April 10, 2011 – 5th Sunday of Lent

Ez 37:12-14 Rom 8:8-11 Jn 11:1-45

Whenever we read something from John’s gospel, it is worthwhile to remember that this gospel is unlike the other three. Instead of simply revealing the life of the earthly Jesus, John’s gospel is a reflection of Christians living into the second century who share with us their understanding of Jesus in the post-resurrection days. Unlike the first gospel communities who expected Jesus to return any day, these Johannine Christians were learning to live with the ongoing absence of Jesus and they asked the same kinds of questions that we might ask. Today’s passage seeks to understand the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus while Christians were dying. In other words, why are we dying when Jesus promised eternal life?

So, we listen to the story of Lazarus, a close friend and disciple of Jesus, who has died. His sisters, Mary and Martha, sent for Jesus when Lazarus laid ill with sickness. They knew he could die and they wanted Jesus to save Lazarus from death. But, Jesus did not come when they called. Instead, he arrived after Lazarus had died and was buried four days earlier. Imagine the boldness of Martha who chides Jesus for not coming in time to save His friend! “If you had been here, Lazarus would never have died.” She understood and trusted Jesus’ power to save. She just didn’t understand why He didn’t choose to use his power to save his friend from death. Building on her faith, Jesus asks Martha if she believes that He is the resurrection. Her answer is perfect. Martha tells Jesus, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

In case we wonder if Jesus sympathizes with our fear and distaste for death, John writes that Jesus was greatly disturbed by Lazarus’ death. Jesus was deeply moved, so much so that he cried. Then—as if to demonstrate the truth that He is the resurrection—Jesus raised Lazarus from death.

Understood from a Johannine perception of eternal life, these Christians believed that we begin eternal life from the moment of our baptism. Eternal life was not thought to begin following death at all! No, we begin this eternal life when we accept salvation through the glorification of Jesus, and we are steeped in eternal life as long as we live in union with Him. Therefore, death does not have the power to sever our union with Christ nor can death extinguish eternal life. Our lives continue in Christ; only after death, our lives are transformed. Jesus does not come merely to resuscitate our bodies from mortality. No, He comes to live in and with us forever, from birth on earth to birth in heaven. Our lives are one continuous and joyful existence in and with Jesus through eternal life.

You and I can rejoice in the fact that we never die! Sure our bodies give up at some point, but our essence, our spirits, our very lives continue forever in Christ. Today’s gospel reading assures us that faith in Jesus is the door to endless life. When you and I begin to grasp this unimaginable joy and integrate the reality of eternal life beginning right now, how can we not share our boundless hope and faith with others?

As we approach Holy Week starting next Sunday, we do not enter a week of somber remembrance as though we don’t know the ending of the story. Rather we enter our participation in the Passion of Christ in awe and gratitude. The love of God goes so far as to share our sufferings and death so that we can be confident that death is not the end of life.

As Christians who lovingly tend the needs of Earth, we are surrounded by signs of impending death for our home planet. Nuclear waste is fouling the Pacific Ocean and the country of Japan. People continue to waste energy and produce carbon dioxide without serious attempts to lower their carbon footprint. Pollution is only slowly being cleaned. Global warming worsens. Can we live in hope and confidence that we already live eternal life and generously give our mortal lives to bringing life and hope to our planet?

Jesus beckons us to follow His example of total trust in God and complete self-giving for the good of others. Before Holy Week arrives, we can imagine Jesus asking us, “Are you willing to lay down your short mortal life, out of love for the Earth and others as I did for sinful humankind?” We may not be asked to die literally for Earth’s healing, but we can die to all the behaviors and attitudes that contribute to environmental degradation, confident that our sacrifice will bring life for the Earth and all her creatures. With confidence that we already have eternal life, we need not fear death in any of its forms—not death of the body, nor death of selfishness, nor death of carelessness. Rather, we are already filled with joy that we have eternal life. Let’s us live for the good of others and the life of our planet.