Lent Five: Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead
Our focus reading for the 5th Sunday in Lent is John 11:1–45.
This somewhat disjointed conversation between Jesus and the disciples contains complex layers of imagery and allusions to Jesus’ coming anointing, death, and resurrection.
The act of raising Lazarus happens right at the end of the narrative, followed by the observation that some people “believed in him.”
Jewish understanding was that it took three days for a soul to leave the body completely; thus, Lazarus had been dead long enough to have nothing left other than a body decaying rapidly in the desert heat.
This fact doesn’t quite explain Jesus’ delay. When Jesus does decide to return to
Judea, the disciples are concerned for his safety, but the need to “work while it is still light” drives Jesus on. Thomas expresses loyalty and fear but also foreshadows Jesus’ self-sacrifice.
Burial took place immediately after death in the hot climate of the Middle East, and ritual mourning followed. Family, especially the women, sat in the home and were
visited by friends.
However, when Jesus approaches, Martha defies custom and goes to meet him. Was she impatient for his arrival, or was she protecting Jesus from a potentially hostile gathering?
Her statement, perhaps, reveals Martha’s grief. She understands the Jewish teaching of resurrection at the last days but finds something hopeful in what Jesus says. She
puts her faith entirely in him. Mary’s plea to Jesus is similar to Martha’s, and the sadness of the situation disturbs Jesus greatly.
Martha, Mary, and the assembled mourners all ask the same question – why didn’t Jesus come and heal Lazarus? Jesus’ prayer sums up the purpose of this final sign.
God’s glory will indeed be revealed, but at enormous pain and cost to both Jesus and
his friends. Jesus then issues three commands. Everyone has a task to do. Jesus calls Lazarus back to life, but it is the community that rolls away the stone and unbinds Lazarus from the trappings of death and releases him.
This is a story of hope. In our new reality, listening to the news, absorbing images of uncertainty around the world, it is easy to give up hope. It is easy to assume that things will not turn out well and, unfortunately, there is always that possibility.
But it is precisely in the face of such times that God challenges – almost dares us – to read the stories of new life and new hope in the Scriptures.
Resurrection is not a one-day event. It happens each and every time we greet a new day. Each day is a chance to see new possibilities, different answers to old questions, a better way of dealing with things. Each day is a new beginning, a resurrection in its own way.
How can we give up hope when God is so loudly proclaiming life in the midst of chaos?
And, perhaps more important, how can we, isolated as we feel we might be, continue to find ways to share that hope with one another?
My prayer for this week is:
Creator God, in the midst of darkness you offer light.
In the midst of despair you offer hope.
In the midst of confusion and uncertainty you offer new ways of
seeing and understanding things.
Help us to remember this always.
Amen
In peace
Pastor Beryl, DLM