A Scriptural Reflection by Fr. Jim Sullivan on the Mass Readings for Sunday, March 22, the Fifty Sunday of Lent
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Psalm 130:1-8
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45
The raising of Lazarus is today’s Gospel passage. The first reading from Ezekiel presages it with its description of God opening the graves of his people and bringing them back to life (vs. 12). The psalm confidently attests to God’s redemptive power, to God’s desire to save us from sin and death. And the second reading details the dynamic of resurrection itself, the triumph of faith and life in the Spirit over the weaknesses of the flesh.
Today’s passage from John details Jesus’ greatest miracle. Indeed, John himself tells us that, with the raising of Lazarus, Jesus effectively signed his own death warrant. The miracle was so great, so widely witnessed and so thoroughly believed, that the leaders were beside themselves; determined to find a way to bring about Jesus’ execution (vss. 46-53, just beyond today’s passage). John places the miracle shortly before his description of the events of the Passion; it is likely that Jesus raised Lazarus just weeks before he was crucified.
And it is worth noting that the raising of Lazarus occurs only in John’s Gospel. Scripture scholars assert with some confidence that John’s was likely the last Gospel written. It seems reasonable to conclude that John knew the contents of the other three Gospels and deliberately wrote his account so as to include things Matthew, Mark and Luke left out. Beyond the raising of Lazarus, the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, the healing of the young man born blind and the wedding feast at Cana are also reported only in John.
In any event, we have the greatest of Jesus’ miracles as today’s Gospel passage. The raising of Lazarus is the greatest of Jesus’ miracles because, although he had raised others from the dead –Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow of Nain — they had been dead just a few minutes and just one day, respectively. Lazarus, according to Martha, had been dead four days (vs. 39).
The Jews did not embalm and so Lazarus’ body would have begun to decay. I won’t go into detail, but among other things we may be certain that Martha was right when, after Jesus ordered that the stone be rolled away, she warned that “there will be a stench” (vs. 39). To ask Jesus to bring her brother back, at this stage, was, well, it was an amazing testament to Martha’s faith.
Martha is — in my view — given short shrift by many Biblical commentators, in terms of her faith. Mary, whom these same commentators credit as being the sister with the greater, the deeper faith, evidently did not have the faith to ask Jesus for this miracle. And I can hardly blame her. I would not have had it, either. But Martha did. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Martha says to Jesus, when she meets him on the road, having heard that he was coming. “But even now,” she says, “I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (vss. 21-22).
If Jesus needed any reassurance regarding his plan to raise Lazarus despite his having been dead four days, he got it in no uncertain terms, from Martha.
The raising of Lazarus, in any event, reminds us at once of several realities worth our consideration. One, the physical creation is good, and Jesus has rescued it, just as he rescued Lazarus. Two, the general resurrection at the end of time tells us that heaven is a physical place. Three, faith like Martha’s proves that, as Gabriel assured Mary, at the Annunciation, “with God, all things are possible” (Luke 1:37).
Just a few considerations as we contemplate in today’s Gospel passage, the raising of Lazarus; Jesus’ greatest miracle.
Take good care. God bless.
Love,
Fr. Jim
I was born in Marysville, in the Sacramento Valley, to a large and faith-filled Catholic family. I was named for my priest uncle, and as a little boy wanted to be a priest. I outgrew that ambition and by the time I was headed for my freshman year at the University of California at Berkeley was planning on a career in law.
