John 11:1-45
Year A -
5th Sunday of Lent
I am the resurrection and the life
 1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.
3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."
4 But 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."
5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
6 after having heard that Lazarus 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 to Judea again."
8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"
9 Jesus 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.
10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them."
11 After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him."
12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right."
13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.
15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,
19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.
21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him."
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 on the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."
28 When 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."
29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
31 The 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.
32 When 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."
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.
34 He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Jesus began to weep.
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, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39 Jesus 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."
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me.
42 I 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."
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 The 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."
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. (NRSV)
Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus
"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
I said this before I called the power of God in me as His begotten Son, to illustrate with facts the integrity of my words. I am the one who gives life. First I have favored everyone with temporal life on this earth, but after the death of the body, I give eternal spiritual life from the moment of the resurrection.
I had opened the eyes of the blind, I had opened the ears of the deaf, I had loosened the tongues of the mute, I had made the paralytic walk, I had healed the lepers and many others who were sick with all kinds of diseases, I had also cast out evil spirits from those who were possessed. By all those miracles I confirmed my power to reverse the evils that come to men, but I wanted mostly to impress upon your minds the reality of the sickness of the soul, which is reflected in the body, so that you could learn from me and put all your trust in me.
The worst thing that can happen to the life of the body is death; therefore I performed this miracle of returning life to make you understand that I am truly the resurrection and the life.
Blessed is the man who puts his trust in my words, he is like a tree planted by the edge of the river, his roots extend to the living waters of life, he will have nothing to fear when tribulation comes, he will produce good fruit every day of his life. He will always be my delight.
My heavenly Father has given his testimony to the world through the continuous manifestation of creation. I the Word of God, His Son; came to the world to give my own testimony. As a man I demonstrated that you are all made in God’s image. In human words I invited all to follow me and I offered my salvation to everyone. I did not come to condemn but to forgive; I came to save those who accept me as their Savior and Lord.
As a last offering to all of you I offered my life to the Father as the sacrifice to take away the sins of the world.
Put all your trust in me if you desire eternal life, because I am the resurrection and the life.
Received by: Joseph
of Jesus and Mary
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