Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Lent – Passion Sunday, 26th March 2023: principal reading John 11, 1-45
Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens
Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee from east to west to be met by Jairus and a small group. Jairus reports that his daughter is ill. They set off but by the time they arrive at the village the little girl is reported to be dead. On arrival Jesus says she is not dead but sleeping. Interesting. ‘Talitha cum’ is uttered (little girl get up) and she gets up and walks about. It is a resurrection from death. (Mark 5, 21-43).
In a village called Nain, Jesus sees a funeral procession. A widow has lost her only son. Jesus touches the bier on which the dead man is lying, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ The young man is raised to life; it is a resurrection from death. (Luke 7, 11-17).
So there are at least two resurrections recorded in the gospels other than that of Lazarus. Resurrections are not restricted just to one person, yet the treatment of the raising of Lazarus is distinctly different as reported in John’s gospel. It is the subject of today’s very long gospel reading.
Bethany is not so far from Jerusalem, as the crow flies. Yet because of the ugly wall of division built by the Israelis, to get from Jerusalem to the village of Lazarus there is now a long detour, and a security check point to pass, so the distance becomes longer.
It is in Bethany that the pilgrim or tourist will be taken to the tomb where the dead body of Lazarus had been placed by his sisters, Martha and Mary. This is a family known to Jesus, and there is more than a passing familiarity, for when Jesus is told that Lazarus has died, he weeps. It is the shortest sentence in the bible – Jesus wept (εδάκρυσεν ό Ιησους).
Jesus had not gone immediately to Bethany – he delays, saying that his friend Lazarus is only asleep, and that he will go to awaken him. Mistaking his metaphor for reality, he has to put it bluntly to them. He is dead.
