Where Do You Need New Life?

Readings for Sunday April 10, 2011
Fifth Sunday of Lent

Summary of the Gospel from YM Central

Have you ever questioned Jesus’ ability to take care of you, even in tough times? Of all of His miracles, none of them were as dramatic as His resuscitation of the dead man Lazarus. Our Gospel this Sunday takes us into the very heart of this story. Lazarus’ sisters, Martha and Mary, had sent word to Jesus that He was needed in their town of Bethany to help cure the ailing Lazarus. Jesus shows us at the beginning of this story that He fully understands what is going on: Not only is Lazarus sick, but he is going to die. Jesus makes it clear to His disciples that He is not going to rescue Lazarus from death, but is going to use his death as an opportunity to show the glory of God. So Jesus purposely waits two days before He heads off to Bethany. Note His teaching to His disciples on death: Death is not a finality, as it appears to us, but is simply falling ‘asleep’ in God’s eyes, a temporary reality. Jesus makes it clear to us that He holds power over death (‘I am the Resurrection’) and that He performs miracles so that we might believe in Him. If Jesus is so powerful, why do we struggle with handing over to Him the struggles of our daily life? When Jesus finally arrives in Bethany, Lazarus has already died, and Mary, Lazarus’ sister, is distraught. Jesus is overcome with emotion at that time, and the Scriptures tell us that He was ‘deeply troubled’ and began to weep. It seems that Jesus isn’t weeping because Lazarus is dead, but because Lazarus’ friends and family are upset. Jesus then performs His greatest miracle short of His own Resurrection – and Lazarus comes back to life. Lazarus certainly wasn’t faking his death, because Martha is clear on telling us that he had been dead for four days. There is little that people can say at this point, except to believe that Jesus holds the power of death. For all of us today, it is important to realize that Jesus still holds that power. We all have to go through death, and yet Jesus clearly tells us that we have nothing to fear. He is the Resurrection, and will carry us through physical death to eternal life with Him. Does Jesus still need to perform a miracle in your life for you to believe, or can you place your trust in Him completely simply based on the words of Scripture? Many of us have become complacent with Jesus, ignoring Him with how we live our lives. We have forgotten to foster a relationship with Him, and have chosen to live our lives on own our own power, not on His love. Use this Lent as an opportunity to develop a thankfulness for all the Jesus has done for you. If Jesus has the power to resuscitate Lazarus, He has the power to take care of our day-to-day struggles. May we have the grace to let Jesus raise any dead parts of our spiritual lives back to life. Let us ask Him to bring new life in our hearts, and help us to order everything we do to His awesome love.


Reading 1 Ezekiel 37:12-14

12 Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! 14 I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

Discussion Question : In the first reading, Ezekiel speaks of the days when the Lord will put his Spirit in each one of us. And we know that this has happened at our Baptism! What practical steps can you take this week to help you focus on and be more sensitive to the fact that the very Spirit of the Living God is present within you?

Reading 2 Romans 8:8-11

8 Brothers and sisters:Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.

Discussion Question : St. Paul in the second reading tells us that because the Spirit of God dwells in us, God promises that our mortal bodies will be raised from the dead too! Death will have no hold over us. As you dwell on this truth, what thoughts or sentiments does it bring to your mind?

Gospel John 11:1-45
1 Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. 3 So the sisters sent word to him saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” 4 when Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day?If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” 12 So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” 13 But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. 14 So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. 15 And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe. Let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.” 17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” 28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” 29 As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. 31 So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” 35 And Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” 37 But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” 38 So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. 42 I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 And when he had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”45 Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

Discussion Questions:

1. In as much detail as possible, describe the reaction of the people who witnessed the raising of Lazarus. How do you think Lazarus felt at the end of this event?

2. How does Jesus’ weeping show us that He really cares about the pain we go through in our daily lives? How has He shown care and compassion for the events of your daily life?

3. If this miracle would have been done during our day, how do you think the media would have covered it? Would raising a dead man convince everyone to believe in Jesus?

4. What has the last word in my life? Is it discouragement over my sins? Is it the troubles that beset me? Which is stronger: the power of God’s Spirit in me or the pull of temptation that constantly tries to swamp the Spirit?
For example, what happens when I fall ill or feel anxious, angry, or harassed? I can blame God. I can feel sorry for myself. I can skimp on my prayer time. Surely God understands that I can’t set aside time to pray when I am so sick, so worried, so busy. Or I can turn to the Lord, draw near to him, and let him give me his eternal, hopeful perspective.

http://tommykawas.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the readings, please pass on the Good News… IHN tommyk