5th SUNDAY OF LENT - YEAR A - Gospel (John 11:1-45) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- 22 hours ago
- 9 min read
FIRST READING - Ezek 37:12-14
"I will put my spirit in you that you may come to life."
A reading from the Book of Ezekiel
12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Look! I am going to open your graves; I will make you come up out of your graves, my people, and bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and make you come up out of them, my people! 14 I will put my spirit in you that you may come to life, and I will settle you in your land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken; I will do it—oracle of the Lord.
SECOND READING - Rom 8:8-11
"The Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead."
A reading from the Letter to the Romans
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Jn 11:1-45
"I am the resurrection and the life."
✠From the Gospel according to John
1 Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. 3 So the sisters sent word to him, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” 4 When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death,[b] but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”[c] 11 He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” 12 So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” 13 But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. 14 So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. 15 And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called Didymus,[d] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles[e] away. 19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat 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 whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 [f]She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” 29 As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. 31 So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell 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 had come with her weeping, he became perturbed[g] and deeply troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” 35 And Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” 37 But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”
38 So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father,[h] I thank you for hearing me. 42 I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice,[i] “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”
45 Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
5th SUNDAY OF LENT - YEAR A - Gospel (John 11:1-45)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear people of God,
In today’s Word of God, God the Father calls upon all humanity to direct ourselves toward the eternal resurrection in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the happiness for those individuals and souls who live according to the path of invitation and teachings of God the Father.
What God the Father wishes to remind humanity of today is this: when one lives according to the Spirit of the Holy Spirit, which is a renunciation of sin, a renunciation of the world, a renunciation of worldly passions, the transgressions, and of all that belongs to the world and all that belongs to Satan.
Then, the Holy Spirit will work within that person, and that individual will be able to live in holiness, virtue, reverence, love, and obedience to God in all deeds, actions, words, gestures, thoughts, and reflections.
Any person in whom the Spirit works powerfully will be resurrected by Him on the last day to enjoy happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as the prophet Ezekiel foretold, revealing to humanity the work of the Spirit upon those who know how to live and follow God's teachings, and who fear the Lord; the Spirit of God will cause that person to be revived and to live again with God.
So then, who will cause humanity to be resurrected? It is only the Most High God who will do so.
What is man that the Lord should be mindful of? What is man that the Lord should look upon him with favor and cause him to be resurrected? Man is but dust, a sinner in the filthy mire before the power, strength, and love of God.
When compared to the love of God, human love for God the Father is nothing at all. Humanity comes from a place of deep sin and dark mire, yet God still sacrificed Himself to come into this world to be with humanity, to live among them and save them, to pay the price of death, and to grant man eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven with Him forever.
How, then, should man live to respond to God's call?
Should they continue to live in the grace of God the Father and in His Spirit, or live according to the instigation of Satan—temptations of lust, carnal desires, and the pursuit of worldly pleasures?
The passion for wealth, material things, competition, division, judgment, hatred, exclusion, condemnation, reproach, envy, jealousy, and rivalry?
Live instead according to the fruits of the Holy Spirit: charity, peace, joy, cheerfulness, happiness, kindness, goodness, mercy, forgiveness, gentleness, and humility; knowing to fear God above all things and to love one's neighbor as oneself.
Those who are wise should run to God, dwell in Him so that He may work, so that He may guide, so that He may teach them to walk the path of the Spirit of the Holy Spirit, for that very Spirit will grant man eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven with God.
God the Father invites humanity in today's world to place absolute trust in the authority and power of God who descended to earth to become man, who is the very eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
He sacrificed Himself and suffered death to redeem humanity, and He set a shining example for man to follow.
Place absolute trust in God; He can do all things.
He causes life to exist in this world, He causes the dead to rise, He can do all things.
The wisdom of man is to run to God, to call upon Him, to ask for His forgiveness, to ask Him to love and mercifully welcome us into His Kingdom, and to grant us life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
As in the Word of God today, the Lord has shown humanity the power, strength, and love of God manifested in Lazarus.
If God had not intervened, Lazarus would have been dead forever and would not have had life in the Kingdom of Heaven! Only in Him and by His power can man be resurrected and rise from the dead, but on the condition that all people must live according to the Spirit of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to work within them, so that they may live in love, know how to fear God, and obey Him.
And the special and foremost requirement is to place absolute trust in the Word that God teaches and imparts.
He Himself is the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Him will live, even if he dies.
If man does not have faith in the one God who alone brings eternal life to humanity, does not believe that He Himself can do all things, and does not believe that He can cause the dead to rise, then he will not belong to God, he will not enjoy happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven, but will belong to Satan.
O all children of God, renounce Satan, renounce the darkness of sin, renounce eternal death, and return to God.
Live according to the grace and the Spirit that the Holy Spirit bestows, living in love, in reverence, and in obedience to God at all times and in all places.
Place absolute trust in His power and strength; He can do all things to secure for humanity eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
He set aside glory and honor to descend to earth as man, to love, to care for, to shelter, to protect humanity, and to atone for the sins of all people.
Therefore, let humanity return to God! Be reconciled with Him, believe in Him, and live in the grace and Spirit of God.
And recognize that you are but dust and ashes, a sinner from the mire and the abyss, whom He has lifted to be a child of God.
Cling firmly to Him, love your fellow human beings, love God, and do all things in your life and in yourself, so that the Spirit of the Holy Spirit will work within you and bring you eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter.
Place absolute trust in the Word that God teaches; it is the Lord, and the Lord alone, who can bring eternal life to humanity.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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