Commentaries

5^th Sunday – Lent – Year A

Raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-45)

The writer of John’s Gospel uses the word “sign” in place of “miracle” used in the other Gospels. The raising of Lazarus is the 7th and the greatest of the signs. In the text there are a few details emphasizing how great a sign the raising of Lazarus is. One of them is the intentional delay of Jesus in verse 6, which on surface sounds very strange (“So when he heard that [Lazarus] was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.”). Mind you, Jesus loves Lazarus and his sisters (v.5). As a result of this delay, “when Jesus arrived… Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.” (v. 17). The writer seems to stress this point again in v. 39 when Martha reminds Jesus of this fact. We could understand the writer’s intention here because there was a “popular Jewish belief” indicating that “a person’s soul lingers in the vicinity of the body for three days” after death. So, we see that “St. John wanted his readers to know that Lazarus was as dead as dead could be.”[1]

Jesus does everything according to a plan, the plan of God. As a result, when the disciples think that he should hurry, he waits. When it’s time to go, he makes the call, “Let us go.” (v. 7). At this time, the disciples want to change his mind by reminding him that his opponents are seeking to stone him (v. 8), but that does not stop him. And the best illustration of Jesus’ intention comes in the form of the prayer he offers in verses 41 and 42, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you hear me always, but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”

So in this greatest of the signs, we can see a summary of Jesus’ mission. He came to fulfill the Father’s plan, which is to glorify the Father, and to save us from sin and death. In the raising of Lazarus, the Life-giver shows us his power, so that we may believe (v.15).

In the context of the last Sunday of Lent, it is also worth noting that this final sign leads directly to the decision of the Jewish leaders to kill Jesus[2]. Yet, two other details in the story should strengthen our faith. First, in the case of Lazarus, the stone has to be removed at Jesus’ order. Second, the dead man Lazarus appears from the tomb “tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.” He needs to be untied and let go (v. 44). As Christians, we should naturally see the differences between these details of the raising of Lazarus and Jesus’ resurrection. When Mary of Magdala came to the tomb that early morning of the first day of the week, “she saw the stone [already] removed from the tomb” (John 20:1). And “when Simon Peter arrived,… he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered (Jesus’) head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place” (John 20:6-7). Then, there should be no doubt who the victor over death is, and his victory was complete.

Moreover, when Martha professes her faith that “[her brother] will rise, in the resurrection on the last day, Jesus answers her, not in the future, but in the present,[3] “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.” (vs. 24, 25). Yes, the divine life has already been given to us. Though we experience illness and physical death, darkness and sins, but even NOW, we are living the life of Jesus. He is alive.

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[1] Little Black Book, Lent 2008.

[2] Footnote in The Catholic Study Bible.

[3] Winstanley, Michael, SDB, Symbols and Spirituality, Reflecting on John's Gospel, 103