Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A
Ezekiel 37:12-14Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8Romans 8:8-11John 11:1-45 Last weekend, my wife and I decided to move some of our “stuff” to storage. Needless to say, there was much junks, but along with the junks, there was much memories. And I got stuck, remembering the times, good and bad. Sometimes we set out to clean up a mess, but instead we get stuck—stuck in memories, stuck in old habits, stuck in the same patterns. We want to move forward, but something inside us feels like it’s still sitting in the garage, surrounded by clutter we don’t know how to deal with. That’s exactly where today’s readings meet us. Ezekiel: “I will open your graves.” God speaks to a people who feel buried—buried in exile, disappointment, and spiritual exhaustion.And God doesn’t say, “Dig yourselves out.”He says, “I will open your graves.”God takes the first step. Psalm 130: “Out of the depths I cry to you.” This is not a polished prayer.It’s the prayer of someone who’s overwhelmed, someone who can’t pretend everything is fine.Lent invites this kind of honesty. Romans: The Spirit who raised Jesus dwells in you. Paul reminds us that resurrection isn’t just a future event.It’s a present power.The Spirit is already at work in the places where we feel stuck or lifeless. The Gospel: Lazarus And then we come to the great story of Lazarus. Martha and Mary say what many of us have felt:“Lord, if you had been here…”If you had been here, my marriage wouldn’t be struggling.If you had been here, my child wouldn’t be hurting.If you had been here, I wouldn’t feel so anxious, so tired, so alone. Jesus doesn’t scold them.He weeps with them.He enters their grief.And then He does something astonishing:He calls Lazarus by name and brings him out of the tomb. But notice—He asks the people around Lazarus to roll away the stone.He invites them to participate in the miracle. So what does this mean for us? We all have “tombs”: Jesus stands before those places and says,“Take away the stone.”Let Me in.Let Me speak life where you’ve given up hope. Lent is not about proving ourselves to God.It’s about letting God do what only God can do—open graves, breathe life, call us out of darkness. Reflection Questions