Sunday Readings: At the end of this newsletter you will find a copy of the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent and a commentary on the text of these readings. This could be used in conjunction with with the document: “When Mass cannot be celebrated publicly” detailed below.
When Mass cannot be celebrated publicly: Last week’s newsletter contained a document provided by the Bishops’ Conference with prayers that can be used at home while we cannot assist at Mass and an explanation of what is meant by “Spiritual Communion”. There is a copy of this on the parish website should you have misplaced yours. It is, of course, not essential, but how wonderful it would be if we could all pray these prayers at the same time. How about the time when we would normally be at Mass on Sunday morning at 9.00am?
Mass online: Several parishioners have used the link on the Home Page of the parish website which allows them to view Mass being celebrated at the Cathedral in Nottingham on each day of the week. Sunday Mass on 29th March is scheduled for 11.15am. From Monday to Friday, Masses are at 1.00pm. On Sunday 5th April, Palm Sunday, Mass is at 10.00am. Also on the parish website, an additional link has been added to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham whose new website provides live streaming 24/7 of Masses, Prayers (Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet), Exposition, Spiritual Readings and Talks. This is a rich source of material in these extraordinary times.
CAFOD reflection for the fifth Sunday of Lent.
(Provided by the Justice and Peace Group)
Jesus wept; and the Jews said, ‘See how much he loved him!’ (John 11:35-36)
Jesus loved his friend Lazarus. Despite knowing that he would be able to bring him back to life, Jesus is distressed by his friend’s death. He feels sorrow when confronted with the grief of Lazarus’ sisters and the knowledge that he could have prevented this.
So he takes action to relieve their suffering and his own, raising Lazarus from the dead and revealing God’s glory. Through this action many more people come to believe in him.
We cannot help but feel compassion when those we are close to are ill or stricken with grief. We wish that there was something we could do to relieve their pain. We try our best to make a difference and help them feel better.
But what of those who are not among our family or our immediate circle of friends? Do we feel compelled to take action to help them when they are struggling?
This is a question that feels all the more relevant given the situation that we face today.
Sister Juliana, a nurse, who manages a hospital in Zimbabwe says: “Helping people here is like helping my mother and brother. I see them coming and I see my family coming. When they go away, I feel pain if I haven’t helped them. If I can help, I feel joy because I see my family in the people who come here.”
Her fellow worker Sister Consilia adds, “Through treating and caring for them, I try to show them the love that Christ gives us.”
We pray that we too may be moved with compassion for our brothers and sisters worldwide, beyond our own families and friends. May we feel their pain as our own and be compelled to take action to make a difference.
Lent prayer
Christ Jesus, free us from the constraints that prevent us from reaching out to others with love. Fill us with compassion and move us to make a difference in whatever way we can, so that others may see your love in us. Amen.
Act
Read more about the LiveSimply parish challenge - a commitment to live more simply, sustainably and in solidarity with people who are poor.
Sick List: Please continue to pray for the following members of our parish: Bernard Moyers, Patrick Hodgson, Tod Smith, Angela Doyle, Ida De Melo, Maurice Nixon, Eva Shirreffs, Stefania Stasior, Irene Pallot.
Parish Income:The cancellation of Masses will inevitably have a significant impact on our Weekly Collections, private donations and Mass offerings over the coming weeks and possibly months. Together with the likely closure of the Social Centre we are facing a considerable loss of income at a time when our three properties will still require maintaining. Can we therefore ask parishioners each week to put aside their normal Weekly contributions? Keep these in a separate jar or something similar, or use the planned giving envelopes if you have them. Those with gift aid envelopes please use them. We do recognise that some parishioners may be facing short-term financial difficulties as a result of the Corona virus so we only ask you to put aside what you can afford. It is in these situations that we are particularly grateful to those parishioners who contribute their collection monies through Bank Standing Orders. If anyone would like to open a Standing Order please contact Paul Carroll on 01509 620889. (Parish Finance Committee)
Gift Aid Financial Year 2020-2021: The Gift Aid envelopes (green) and planned giving envelopes (yellow) for the next financial year have been placed on the shelf at the back of Church. In line with the above could we ask parishioners to visit church and pick them up at their earliest convenience? This may be an opportune time to consider using either of the envelope systems, so if you wish to do so please contact Paul on the above number. (Parish Finance Committee)
Children’s Liturgy: During this difficult period, the Children’s Liturgy Group will be using a virtual children’s liturgy resource provided by CAFOD: https://cafod.org.uk/Education/Children-s-liturgy. It is good to know that our young parishioners are being well looked after.
