Fifth Sunday of Lent
By Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.
John 11: 1 - 45
1 Now a certain man was ill, Laz'arus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Laz'arus was ill.
3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."
4 But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it."
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Laz'arus.
6 So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go into Judea again."
8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?"
9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
11 Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, "Our friend Laz'arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep."
12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Laz'arus is dead;
15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16 Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Laz'arus had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,
19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house.
21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
26 and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world."
28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."
29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32 Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled;
34 and he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Jesus wept.
36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me."
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Laz'arus, come out."
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:
A BLESSED SUNDAY TO ALL!
FRIENDSHIP is one of the most effective context that bond people together in a relationship. Friendship makes a relationship thrives in a long period of time, even for a life time, because of the values that friendship brings into the relationship. Primarily, friendship is an interpersonal relationship. It is a kind of relationship that starts with the basic recognition of the parties involved of the value of each other as persons. And so friendship always nourishes the persons with a sense of commitment to each other with mutual trust, intimacy and reciprocal love.
The Gospel today is painted with the wonderful colors of FRIENDSHIP. The Gospel account centers its story of Jesus with his friendship with Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, as context. Jesus invited his friends, his disciples, to go up with him to Judea to visit his friend Lazarus who was ill. But in the spirit of friendship, his disciples show concern for the safety of Jesus by pointing the danger ahead of them, "Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" But Jesus’ reply revealed that nothing can deter and side track him from attending to the need of a friend despite the dangers it would entail to his security. Jesus said to his friends, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep."
What Jesus would do to Lazarus will reveal the GLORY of GOD and, in doing so, also revealing his GLORY as the SON who is the Lord of LIFE. Jesus had said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” This statement of Jesus is not just a claim but a statement of fact. Jesus wants us to realize the FRUIT of the FRIENDSHIP that we share with him, that if we stick to follow him in whatever circumstances we are in will lead us to the FULLNESS of LIFE. In Jesus we will have our RESURRECTION! This is the ultimate promise of the fruit of our friendship with Jesus.
But to share in the resurrection, we need to walk with Jesus. It a walking that needs commitment to stick around Jesus whatever may happen. Following the lead of Jesus, Thomas indicated how strong his friendship with his Master by encouraging his friends to go with the Master to face whatever danger is ahead of them. He said, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." Thomas and the other disciples were very committed to be with Jesus. But we all know what happened after such strong profession of allegiance to Jesus. All of Jesus’ disciples went to HIDING when they saw how Jesus was maltreated, tortured and crucified on the cross. Even after Jesus rose from the dead, all of them were still in hiding when Jesus appeared to them. But unfortunately Thomas who was so full of courage to go with Jesus up to the territory of his enemies DOUBTED Jesus’ resurrection. He easily forgot what Jesus had claimed when he raised Lazarus back to life that he is the resurrection. Thomas required a physical proof to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Such requirement or condition for belief belies his faith in his Master.
May this Lenten season help us to UNBIND ourselves from anything that makes our faith dead and make it resurrect to life again. May the command of Jesus to Lazarus to COME OUT be taken as an admonition for us to make our own faith in him becomes ALIVE and make ourselves closer to him in friendship. Whenever we find ourselves in the darkness of doubt and uncertainty, let us just fix our eyes unto the one who came out of the tomb and defeat death by his resurrection. For Lazarus to be back to life, Jesus commanded him “Lazarus, come out.” Let us come out from our TOMB that keeps us asleep in the darkness of our unbelief, doubt, skepticism. As we continue to reflect prayerfully the Paschal Mystery of Jesus in this Lenten season, let us allow Jesus’ RESURRECTION to bind us more intimately closer in friendship with him with the hope that we will also have our own resurrection.
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