I am the Resurrection and the Life: Ez 37, Rom 8, and Lazarus in Jn 11

I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
John 11:25

The fifth Sunday of Lent in Year A draws near its climactic point on the Lenten path with three texts about death conquered. Ez 37:12-14 announces the opening of graves and the restoration of life to Israel’s exiled people. Rom 8:8-11 asserts that the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in believers, and will also give life to their mortal bodies. John 11:1-45 recounts Lazarus’ resurrection: Jesus arrives when Lazarus has been dead for four days, proclaims himself as the resurrection and the life, and calls Lazarus from the tomb. The three texts describe the same movement: from below upwards, from the grave to life, from exile to homeland.I. The first reading: Ez 37:12-14The Ezekiel oracle addresses a people who feel dead: exile in Babylon was lived as a grave. The Lord responds with an unprecedented promise: “I will open your graves and bring my people back from them, and I will lead them to the land of Israel” (Ez 37:12). The language is a metaphor for returning from exile, but it transcends the metaphor: in the New Testament, this will be seen as a promise of real resurrection. “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live” (v.14). God’s Spirit is the principle of life: where he enters, death recedes. The context of the great vision of dry bones (Ez 37:1-11, which precedes this oracle) emphasizes that quantity or quality of what exists does not determine the possibility of life: it is God’s breath. Lent ends with this promise: however arid the desert may be, however dry the valley of bones appears, God’s Spirit can bring forth life.II. The second reading: Rom 8:8-11“Those who live according to the flesh cannot please God. But you do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Rom 8:8-9). Paul distinguishes two modes of existence: according to the flesh, limited to human horizontality, and according to the Spirit, open to God’s life. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (v.11). Paul’s argument is precise: the Spirit that raised Jesus from the tomb on Easter Sunday is the same that dwells in baptized people. Jesus’ resurrection is not an isolated fact: it is the principle and guarantee of a resurrection that will reach all those who the Spirit dwells within. Lent prepares for Easter: what will be celebrated on Easter Sunday is already happening within each baptized person.III. The gospel: John 11:1-45# Lazarus, Brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany, Is SickLázaro, brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany, is ill. The sisters send for Jesus. Jesus waits two days and departs. Upon his arrival, Lazarus has been dead for four days. Martha goes to meet him and says: «Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died» (John 11:21). Jesus replies: «Your brother will rise» (v.23). Martha acknowledges that she knows he will rise on the last day of resurrection. Jesus proclaims: «I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if they die, will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never perish forever. Do you believe this?» (vv.25-26). Martha confesses: «Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God» (v.27). Then Mary of Bethany arrives, falls at Jesus’ feet, and weeps. Jesus is deeply moved and also weeps (v.35). He goes to the tomb, orders the stone removed, prays aloud for the crowd’s belief, and calls: «Lazarus, come out!» (v.43). Lazarus emerges still wrapped in cloth. Jesus commands: «Unbind him and let him go». Many of the Jews who came witnessed what Jesus did and believed in him (v.45).## IV. Mary and the Anticipated ResurrectionEzekiel 37 announces that God will open graves: Mary knew the tomb uniquely, the tomb where they laid the Son on the afternoon of Good Friday, and where she waited during the night and Saturday for what she could not yet see. The Spirit who «cast his shadow upon» (Luke 1:35) Mary at the Annunciation is the same Spirit of whom Romans 8 declares will give life to mortal bodies. The Assumption of Mary is the personal application of the promise of Ezekiel 37 and Romans 8: her mortal body received life from the Spirit who raised Jesus, and she was exalted to glory before all others. John 11 presents two attitudes towards death: Martha, who argues and confesses with precise theology, and Mary of Bethany, who falls at Jesus’ feet and weeps without words. The Virgin Mary is the synthesis of both: she who confessed in the Magnificat the greatness of God who raises the humble, and she who stood silent at the foot of the dying Son on Calvary, like Mary of Bethany at Jesus’ tomb before Lazarus’ resurrection. The Fifth Sunday of Lent announces what is to come: «Lazarus, come out!» on Easter Sunday that the Church has been awaiting for two thousand years.