Catholic Truth Society: The following is a message from the CTS: During this time of isolation, it is easy to feel anxious about the future. The news that Masses have been suspended across the UK has undoubtedly left many feeling worried, upset, and lonely. It is during this time, however, that we hear God calling us closer to Him. He says, "Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) He asks us to find new ways of drawing strength from Him, of nurturing our faith. This is something we at CTS very much want to help you with. Our mission is to help people discover, nurture and share their faith and we understand this is needed more than ever in the current climate. To that end, we are working on new ways to help you, both digitally; through prayer communities and blogs, and through our publications. We are now offering The CTS New Sunday Missal 2020 for just £1 to help you follow the prayers and readings of the Mass from home, while our leaflet ‘What if I can't get to Mass on Sunday?’ is available to download digitally to help you make an act of spiritual communion. I also want to reassure you that we are operating "business as usual", so that while our staff are working from home where possible and our distribution partners are practising social distancing, we are still available to respond to your queries, send you books, and work on new publications. This is undoubtedly a difficult time for everyone, but it is now more than ever that God calls us to remember that He never abandons us: "the Lord your God is going with you; He will never fail you or desert you." (Deuteronomy 31:6)
You can browse their website on: https://www.ctsbooks.org
A poem written by Richard Hendrick, an Irish Capuchin Franciscan Monk
Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
READINGS FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the series of three Johannine Gospel readings reach their climactic conclusion in the Story of Lazarus raised from the dead. This story about resurrection from the dead serves to remind us of the ultimate purpose of Christian initiation: eternal life with Jesus Christ, the Risen One. All three readings speak of the victory over sin and death that we experience from living our lives in union with Christ.
First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14
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. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! 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.
This reading is intended to be a prophetic word of hope for the Israelites living in physical exile from their homeland and in spiritual exile from God. They feel God has abandoned them. We listen to the final verses of Ezekiel’s famous ‘dry bones’ vision that God gives him while living in exile with his people in Babylon. The scene is one of complete devastation and desolation. The ground is covered with the bones of countless soldiers killed in battle. These prophetic verses are a challenging call to the people to believe that God will deliver them from the death of exile. Read in the context of Christian faith, one could understand these verses as a reference to personal, individual resurrection beyond bodily death. When this text is read today with Paul’s words to the Romans (8:11): “The one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies,” we understand how comforting the fullness of Christian faith can be in the face of whatever darkness, defeat or disaster may strike us.
Second Reading: Romans 8:8-11
Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 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.
Paul contrasts ‘life in the spirit’ with ‘life in the flesh.’ He reminds us that we are to live ‘in the spirit’ and not ‘in the flesh.’ This does not mean that we are to deny our human nature as flesh-and-blood creatures. When Paul uses the word ‘flesh,’ he is referring to that part of us that is not yet surrendered to God and transformed by grace, that part of us that continues to be self-centred and rebellious against God and his ways. When Paul uses the term ‘spirit,’ he is referring to that part of us that seeks to follow God and his ways over our sinful cravings. But we can only make such good choices because our spirit has been infused with the Holy Spirit at Baptism. For Paul, the Spirit is the life force behind Jesus’ Resurrection and is the same Spirit who will raise our mortal bodies from death to life. Our incorporation into Christ at Baptism makes it possible for us to share in his victory over death.
Gospel: John 11:1-45
The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, 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.” 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. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 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.” Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise.” Martha said, “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 Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” 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?” 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.” 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.
In last week’s Gospel, Jesus declares himself “Light of the World” and he proves it by giving physical and spiritual sight to a blind man. This week, Jesus declares himself to be “The Resurrection and the Life” and proves it by raising a dead man from the sleep of death. The raising of Lazarus prefigures Jesus’ own hour of Death and Resurrection.
The great paradox of the story is that as Jesus gives life to Lazarus, the authorities begin to plan his death (vv 49-53). Jesus is condemned to death for being a life-giver. How strange and evil! We also notice again the struggle between light and darkness, belief and unbelief. Many come to believe in Jesus, but others recede into the darkness of unbelief.
This particular story gives us a beautiful blending of both the divinity and humanity of Jesus. We witness the human side of Jesus in his reaction to the death of his friend. As he ‘weeps’ and is ‘troubled in spirit’ the bystanders observe: “See how much he loved Lazarus.” We see the divinity of Jesus at work when he raises Lazarus from the tomb. The heart and centre of this story is found in verses 25-26, in which Jesus declares: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he should die, will come to life. Whoever is alive and believes in me will never die.”
When Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus, he is confronted by the reality of death and is ‘troubled in spirit.’ It seems Jesus is angered by the power and hold that death has over humanity. At the tomb, Jesus speaks three commands: “Take away the stone.” “Lazarus, come out.” “Untie him and let him go free.” By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus shows that he is more powerful than death. Of course the ‘life’ Jesus offers is much more than biological life; it is ‘eternal life’ that begins here and now as soon as we unite ourselves to Jesus. In John 5:28-30, Jesus says: “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God...and shall live.” The raising of Lazarus actualizes this promise.
