In today’s gospel Jesus reveals his
power over death by raising Lazarus from the dead. The prophet Ezekiel
prophesies God breathing new life into dry bones. To those in exile or living
in the shadows of death, these stories proclaim God’s promise of resurrection.
In baptism we die with Christ that we might also be raised with him to new
life. At the Easter Vigil we will welcome new sisters and brothers at the
baptismal font, as we renew our baptismal promises.
Almighty God, your Son came into the
world to free us all from sin and death. Breathe upon us the power of your
Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ and serve you in
righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Ezekiel 37:1-14
The dry bones of
Israel brought to life
Psalm 130
I wait for you, O Lord; in your word is my hope. (Ps. 130:5)
Romans 8:6-11
Life in the Spirit
John 11:1-45
Baptismal image: the
raising of Lazarus
Ezekiel’s vision of
the valley of dry bones is a promise that Israel as a nation, though dead in
exile, will live again in their land through God’s life-giving spirit. Three
times Israel is assured that through this vision they will know that “I am the
Lord.”
1The
hand of the Lord came upon me, and
he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord
and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2He led me all around them; there were very
many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3He
said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones,
and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5Thus says
the Lord God to these bones: I
will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh
to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall
live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7So I prophesied as I had been
commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the
bones came together, bone to its bone. 8I
looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had
come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath,
prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds,
O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10I prophesied as he commanded me, and the
breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast
multitude.
11Then he said to me, “Mortal,
these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up,
and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12Therefore
prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God:
I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my
people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring
you up from your graves, O my people. 14I
will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your
own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord,
have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”
I wait for you, O Lord; in your word is my hope. (Ps. 130:5)
1Out
| of the depths
I cry to | you, O Lord;
2O Lord, | hear my
voice!
Let your ears be attentive to the
voice of my | supplication.
3If you were to keep watch | over sins,
O Lord, |
who could stand?
4Yet with you | is forgiveness,
in order that you | may be
feared. R
5I wait for you, O Lord; | my
soul waits;
in your word | is my hope.
6My soul waits for the Lord more than those who keep watch | for the
morning,
more than those who keep watch | for the
morning.
7O Israel, wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is |
steadfast love;
with the Lord there is plen- | teous redemption.
8For the Lord shall | redeem
Israel
from | all their
sins. R
For Paul, Christian
spirituality entails living in the reality of the Holy Spirit. The driving
force behind our actions and values is not our sinful desire for
self-satisfaction but the very Spirit by which God raised Jesus from the dead
and will also raise us from the dead.
6To
set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life
and peace. 7For this reason the mind
that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s
law—indeed it cannot, 8and those who
are in the flesh cannot please God.
9But you are not in the flesh; you
are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not
have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But
if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin,
the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If
the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised
Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his
Spirit that dwells in you.
Jesus is moved to
sorrow when his friend Lazarus falls ill and dies. Then, in a dramatic scene,
he calls his friend out of the tomb and restores him to life.
1Now
a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister
Martha. 2Mary was the one who
anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother
Lazarus was ill. 3So the sisters
sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This
illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son
of God may be glorified through it.” 5Accordingly,
though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he
stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7Then after this he said to the
disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8The
disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and
are you going there again?” 9Jesus
answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the
day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10But those who walk at night stumble, because
the light is not in them.” 11After
saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am
going there to awaken him.” 12The disciples
said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13Jesus, however, had been speaking about his
death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is
dead. 15For your sake I am glad I
was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his
fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17When Jesus arrived, he found
that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two
miles away, 19and many of the Jews
had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she
went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha
said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you
whatever you ask of him.” 23Jesus
said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha
said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the
resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will
live, 26and everyone who lives and
believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that
you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
28When she had said this, she went
back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here
and is calling for you.” 29And when
she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now
Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha
had met him. 31The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary
get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was
going to the tomb to weep there. 32When
Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him,
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who
came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply
moved. 34He said, “Where have you
laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus began to weep. 36So
the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who
opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38Then Jesus, again greatly
disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha,
the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench
because he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus
said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory
of God?” 41So they took away the
stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard
me. 42I knew that you always hear
me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they
may believe that you sent me.” 43When
he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet
bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to
them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
45Many of the Jews therefore, who
had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
on of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used
by permission. All rights reserved.