ST. JOHN 11: 17-37

                                                               

Translations rarely are extremely different from one another, however certain ways of phrasing, or translation of a word, do occur. This happens not only when it comes to translating Sacred Scripture but in the ordinariness of translating books, documents, news reports, debates in dual or multilingual parliaments.

Various scholars thus translate v. 17 on the USCCB Bible website: When Jesus arrived……; the Jerusalem Bible: On arriving, Jesus…..; the New American Bible also uses: When Jesus arrived…..; the Orthodox Study Bible: So when Jesus came: phrasing which William Barclay in his commentary uses as well.

These minors variations nonetheless all highlight St. John once again indicating we should be very attentive to the life and teachings of Jesus, as he does throughout with phrases such as: In the beginning [1:1]; On the third day [2:1]; After these things [6:1]Now as Jesus passed by [9:1], each is an announcement.

When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. [v.17]

A gentle way of emphasizing that Lazarus was truly dead, dead enough to have been buried.

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. [v.18] While bringing us closer to the great teaching we are about to receive from Jesus, and the miracle we are about to witness, St. John is reminding us the whole purpose of Jesus moving from His place where He rested by the Jordan, is to get to Jerusalem and allow Himself to be arrested, tortured, executed for our salvation.

And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. [v.19] This particular apostolate, over the millennia in most cultures and religions, of women as the comforters in times of grief is, for believers and unbelievers alike, a blessing and a reminder, or should be, we are human beings, persons of one family on this earth and while the birth of a child is a gift to all, the death of a human being should rightly be experienced by each one of us as a loss.

From an Orthodox Prayer for the Dead: O God of spirits and of all flesh, Who hast trampled down death and overthrown the Devil, and given life to Thy world, do Thou, the same Lord, give rest to the souls of Thy departed servants in a place of brightness, a place of refreshment, a place of repose, where all sickness, sighing, and sorrow have fled away…..From a Roman Catholic Prayer for the Dead: Lord, those who die still live in Your presence, their lives change but do not end. I pray in hope for my family, relatives and friends, and for all the dead known to You alone. A Jewish Prayer for the Dead: God, full of mercy, who dwells in the heights, provide a sure rest upon the wings of the Divine Presence, within the range of the holy, pure and glorious, whose shining resemble the sky’s, to the soul of (Hebrew name of deceased)……., the Master of Mercy will protect him forever, from behind the hiding of His wings, and will tie his soul with the rope of life….. Sadly, for those without faith or hope at secular funerals, among other dirges often this from the poet Dylan Thomas is read instead of a prayer: "Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

How we must pray that all our brothers and sisters may come to know, believe in, follow Jesus.

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.” [vs. 20-22]

Martha and Mary are icons of the active and contemplative life. If our actions are to be replete with the light of the Gospel then we must first through contemplation be deep in union with Christ and, since Christ Himself moves from prayer to the active love of service, if our contemplation is to be fruitful we must likewise actively love and serve our brothers and sisters.

Like others in the Gospel accounts asking something of Jesus, Who often asks the petitioner if they have faith – and who among us, like the father asking a miracle for his child, does not often have to respond with the sheer honesty of: “I do believe, help me unbelief.” [Mk.9:24] – Martha here does articulate faith in and trust in Jesus and the power of His prayer.

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” [v.23] Martha asking for her brother back, and her assertion to Jesus had He been there Lazarus would not have died, shows that for all her trust in Jesus she still does not grasp that He is God, so had no need to be there to have prevented the death of Lazarus.

Jesus in fact is seeking to teach, through His replies to Martha, a great truth.

Martha said to Him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” [v.24] It would appear Martha took to heart the teachings of the Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection of the dead, and not those of the Sadducees who denied it.

Now Jesus has the opening for His teaching, and Martha embraces it and finally completes her act of faith:  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 Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” [vs. 25-27]

Clearly Martha was not only being attentive to the words, teaching of Jesus, but to Jesus Himself and His love for her. Everyone who is simultaneously open to the love radiating into us from Jesus and to His words will also, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, be able to proclaim our act of faith.

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to Him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met Him. 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. [vs.28-31]

Faith in Jesus must open us to metanoia/conversion of heart, which deepens discipleship and discipleship must lead to proclamation, both by word and acts of charity, as we are reminded in the title of the 3^rd Mystery of the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary: The Proclamation of the Kingdom and the Call to Repentance.

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.” [v.32]

Like her sister Martha before her Mary does not yet grasp that Jesus, true God and True man, need not be physically present as man to act as God.

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was deeply troubled…….[v.33] Jerusalem Bible translation renders this line as: Jesus said in great distress and with a sign that came straight from the heart….Once again what we are witnessing here is the infinite compassionate love Jesus has for every human being in distress and part of what troubles, pains Jesus is obtuseness, deafness, blindness when it comes to seeing and hearing how beloved we are……and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. [vs.34,35]

Precisely as the Incarnate One, Jesus, True God and True Man,  having emptied Himself of His Divinity [kenosis] had no, as it were, shield of protection from the elements, cold, thirst, hunger, fatigue, etc., and like us had an intellectual and emotional-psychological life.

As St. John Paul teaches us: ….the heart of Jesus’ psychological life. He experienced human feelings of joy, sadness, anger, wonder and love. For example, we read that “Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit [Lk.10:21]. He wept over Jerusalem. “He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If this day you only knew what makes for peace.’” [Lk.19:41-42]. He also wept after the death of His friend Lazarus. “When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Sir, come and see.’ And Jesus wept.” [Jn. 11:33-35] [1]

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?” [vs. 36, 37]

How little did they know just what Jesus was about to do for His friend!