When Mass cannot be celebrated publicly: Last week’s newsletter contained a document provided by the Bishops’ Conference with prayers that can be used at home while we cannot assist at Mass and an explanation of what is meant by “Spiritual Communion”. There is a copy of this on the parish website should you have misplaced yours. It is, of course, not essential, but how wonderful it would be if we could all pray these prayers at the same time. How about the time when we would normally be at Mass on Sunday morning at 9.00am?
Mass online: Several parishioners have used the link on the Home Page of the parish website which allows them to view Mass being celebrated at the Cathedral in Nottingham on each day of the week. Sunday Mass on 29th March is scheduled for 11.15am. From Monday to Friday, Masses are at 1.00pm. On Sunday 5th April, Palm Sunday, Mass is at 10.00am. Also on the parish website, an additional link has been added to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham whose new website provides live streaming 24/7 of Masses, Prayers (Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet), Exposition, Spiritual Readings and Talks. This is a rich source of material in these extraordinary times.
CAFOD reflection for the fifth Sunday of Lent.
(Provided by the Justice and Peace Group)
Jesus wept; and the Jews said, ‘See how much he loved him!’ (John 11:35-36)
Jesus loved his friend Lazarus. Despite knowing that he would be able to bring him back to life, Jesus is distressed by his friend’s death. He feels sorrow when confronted with the grief of Lazarus’ sisters and the knowledge that he could have prevented this.
So he takes action to relieve their suffering and his own, raising Lazarus from the dead and revealing God’s glory. Through this action many more people come to believe in him.
We cannot help but feel compassion when those we are close to are ill or stricken with grief. We wish that there was something we could do to relieve their pain. We try our best to make a difference and help them feel better.
But what of those who are not among our family or our immediate circle of friends? Do we feel compelled to take action to help them when they are struggling?
This is a question that feels all the more relevant given the situation that we face today.
Sister Juliana, a nurse, who manages a hospital in Zimbabwe says: “Helping people here is like helping my mother and brother. I see them coming and I see my family coming. When they go away, I feel pain if I haven’t helped them. If I can help, I feel joy because I see my family in the people who come here.”
Her fellow worker Sister Consilia adds, “Through treating and caring for them, I try to show them the love that Christ gives us.”
We pray that we too may be moved with compassion for our brothers and sisters worldwide, beyond our own families and friends. May we feel their pain as our own and be compelled to take action to make a difference.
Lent prayer
Christ Jesus, free us from the constraints that prevent us from reaching out to others with love. Fill us with compassion and move us to make a difference in whatever way we can, so that others may see your love in us. Amen.
Act
Read more about the LiveSimply parish challenge - a commitment to live more simply, sustainably and in solidarity with people who are poor.
Sick List: Please continue to pray for the following members of our parish: Bernard Moyers, Patrick Hodgson, Tod Smith, Angela Doyle, Ida De Melo, Maurice Nixon, Eva Shirreffs, Stefania Stasior, Irene Pallot.
Parish Income:The cancellation of Masses will inevitably have a significant impact on our Weekly Collections, private donations and Mass offerings over the coming weeks and possibly months. Together with the likely closure of the Social Centre we are facing a considerable loss of income at a time when our three properties will still require maintaining. Can we therefore ask parishioners each week to put aside their normal Weekly contributions? Keep these in a separate jar or something similar, or use the planned giving envelopes if you have them. Those with gift aid envelopes please use them. We do recognise that some parishioners may be facing short-term financial difficulties as a result of the Corona virus so we only ask you to put aside what you can afford. It is in these situations that we are particularly grateful to those parishioners who contribute their collection monies through Bank Standing Orders. If anyone would like to open a Standing Order please contact Paul Carroll on 01509 620889. (Parish Finance Committee)
Gift Aid Financial Year 2020-2021: The Gift Aid envelopes (green) and planned giving envelopes (yellow) for the next financial year have been placed on the shelf at the back of Church. In line with the above could we ask parishioners to visit church and pick them up at their earliest convenience? This may be an opportune time to consider using either of the envelope systems, so if you wish to do so please contact Paul on the above number. (Parish Finance Committee)
Children’s Liturgy: During this difficult period, the Children’s Liturgy Group will be using a virtual children’s liturgy resource provided by CAFOD: https://cafod.org.uk/Education/Children-s-liturgy. It is good to know that our young parishioners are being well looked after.
