Gospel Reflection on John 11:1-45
- Mar 19
- 6 min read
March 22, 2026
Now a certain man was ill, Laz′arus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Laz′arus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.”Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Laz′arus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, “Our friend Laz′arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Laz′arus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Now when Jesus came, he found that Laz′arus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.”When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; and he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Laz′arus, come out.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.
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Jesus deliberately delays visiting his sick friend, and when he arrives, Lazarus has died.
Everyone scolds him. Why did you delay Jesus? Why did you abandon your friend?
The truth is that human strategies cannot give life to a dead person. This is beyond our human capacity. People cannot achieve these things. We can't attain eternity with our own projects and our own strategies. If we wish to have a life in God, we have to abandon our strategies in favor of something else.
In order for a story of death to become a story of triumph, it's necessary to go through something that seems like an error and injustice; it should not have been made, and to see the power of God revealed precisely in that absurdity.
Jesus' desire is to enter into the darkness and absurdity of our lives and bring light and life to us. It's a different kind of captivity that Jesus wants to free us from. It's a voice of Christ that frees Lazarus. In the same way, it's the voice of Christ speaking in our hearts that frees us from our capacity.
The stone that must be removed from the door of our hearts is this attachment we have to seeking solutions based on our own strategies. It's in the midst of our absurdities, our death that Christ wishes to come and bring life.
Things happen that seem unfair to us, that shouldn't be allowed, and often these things are misfortune or mistakes. Our strategy is to try to eliminate problems. It is through these difficulties that the greater things of life are often illuminated.
In order to save us, the Lord must ignore our pleas for help, because we're asking Him to take away the things that actually lead us to Him if we tackle them properly.
At such times, we think God is abandon us. We think God is in flight mode, but in reality, God is trying to lead us to something much greater than the little solutions we are seeking.
Christ's strategy is very different. He is not an insurance policy against misfortune. Rather, He enters into that which we fear the most. At this dramatic moment, Jesus gives thanks for what? To be able to fulfill His mission, that of communicating with someone who has died and bringing him back to life, precisely from that place where nobody can approach him anymore.
Jesus' full of gratitude for being able to complete His mission of speaking to the poorest, the smelliest, the ugliest, the most un-presentable part of us, and to love us in the areas where nobody is lovable. The places where only God can enter. Only Christ has the strength to regenerate life.
The voice of Christ crying out loud as the power to liberate us from the tomb. It is this voice which goes beyond the tomb, beyond the smell, beyond the strategies, and reaches Lazarus, the friend of Christ.
Lazarus was named a Saint by Pope Francis for being still and waiting in the darkened tomb.
He accepted that there were no human strategies capable of overcoming this great loss.
There are times in our lives too, when we are called to be still, to be quiet, to be patient, and trust that God alone is capable of saving us.
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