Reflection for Sunday March 29, Fifth Sunday of Lent: John 11:1-45

Gospel: John 11:1-45

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 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. So the sisters sent word to him saying, "Master, the one you love is ill." 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." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?" 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. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." He said this, and then told them, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him." So the disciples said to him, "Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved." But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, "Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him." So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go to die with him." When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise." Martha said to him, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 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." When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, "The teacher is here and is asking for you." As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. 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. 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." When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Sir, come and see." And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him." 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?" So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 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." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you for hearing me. 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." And when he had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 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."

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

The story is told about a middle-aged woman who was afraid to die; the mere mention of death would make her tremble. Until one day he read about the gospel passage about the friendship of Jesus with the siblings Martha, Mary and Lazarus. So, he tried to discover more about Jesus by reading her bible most specially the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and by piously attending Sunday Holy Mass.

In our present time life is so uncertain caused by the pandemic called Covid-19 or Coronavirus. No matter how hard we try to be careful not to be infected by it there is still no assurance that we will get it. No one is exempt from catching this deadly virus even many of the rich, famous and powerful have been infected by it already. So we are naturally afraid of that deadly virus, who would not be?

In our gospel for this Sunday the display of deep and true friendship of Jesus and the siblings Martha, Mary and Lazarus is very obvious. When the sisters were in need of help because of the death of their brother Lazarus. Jesus went to them to reassure them that He would be with them to help them in whatever way possible.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave, He showed us that there is life after death. There is hope and resurrection even if we die but to have this resurrection and hope we must be friends first with Jesus!. For it’s only through Him that we can have hope and resurrection.

Let us therefore develop our friendship with Jesus, let us discover more about Him. Through our faithful attendance at Holy Mass, through our daily reading of the scriptures and through our deep prayer life.

Just imagine if you’re a friend of Jesus, He will always be there for you even in your most difficult and darkness moments. He will always be there to give you that helping hand that no one else can give you.

Hence, in the midst of this very difficult and uncertain times that we are in caused by this pandemic called Covid-19 or Coronavirus. Let us not be afraid for our Lord Jesus Christ will always be there for us to give us hope, to protect us and to envelope us with His unfailing love. 

We have nothing to be afraid if we strongly believe in Jesus and if we have already developed a deep friendship with Him. In the Bible/Scripture it says: "Everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Do you strongly believe in Jesus and do you have a deep friendship with the Lord? – Marino J. Dasmarinas