CALLED TO LIFE IN JESUS

V LENT SUNDAY - John 11:1-45

The society we live in is puzzling. We make tremendous efforts to prolong life and then, being afraid of suffering, we are ready to kill or to facilitate their death when the hope of recovery is lost. And we do that claiming that everybody deserves a dignified death. We become the owners of life and death. The Bemba proverb says that umweo wa nkoko waba kuli cibinda (the life of the chicken is in the hands of the owner). On the other side, we feel children as a burden and reduce the number of those we are ready to accept. In Europe, due to the low birthrate, the keeping and development of society are becoming unsustainable, in such a way that our society is dying.

We need to speak about life and about death and the suffering that goes with it. Life is a gift, the greatest gift, which makes possible to accept other gifts. And in spite of becoming our life, it continues to be given and to be received as a gift. We are not the owners of our own life, and we have not the right to kill ourselves or the right to contribute to the death of somebody else. 

This Sunday’s readings are about life and death. With the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus reveals to us the goal of life, which doesn’t end in death, but, passing through death, reaches its fulfilment in the resurrection. The resurrection is presented as the gift o life coming to its plenitude. It is a gift which we may receive in Christ and with Christ. 

Martha and Mary, the two Lazarus’ sisters, were overwhelmed with the sense of loss. Before their brother’s death, they consoled themselves with the hope of Jesus’ coming: he would heal Lazarus. But he did not hurry to come, and Lazarus died. All those who lose their beloved go through the same painful experience: they grasp anything that may measure them and give them a little hope until there is nothing to hope for. Martha’s words to Jesus sound like a reproach: “‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died”. Jesus himself felt the pain of loss and cried while trying to console Martha and Mary.

Lazarus’ death was an opportunity for Jesus to teach about the meaning of life and the hope of resurrection. And he said to Martha: 

     “I am the resurrection and the life.

     If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,

     and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

     Do you believe this?”

 It is by faith in Jesus Christ that our life will find meaning and purpose. Being one with Christ, we will share in his resurrection and find eternal life. And Christ becomes our hope in the middle of this hopeless world. The belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the core of our Christian faith and the resurrection of Christ is the guarantee that we will rise as well from the dead.

Like Martha, we must proclaim our faith: “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.” (Jn 11:27).

In the second reading, taken from the letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that if the Spirit of Christ is in us,  then, even if our bodies die because of sin, we have been justified “and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.” (Ro 8:11).

In this last week of Lent, before the beginning of Holy Week, let us open our hearts to the Spirit of Christ so that he may have his home in us; let us allow him to transform us from within, so that we become more and more like Jesus Christ and the day will come when we will share fully in his resurrection. Giving thanks to God for this gift, let us ask the strength to offer the world the light of hope, which will guide it to peace and life.