Catholic Truth Society: The following is a message from the CTS: During this time of isolation, it is easy to feel anxious about the future. The news that Masses have been suspended across the UK has undoubtedly left many feeling worried, upset, and lonely. It is during this time, however, that we hear God calling us closer to Him. He says, "Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) He asks us to find new ways of drawing strength from Him, of nurturing our faith. This is something we at CTS very much want to help you with. Our mission is to help people discover, nurture and share their faith and we understand this is needed more than ever in the current climate. To that end, we are working on new ways to help you, both digitally; through prayer communities and blogs, and through our publications. We are now offering The CTS New Sunday Missal 2020 for just £1 to help you follow the prayers and readings of the Mass from home, while our leaflet ‘What if I can't get to Mass on Sunday?’ is available to download digitally to help you make an act of spiritual communion. I also want to reassure you that we are operating "business as usual", so that while our staff are working from home where possible and our distribution partners are practising social distancing, we are still available to respond to your queries, send you books, and work on new publications. This is undoubtedly a difficult time for everyone, but it is now more than ever that God calls us to remember that He never abandons us: "the Lord your God is going with you; He will never fail you or desert you." (Deuteronomy 31:6)
You can browse their website on: https://www.ctsbooks.org
A poem written by Richard Hendrick, an Irish Capuchin Franciscan Monk
Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
READINGS FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the series of three Johannine Gospel readings reach their climactic conclusion in the Story of Lazarus raised from the dead. This story about resurrection from the dead serves to remind us of the ultimate purpose of Christian initiation: eternal life with Jesus Christ, the Risen One. All three readings speak of the victory over sin and death that we experience from living our lives in union with Christ.
First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14
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. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! 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.
This reading is intended to be a prophetic word of hope for the Israelites living in physical exile from their homeland and in spiritual exile from God. They feel God has abandoned them. We listen to the final verses of Ezekiel’s famous ‘dry bones’ vision that God gives him while living in exile with his people in Babylon. The scene is one of complete devastation and desolation. The ground is covered with the bones of countless soldiers killed in battle. These prophetic verses are a challenging call to the people to believe that God will deliver them from the death of exile. Read in the context of Christian faith, one could understand these verses as a reference to personal, individual resurrection beyond bodily death. When this text is read today with Paul’s words to the Romans (8:11): “The one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies,” we understand how comforting the fullness of Christian faith can be in the face of whatever darkness, defeat or disaster may strike us.
Second Reading: Romans 8:8-11
Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 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.
Paul contrasts ‘life in the spirit’ with ‘life in the flesh.’ He reminds us that we are to live ‘in the spirit’ and not ‘in the flesh.’ This does not mean that we are to deny our human nature as flesh-and-blood creatures. When Paul uses the word ‘flesh,’ he is referring to that part of us that is not yet surrendered to God and transformed by grace, that part of us that continues to be self-centred and rebellious against God and his ways. When Paul uses the term ‘spirit,’ he is referring to that part of us that seeks to follow God and his ways over our sinful cravings. But we can only make such good choices because our spirit has been infused with the Holy Spirit at Baptism. For Paul, the Spirit is the life force behind Jesus’ Resurrection and is the same Spirit who will raise our mortal bodies from death to life. Our incorporation into Christ at Baptism makes it possible for us to share in his victory over death.
Gospel: John 11:1-45
The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, 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.” 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. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 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.” Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise.” Martha said, “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 Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” 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?” 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.” 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.
In last week’s Gospel, Jesus declares himself “Light of the World” and he proves it by giving physical and spiritual sight to a blind man. This week, Jesus declares himself to be “The Resurrection and the Life” and proves it by raising a dead man from the sleep of death. The raising of Lazarus prefigures Jesus’ own hour of Death and Resurrection.
The great paradox of the story is that as Jesus gives life to Lazarus, the authorities begin to plan his death (vv 49-53). Jesus is condemned to death for being a life-giver. How strange and evil! We also notice again the struggle between light and darkness, belief and unbelief. Many come to believe in Jesus, but others recede into the darkness of unbelief.
This particular story gives us a beautiful blending of both the divinity and humanity of Jesus. We witness the human side of Jesus in his reaction to the death of his friend. As he ‘weeps’ and is ‘troubled in spirit’ the bystanders observe: “See how much he loved Lazarus.” We see the divinity of Jesus at work when he raises Lazarus from the tomb. The heart and centre of this story is found in verses 25-26, in which Jesus declares: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he should die, will come to life. Whoever is alive and believes in me will never die.”
When Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus, he is confronted by the reality of death and is ‘troubled in spirit.’ It seems Jesus is angered by the power and hold that death has over humanity. At the tomb, Jesus speaks three commands: “Take away the stone.” “Lazarus, come out.” “Untie him and let him go free.” By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus shows that he is more powerful than death. Of course the ‘life’ Jesus offers is much more than biological life; it is ‘eternal life’ that begins here and now as soon as we unite ourselves to Jesus. In John 5:28-30, Jesus says: “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God...and shall live.” The raising of Lazarus actualizes this promise.