[1] From St. John Paul’s General Audience of February 3, 1988


© 2020 Fr. Arthur Joseph

ST. JOHN 10: 40-41-11:1-16

                                                    

Once more St. John presents Jesus to us on the move: He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there He remained. [v.40]

Jesus is heading inexorably towards Jerusalem, to His passion and death.

In terms of His public life, the constant seeking to convey to those He encounters His love-teachings – as He continues to do within every heart-soul - the battles with evil spirits and human enemies, the miracles, the healings, all have surely taken a toll.

Perhaps Jesus simply needed to rest a while in the place where the Father and the Holy Spirit had affirmed Him and His mission.

Clearly the rest was short lived for:  Many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many there began to believe in Him. [vs.41,42]

The phrasing is somewhat odd since the speakers are noted as coming to Jesus, their statement appears to be spoken not to Jesus Himself, rather to each other, to whomever happened to be in what was a group, perhaps not a real crowd.

Since we know [Jn. 1:28] the place where John had been baptizing is that part of the Jordon river near Bethany, clearly word about Jesus being nearby the town would have spread easily.

There is an urgent immediacy to the opening of chapter 11: Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 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. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Master, the one You love is ill.” [1-3].

Throughout his Holy Gospel account St. John references love, usually in the teachings of Jesus, fifty-three times. Sometimes referencing, as in 17:26 the love relationship between the Father and Jesus. Perhaps mostly we are familiar of the use of the word ‘love’ in 21:15ff, where Jesus asks of Peter about his love. There is an increased intensity in each of the three questions, a palpable desire on Christ’s part for Peter to get it right. Finally when Peter does affirm his love with the passionate words: “Lord, You know everything; You know I love You.” [21:17],  the bond of intimacy and communion of love has become unbreakable, so much so that not even martyrdom could break it.

On receiving the message Jesus 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.” [4]

This receptivity of Jesus should assure us that He also receives all our prayer-petitions and the words Jesus speaks should also assure us that ultimately all suffering we are permitted to endure, when taking up that aspect of our cross and following Jesus, will also be for the glory of God and because Jesus is within us glorification unfolds within us, that is the Light of Christ poured into us by the Holy Spirit at Baptism, intensifies and shines more brightly upon those around us, the whole world, the entire cosmos.

Commenting on the above verse William Barclay says beautifully, truthfully: The simple fact of human need brings Jesus to our side in the twinkling of an eye. [1]

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. [vs. 5,6]

Just as at the wedding feast at Cana the wine jugs had to be obviously devoid of wine, thus there was a delay then to fill them with water and bring them back to Jesus, another miracle manifesting His glory, so too here the delay is necessary so that when Jesus will approach Lazarus in the tomb Lazarus will be devoid of life and need to be filled up with new life.

Given the proximity of Bethany to Jerusalem, about 3kms, and Jerusalem being where Jesus was headed, while the disciples were surprised by what Jesus says next, we should hear the words for what they truly are, Jesus’ consistent obedience to, abandonment to, trust in the Holy Will of the Father: Then after this He said to His disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone You, and You want to go back there?” [vs. 7,8]

Of course He does!

From the moment of His Incarnation Jesus has had one destination on this earth, one purpose, and every night in prayer, every step He has taken, every pause to teach, to heal, to reveal Himself in the various miracles and expulsions of demons, all have been the warp and woof of the tapestry of His life, of our salvation, as seamless a life and act of redemption as the tunic His Mother Mary wove for Him.

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. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” [vs. 9,10]

Sometimes, as here, St. John seems to drop words of Jesus in the middle of a narrative that deliberately interrupt and require a standing still, as it were, putting aside the narrative to contemplate Jesus’ words, even when those very words seem disconnected from the event at hand.

This sense of disconnect is because we easily fail to keep before us the narrative is an unbroken trajectory from: In the beginning was the Word…..to: ….And there are also many other things that Jesus did……within which narrative Jesus wastes not a word, for each word He speaks illuminates for us why we are so beloved and how to respond to the love the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit lavish upon us.

Thus in His teaching about time and seeing, walking and not stumbling – or choosing to walk ‘lightless’ in the dark - this is Jesus reminding us that HE is the light of the world and that the time allotted to us on this earth is offered as that ‘day’ of hours needed to fulfill our baptismal vocation as His disciples, something we can only do if we seek to dwell in Him in, the Light of this world.

Absenting ourselves, even for a moment from this communion of light and love, means to choose to dwell in loveless darkness, and there we shall stumble, perhaps, for our souls, fatally.

He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” So the disciples said to Him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” But Jesus was talking about His death, while they thought that He meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with Him.” [vs. 11-16]

One of the wonderful things about the disciples, including the Apostles, is their blatant humanity, which should never be confused with stupidity or intellectual denseness. While clearly they did not always understand what Jesus was teaching or doing, they had by now been with Him long enough to have bonded in love with Him, and while as yet they did not understand the purpose of Jesus’ determination to get to Jerusalem, they did well know the authorities we seeking to arrest and execute Jesus, so the courage expressed by Thomas is admirable.

Are we willing to follow Jesus to death, to martyrdom by blood or loss of reputation, that is being rejected by those around us with their disdain for Christianity, because we never hide the fact we are His disciples, we are Christian?



[1] The Gospel of John, volume 2, p.81; William Barclay, the Westminster Press, 1975



© 2020 Fr. Arthur Joseph