FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, CYCLE A

Readings First: Ezk 37:12-14; Second: Rm 8:8-11; Gospel: Jn 11:1-45

Theme of the Readings

In today’s liturgy, everything seems to speak of resurrection and life, through the work of faith and God’s Spirit as a preparation for the mystery of Easter. In Ezekiel’s impressive vision, he heard a voice saying to him: "I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live." "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies," as St. Paul says in his Letter to the Romans. And in the Gospel according to St. John, Jesus says to Martha: "I am the resurrection," to assure her that her brother Lazarus will return to the world of the living.

Doctrinal message

The God of Judaism and of Christianity is a God of life. He is the Lord of life. He is the God of the living and not the dead. God’s glory, as St. Irenaeus says, is that man lives, in his fullness and integrity. To bring this about, God uses every means with inexhaustible patience and fidelity, as is reflected throughout the long history of God’s relations with his people, Israel. One stage corresponds to the exile in Babylon, between the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Exiled in Babylon, the people, and especially its hope in the future, languish and die. This situation prompts Ezekiel to find a symbol in the dry bones, stripped of flesh and dead. Through the prophet, God reveals to the people that he will raise them from the graves in which they are now, that he will give them new life and bring them back to the land of the living, the Promised Land. 

Ezekiel’s symbol becomes reality in the case of Lazarus. He is a man of flesh and blood who lives in Bethany with his sisters, Martha and Mary. He had fallen sick and died. When Jesus arrived in Bethany, he had already been in the tomb for four days, a period that in the Jewish mentality confirmed that death was definitive and certain. But Jesus is life, and at the same time he loves Lazarus with the love of a true friend. What does Jesus do? He goes to the tomb and cries loudly: "Lazarus, here! Come out!" And Lazarus returns to be among the living once more. Of course Lazarus, for his part, refers to another, superior reality: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we will be celebrating in a fortnight, and the new life the risen Christ brings to man, in its full physical and spiritual reality through the action of the Holy Spirit.

An upward process then takes place in the concept of resurrection and life: first there is the symbol of liberation and participation in a joyful and happy life on earth that God gives "to the fathers". Then follows the real and historic step from death to life, but a life that will end again with death and the tomb. This step from death to life takes a real form of unsurpassable fullness and disconcerting newness in Christ, who in dying overcame death and regained life forever. Lastly, already in this world the Christian participates in the life of the risen Christ by grace and through the Spirit, and he will likewise share in God’s eternity. This is why for the Christian death is a transition to a new way of living, which makes an impression on us because to us it is "unknown," however well we may know that it is "living for God."

Pastoral suggestions

1. In the season of Lent the predominant themes of liturgical catechesis are customarily penance, prayer, vigilance, and fasting, etc. Today’s liturgy changes tone, to make us think in advance of the mystery of the risen Christ and to fill our hearts with joy. It is the joy of one who can rid himself of the old person and begin to live as new, in a climate of love and truth, giving himself to his brothers and sisters. This Sunday is like a high point on the path, where Jesus teaches us: God is life. The most intense reality of Christianity is life, which God communicates to us as he communicated it to the people of Israel and to Lazarus of Bethany. With this life we share in joy, in the exulting jubilation at the life of God within us, that is, his love, his mercy, and his tenderness. This is all brought about by God’s Spirit within us; we Christians must be keenly aware that it is the Spirit who gives life, and that he supports and strengthens it day after day. How aware are the faithful of your parish of this effective presence of the Spirit in the life of each Christian and in the heart of the Church itself?

2. Perhaps in some communities one finds a depressed and disillusioned view of Christian life in the parish, in the diocese, among the youth, in parish groups, or in ecclesial movements existing in the parish or diocese. There exists a view that only sees the problems, tensions, faults, human weaknesses, and limitations, religious and moral shortcomings, etc., in parish activities. Today Christ tells us all: "I am the resurrection." Focus on life, on all that is good, on the fruits that Christian faith is producing in so many people, among so many of the Christian faithful. Focus on the "resurrection," on the transformation that Christ works in some of the people you know. Focus on all the persons who pray, who live their Christianity joyfully, who live with faces of those who are raised, even in the midst of suffering. Work and struggle together with other brothers and sisters in the faith so that Christian life will increase in your parish and in your milieu. What a lot of good can be done with a clear and lively look, a word of encouragement, a good example of prayer, optimism, and love for God and neighbor!

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOA.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].