was more explicit, “Lord, he stinketh….”
Before they go to the tomb there is a dialogue between Martha and Jesus. Through this dialogue John instructs Christians about the resurrection of the dead. He depicts Jesus identifying himself, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Even more, “Those who believe in me, even if they die (physically, biologically), yet shall live (the life after earthly life).”
Then the Johannine Jesus adds an astounding statement that teaches the beginning of eternal life here on earth and its continuation forever, “…whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” Therefore faith in Jesus now on this earth is the beginning and pledge of life forever with God. John then gives to Martha the act of faith which is given to Simon Peter in the other gospels, “Yes, Lord. I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the One who is coming into this world.” Remarkable that the Gospel of John advanced thus far that Martha rather than Simon Peter is given the role of speaking this primary act of faith for all Christians.
Martha informs Mary, “The Teacher is here.” There is a brief dialogue between Jesus and Mary. When Jesus sees Mary’s tears and the tears of their friends who had come to console them, John treats us to an amazing statement about the One whom Martha had just proclaimed “Son of God,” “Jesus wept.” John refers to the previous “sign” of Jesus, “Couldn’t the one who gave sight to a blind man also have kept this man from dying?” The answer is implied in John’s theology. The One who can create sight for a man who never had sight, the One who called himself in that story, “the Light of the world,” can also create life. After all, in dialogue with Martha Jesus made an awesome claim, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Already in the Prologue to his gospel, John has proclaimed Jesus as light and life incarnate (in the flesh).
Having arrived at the tomb with the bereaved family and friends, Jesus ordered them to roll back the circular stone covering the hillside entrance to the tomb. First Jesus prayed to his Father, not for strength but in thanksgiving for those who would believe in him because of the “sign” that he was about to accomplish. He shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”
Lazarus hobbled out of the tomb, bound hand and foot, a cloth over his face. Jesus gives a second command, “Unbind him and let him go!” Three times in this story John called attention to Jesus’ love for Lazarus. No one has a better claim to be the one called “the Beloved Disciple” in John’s gospel. It is this love working with the faith of the bereaved and the power of “the resurrection and the life” that restored the loved to life.
