Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)
Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel John 11:1-45 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)
There was a man named Lazarus who lived in the village of Bethany with the two sisters, Mary and Martha, and he was ill. It was the same Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. The sisters sent this message to Jesus, ‘Lord, the man you love is ill.’ On receiving the message, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will end not in death but in God’s glory, and through it the Son of God will be glorified.’
Jesus loved
Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that Lazarus was ill he
stayed where he was for two more days before saying to the disciples, ‘Let us
go to Judaea.’ The disciples said, ‘Rabbi, it is not long since the Jews wanted
to stone you; are you going back again?’ Jesus replied:
‘Are there not
twelve hours in the day?
A man can walk
in the daytime without stumbling
because he has
the light of this world to see by;
but if he walks
at night he stumbles,
because there
is no light to guide him.’
He said that and then added, ‘Our friend Lazarus is resting, I am going to wake him.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he is able to rest he is sure to get better.’ The phrase Jesus used referred to the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by ‘rest’ he meant ‘sleep’, so Jesus put it plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad I was not there because now you will believe. But let us go to him.’ Then Thomas – known as the Twin – said to the other disciples, ‘Let us go too, and die with him.’
On arriving,
Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. Bethany is
only about two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had
come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to
Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that,
even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said
Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the
resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said:
‘I am the
resurrection and the life.
If anyone
believes in me, even though he dies he will live,
and whoever
lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe
this?’
‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in a low voice, ‘The Master is here and wants to see you.’ Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were in the house sympathising with Mary saw her get up so quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
Mary went to
Jesus, and as soon as she saw him she threw herself at his feet, saying, ‘Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ At the sight of her
tears, and those of the Jews who followed her, Jesus said in great distress,
with a sigh that came straight from the heart, ‘Where have you put him?’ They
said, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept; and the Jews said, ‘See how much he
loved him!’ But there were some who remarked, ‘He opened the eyes of the blind
man, could he not have prevented this man’s death?’ Still sighing, Jesus
reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening. Jesus said,
‘Take the stone away.’ Martha said to him, ‘Lord, by now he will smell; this is
the fourth day.’ Jesus replied, ‘Have I not told you that if you believe you
will see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted up
his eyes and said:
‘Father, I
thank you for hearing my prayer.
I knew indeed
that you always hear me,
but I speak for
the sake of all these who stand round me,
so that they
may believe it was you who sent me.’
When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, here! Come out!’ The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, let him go free.’
Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what he did believed in him.
Shorter form John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45 (New American Bible)
The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said, “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him. ”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?”
So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 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.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. 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. ”And when he had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 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.”
Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
In today's gospel we read: ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said: 'I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’
So often I have heard people, usually Catholics, say something along these lines: We're all on the same road and we all believe in the same God. Not true. Jesus says very clearly to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. It is only through Jesus Christ that we can attain heaven. Jesus teaches this to us again in John 14:5-6, Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
In this incident Jesus is drawing his disciples - and us - to faith in him. He says that explicitly to them before they go to Bethany: Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. He also draws Martha into her wonderful expression of faith: Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world. This is before he raises her brother Lazarus from the dead. Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.
That faith in Jesus Christ is also faith in our bodily resurrection at the end of time. When we pray the Nicene Creed at Mass on Sundays and solemnities we pray, I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. We say the same thing if we pray the Apostle's Creed instead of the Nicene Creed, I believe in . . . the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
Commenting on today's gospel in his Angelus talk on 9 March 2008, Pope Benedict XVI said, Christ's heart is divine-human: in him God and man meet perfectly, without separation and without confusion. He is the image, or rather, the incarnation of God who is love, mercy, paternal and maternal tenderness, of God who is Life.
Drawing our attention to Martha's expression of faith, Pope Benedict says, It is a question that Jesus addresses to each one of us: a question that certainly rises above us, rises above our capacity to understand, and it asks us to entrust ourselves to him as he entrusted himself to the Father. Martha's response is exemplary: 'Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world' (Jn 11: 27). Yes, O Lord! We also believe, notwithstanding our doubts and darkness; we believe in you because you have the words of eternal life. We want to believe in you, who give us a trustworthy hope of life beyond life, of authentic and full life in your Kingdom of light and peace.
May that too become the prayer of the young man I met at the hospital in Dublin on Christmas Eve 2022 and others like him.
Passion Sunday
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 03-22-2026 if necessary).
Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15. Gospel: John 8:46-59.
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