Readings: Fifth Sunday of Lent | USCCB 

The account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in this week’s Gospel is so wonderfully human.  Mary and Martha are mourning the death of their dear brother after he fell gravely ill.  The disciples fear for their and Jesus’ safety.  People are concerned about the stench that a body may have after four days in a tomb.  Jesus himself weeps.  There is sadness, anxiety, and loss.  It’s all very tactile and messy.      

Through this story Jesus makes something clear – he does not diminish the human experience.  On the contrary, he embraces all that it is to be human and shares it with us.  He does not begrudge our emotions or require that we suppress them to draw near to him.  Upon Jesus’ arrival to their home, Mary and Martha were consumed with grief and lamented that their beloved brother would not have died had He only come sooner.  Even while knowing the miracle that he would soon perform, Jesus did not cast off their suffering or shame their sorrow but was deeply moved by their pain.   

Yet Jesus did not go to Judea to simply comfort mourners.  In the midst of their sadness, he asked that Mary and Martha trust that there was more to come.  With a heart full of compassion for his friends, Jesus showed that his ways are not our own as he beckoned their brother to rejoin the living.  As the once-dead Lazarus walked out of his tomb, Jesus proved that he can save us from the weakest parts of our humanity, even that which we may believe is without hope.   

May these final days of Lent encourage us to bring all that we are the Jesus, without reservation.  May we have confidence that he can and will bring what is dead in us to life by the glory of his resurrection.  

 

Michelle Rash
Program Manager 

Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Business