God’s Call to Life: 5th Sunday of Lent
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – Fifth Sunday Of Lent – Year A
Sermon And Christian Act In The Word
Theme: I am the Resurrection and the Life! God’s call to Life!
Point of Reflection: Do you know you will die one day? Are you ready and prepared for your death? The sequence of the Lenten Sunday readings inevitably leads to the ultimate question of life and death. Death places an inescapable limit on human life, but the liturgy of the word for this Sunday counters this seemingly inevitable reality of death with a message of hope.
First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12–14
Psalm: Psalm 130:1–8
Second Reading: Romans 8:8–11
Gospel: John 11:3–7, 17, 20–27, 33–45
Those who walk in the Spirit and respond to Jesus with faith will also experience God’s voice calling the dead out of the graves and out of mortality to new life. This is a trustworthy assurance, well expressed by the Psalmist who stated, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord”.
Sermon (Reflection): In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel was active during the time of the Babylonian exile. His mission was to maintain hope among those who lost everything, witnessed the destruction of their country with its irreplaceable Temple, and now lived in a foreign land. Living through years of captivity, the deportees faced despair and hopelessness. It was a slow physical and spiritual death. In the midst of this darkness, the prophet delivered a message meant to reawaken their lost confidence in God and in the hopeful future. First, Ezekiel explained that when their relationship with God died through their indifference and misdeeds, they also died as God’s people. As Christians, how are we living our lives?
During this Lenten period, let us repent and reawaken our faith in Christ. It is only through faith in Christ that we will have life in its fullness.
Nevertheless, in the first reading, we can note that their agony was not the end of their story, because the faithful God has already planned the restoration, as is evident in the prophets earlier words, “I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land (Cf. Ezekiel 36:24)”. God never gave up on the people, and always intended to restore Israel ruined by death. As Christians, let us open our hearts and receive restoration from God. God is always ready to receive us back.
In today’s second reading from the letter to the Romans, Paul contrasts two alternative lifestyles followed by those who “live in the flesh”, and those who live “in the Spirit”. According to the letter to the Romans, those who live in the flesh march towards death, while those who live in the Spirit walk towards eternal life. As a Christian, ask yourself, am I living in the fresh or in the Spirit? Respond honestly in your heart.
The presence of the Spirit is the key. Those who walk the way of life are guided by the Spirit, since the Spirit dwells in them. When the Spirit is present, and at work in the heart of an individual Christian and in the midst of the community, that person/group becomes God’s dwelling (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:16). Those living by the Spirit not only have God present in their midst but also walk towards eternal life because this Spirit is the “Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead”. Thus, living by the Spirit in this world, believers experience that “the body is dead because of sin” but their hope of eternal life is secured through the same Spirit dwelling in them. Living according to the Spirit transforms this mortal life into a walk, not towards death, but towards the final communion with God in eternity.
In the Gospel of today, we encounter the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and this is the last of the seven signs performed by Jesus in John’s Gospel. Performing the first one, in Cana, the evangelist commented, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him (Cf. John 2:11). Performing his last sign Jesus commented on the illness of Lazarus saying, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Subsequently, when calling Lazarus from the tomb, Jesus said to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
To see the glory of God means to experience God’s presence and action in a very real and visible way. During the Exodus, God’s glory was revealed to the people on Sinai in the form of thunder and lightning (cf. Exodus 19). In the Gospel, God’s glory is revealed through the life-giving actions of Jesus. In John’s perception, death is not an end of anything; rather, it is a vehicle of God’s self-manifestation in Jesus.
This dynamic of transforming death into glory is particularly evident in Jesus’ own death and resurrection, which the death and raising of Lazarus in many ways prefigures. In the Lazarus story, John alludes to the period of two days when Jesus remained where he was before starting on his way to rescue Lazarus. In Jesus’ own case, he would remain two days in the grave before, on the third day, the glory of God would be manifested by raising him from the dead. God’s glory manifested in Jesus is nothing but the gift of life that overcame the power of death.
Faith is crucial in both the story of Lazarus and in Jesus’ own story. Jesus began his ministry in Cana by inspiring his disciples to believe in him. They became his friends. Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, was rescued from death by Jesus who demanded faith from his sister. By making these connections, John the Evangelist intends to show that in Jesus, God’s life-giving presence is manifested, and that it requires a response of faith, in order that this gift of life that overcomes death may be received. Jesus’ powerful statement to Martha provided the best summary of the message of the entire story, as he stated, “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live”.
Christian Act in Word of God: “God’s call to Life”
To follow God’s call to life is a duty of every person. Traditional society values are perfectly in agreement with God’s call to life that we find in the Scripture.
As Christians, we must look at life as a precious gift from God.
This requires that we should be promotors of a culture of life rather than the culture of death. It means that our daily dealing with others, in our cities, villages, communities and parishes must reflect Jesus’ call so powerfully heard today, “Lazarus, come out” and live.
God is the author of life, the creator of all living and non-living beings. God not only made everything, but also sustains all of creation. Human life as sustained by God is sacred, and must be respected, and treated with deserved dignity. Our Christian responsibility is to respond to God’s call to life by promoting and preserving life. Jesus weeps when innocent lives in the wombs of mothers are killed and considered as mere body tissue. And he weeps when we destroy our own life with alcohol, drugs, cigarettes or other reckless activities.
From today’s readings, we can learn that life is a cycle, and the ancestors and traditions play a vital role in the community of life. Our ancestors are a part and parcel of the moral and spiritual formation of the community. Jesus weeps today when, in many communities, elderly persons are abandoned and neglected by their own children. Today, care for the elderly has become a distressing and troublesome issue in most modern societies. In the past, the elderly were valued as sources of blessing and stability in the community; they were the custodians of wisdom and teachers of customs essential for the young. Today, Jesus weeps when old people are sent early to their graves because of neglect and disrespect, and their wisdom is disregarded and neglected.
Our Christian act today could be the understanding that life is a communal affair lived in genuine relationship and communion between God, people, ancestors and the land. Today, very few can proudly say, “I am, because we are”. It seems we are rapidly losing the cultural values that brought us together as a community. Extended families are replaced by small nuclear families. Individualistic and egoistic values severely weaken the once-admired communal way of life. Jesus weeps when he sees crowds of street children roaming the streets and dying of hunger, homelessness and violence in the midst of crowded cities. Jesus weeps when he sees world leaders making themselves ever richer while their people fall ever deeper into poverty.
Action: I open my heart and mind to receive God’s call to life.
Prayer: Almighty God, we thank you for the gift of life which you have given us. As you restored Lazarus to life, we open our hearts and minds that in our weaknesses we may be restored during this Lenten period. Dear Lord, continue to give life to our mortal bodies and save us from spiritual death. Let your Holy Spirit direct our actions and thoughts to be life-giving people to one another. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
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