Sometimes I want to ask why am I living for. What is the sense of living a life as a Filipino, as a man, and as a Christian? Am I destined to accomplish something or am I a life traveler in search of my own mission? Too many questions. Only one concern and that is life itself. Life is a vague concept [just like love] and so is death. This came to mind because I took sometime to ponder on the three liturgical readings for the fifth Sunday of Lent.
First Reading>> Ezekiel 37: 12-14
12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.
14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it, says the LORD."
Second Reading>> Romans 8:8-11
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10 But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you.
Gospel Reading>> John 11:1-45
1 Now a certain man was ill, Laz'arus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Laz'arus was ill.
3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."
4 But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it."
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Laz'arus.
6 So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go into Judea again."
8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?"
9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
11 Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, "Our friend Laz'arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep."
12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Laz'arus is dead;
15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16 Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Laz'arus had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,
19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house.
21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
26 and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world."
28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."
29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32 Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled;
34 and he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Jesus wept.
36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me."
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Laz'arus, come out."
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;
Commentary
Ezekiel is one of the most prolific writers of the Old Testament. His visions and prophecies sounds very futuristic as if he is born earlier his time. For the first reading, Holy Mother Church quoted a little of his writing; the one pertaining to life. Life is given by God. Building an image of a mighty God in his book, Ezekiel literally and figuratively talked about God's capacity to give life to a nation, a race of people. he also has the right to take it. He is the source of life and He can raise even the dead back to life if He wants to. I began to think of God's ability to take my life away. I am reminded that it is not me who holds control of my life. Figuratively, Ezekiel is pertaining to the life, not of a single individual, but to the life of a nation. During that time, Israel is a dying nation. they were captives similar to a corpse buried in a grave. God is telling Israel through Ezekiel that He will restore the nation in grace and godly prosperity. God will bring their life back.
The foremost theologian of the New Testament, Saint Paul the Apostle also gave a noteworthy discussion about Christian life. It is a new life with a zest. A life of ignition which Saint Paul himself experienced when he met the Lord in Damascus, the instance that brought him to life by being born again. Everyone who is in Christ is a born again in the Spirit. Even if the body dies, the spirit continues to live. It is the same Spirit that will be with us in resurrection. Lent tells us that our body is from ash [symbolized in Ash Wednesday]. It will go back to its original state after death. That body is only "Lent" by God. Meanwhile, we have spirit and the spirit is aeveternal. The source of life is so rich that He can sustain the life of all human spirits.
The Gospel Reading completes thought for the Fifth Week of Lent Mass. In the previous Gospel Readings for the Third and Fourth Sundays of Lent, the Holy Mother Church introduced Jesus as the Way and the Truth. This Sunday, Jesus revealed to all of us that he is the Resurrection and the Life. I am always stunned by the conversation that took place between Martha and Jesus. How Jesus surprised Martha that he is the resurrection and life and by raising Lazarus before the crowd. One thing that I also want to take note is the drama of Jesus' friendship with the family. Lazarus is a friend of Jesus but never an apostle. Jesus, by his friendly love to Lazarus, raised the dead man to life again. Now Jesus told his disciples that he considers them friends and he wants to share with them his eternal life. Are we friends of Jesus? Friends of Jesus will surely live in eternity with him. Jesus is also ready to die for his friends. Jesus died for his friends. Are we friends of Jesus? If yes, then Jesus died for us.
Christ offered the Samaritan Woman a way to conversion [Jn.4:5-42]. He also offered sight to a blind man to expose the Truth [Jn 9:1-41]. Jesus, finally, is offering all of us the life, the eternal life. To live with Jesus. To live for Jesus. And to live like Jesus. We are called and invited to fulfill all those three. Jesus is not only a reconciler to the Father. He not only is a multiplier of bread. Jesus is not just a healer of the sick. He is not just a teacher of the crowd. Jesus is the Way, The Truth and the Life. Because of Jesus, everything was brought to life during creation. Because of Jesus it is possible to anew in the Spirit. Because of Jesus, a dead person was resuscitated. Lastly, it is also because of Jesus that death can be overcome; when he rose after three days in the grave.
Jesus over stresses here today that the purpose of his incarnation is not to die but to defeat death through life. In closing, I would like the readers to muse about their/our own lives. We have to take care of our lives and live it to the full as Christians. We have to make the most of our lives so we can extend the Kingdom of God on earth. To win as many souls as possible. To live and have friends to love like Jesus did. As my last Sunday Reflection this year, I hope that I did well in using my blog for evangelization.
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