Readings (Year A):
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45
Reflection: Are we willing to roll away the stones?
When Jesus taught in Judea, he often stayed with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. So when Lazarus becomes gravely ill, his two sisters send a messenger to Jesus to inform him. They are certain that Jesus will come immediately to heal Lazarus. But instead of coming, Jesus informs the messenger that the end of the illness will not be death, but, rather, God’s glory.
Despite the urgency of Lazarus’ illness, Jesus delays. When, after two more days, Jesus arrives at the house, Martha painfully says: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
For many of us, this can be the hardest part of the story. Jesus’ delay unsettles us and does not offer us comfort. It forces us to sit with grief, waiting, and the painful gap between human expectation and divine timing. We pray, and we wait in earnest for God to help us.
Many times, God seems absent from our pain, struggles, and agony, and we begin to wonder why God is not listening to us or coming to us. Delays often feel like abandonment. We pray for healing, justice, or change, and nothing seems to happen. Martha’s words to Jesus echo our own frustration and abandonment: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Martha laments but has deep faith in Jesus. She says: “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus assures her that Lazarus will rise. She responds, “I know he will rise again on the last day.”
Jesus then shifts the framework: “I am the resurrection and the life,” he says. And he asks: “Do you believe this?”
Martha proclaims her belief: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” She profoundly believes in the mystery of Jesus, that he is divine. It is a confession of faith, and her words become a model for us to follow. Jesus does not offer Martha a distant promise about the afterlife. He is speaking about God’s life-giving power breaking into the present moment, which is full of pain, suffering, and death. Resurrection is not only about what happens after death, but also about God’s insistence on life.
Mary approaches Jesus differently. She falls at his feet and weeps. Her grief is embodied and raw, and as a result, Jesus weeps. Jesus does not rush past sorrow but enters it as God’s presence entering suffering and pain.
Jesus then commands the stone to be removed and calls Lazarus out of the tomb. Lazarus emerges alive but still bound. His hands and feet are wrapped, and his face is covered. Jesus speaks to the community:“Unbind him and let him go.”
God is the creator and giver of life. In this passage, God brings life, and the community is asked to unbind. Healing requires participation, liberation, and communal courage. This text speaks to our world today as we are surrounded by such tombs as systems of violence, injustice, environmental destruction, and war.
We pray for resurrection, but are we willing to roll away the stones? Are we willing to unbind those whom society has wrapped in fear, silence, or marginalization? Faith is about choosing life and trusting in God’s power to bring life. Resurrection is not only a future promise. It is a present, embodied disruption of death-dealing systems that oppress and kill us. With faith in the resurrection power, let us become the Easter people.
Add comment