Lent 5, Cycle A
THEME OF THE DAY
With God you get a new way up ahead. Looking ahead to Easter, these texts focus us on Sin, Atonement, Justification by Grace, Sanctification, and Eschatology.
Psalm 130
This is a prayer of lament for deliverance from personal trouble. It is also one of the Songs of Ascent, a collection of Psalms referring to the ascent of pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem and its sanctuary.
The Psalm begins with a cry out of the depths [maamaqqim, deep places] to Yahweh to hear the psalmist’s supplication (vv. 1-2). It is acknowledged that if the Lord marks [shamar, observes] sin, none can stand. Yet the psalmist proceeds to assert that there is forgiveness in him (vv. 3-4). He resolves to wait for Yahweh (v. 6). Israel is advised to take a similar attitude, recognizing that with Yahweh there is hope and love, for he will redeem [padah, connoting free] the people (vv. 7-8).
Application: The Psalm affords an opportunity to reflect on the trials of life in our sinful condition, but also to offer comfort that God wipes the slate clean, and out of his love he sets us free from all the anxieties and despair (Justification by Grace). The way in which the psalmist’s confidence in the love of God has implications for the nation of Israel and opens the way to reflect on the implications for Social Justice is the word we have for America today.
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Ezekiel was a prophet from a priestly family whose ministry to his fellow exiles during the Babylonian Captivity extended from 593 BC to 563 BC. Some oracles predate Jerusalem’s fall. The original collection of prophecies was rewritten and expanded by an editor.
This text recounts the famed vision of the reviving of the dry bones. These bones represent the exiles and the hope of Israel’s resuscitation (vv. 11-13). For use of the image of dry bones as a description of physical malaise, see Psalm 31:10; 35:10. Ezekiel’s response to whether the bones can come back to life bespeaks an affirmation of God’s power (v. 3). The word of the Lord is the means of giving new life (v. 4). References to the “breath” to be put on the bones (vv. 5, 9-10) use the same Hebrew word ruach as is translated “the Lord’s Spirit” (v. 14), bringing the bones to life. The Spirit of God gives life. Note how the Hebraic holistic view of persons, not a Greek view of the immortal soul, operates here. It is promised that the Hebrews will return to the land (v. 14; cf. 36:27-28). There is a continuity here with the old covenant, as a reference is made to obedience to the law even after the resuscitation of the people (v. 24). The lesson also prefigures anticipation of the resurrection from the dead embodied by Jesus in Holy Week.
Application: This is another text for reflecting on the trials of life in our sinful condition (perhaps with special attention to the injustices in society and how they drain minorities and the poor of hope), but also combined with the hope that now and in the future God comes to give new life to those who are suffering (Justification by Grace and Eschatology).
Romans 8:6-11
In this text Paul is beginning to conclude his discussion of life in Christ for his readers in Rome to whom he was introducing himself. His specific topic in this lesson is a consideration of life in the flesh [sarx] and in the spirit [pneuma]. The term “flesh” connotes sinfulness, living under the domination of selfish passions, not merely the bodily character of human beings, when the term is contrasted with “spirit” in order to imply that humans set their minds on the things of the flesh and live in a way that is only oriented by the things of the created world (Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, Vol. 1, pp. 239ff). Paul teaches that to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace [eirene] (v. 6). It is helpful to note again, as we have previously, that insofar as Paul was Jewish it seems appropriate to understand his comment here to align with the Hebrew equivalent shalom, so that the peace brought about by justification is a state of well-being and thriving, including social justice. The apostle adds that the life set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s Law. Indeed, it cannot do so and so cannot please God (vv. 7-8).
Paul reminds the Romans that they are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in them. Reference is made to the Spirit of Christ. Anyone without the Spirit does not belong to God (v. 9). If Christ is in us, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness [dikaiosune] (v. 10). If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus lives [oikeo] in us, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies through the Spirit which dwells in us (v. 11). It is important here to keep in mind that righteousness for Paul, like most Jews, had to do not with justice but right relationships (Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, Vol. 1, p. 271). To have the Spirit of Christ living in us entails that our relationship with him is secure.
Application: Another text for focusing on our sinful condition (especially clarifying what the Bible means by flesh and how our focus on the things of the world leads to death and makes us unable to keep God’s law). This would also be an opportunity to reflect on death and the fear of death. Like with the previous texts, the Second Lesson also affords occasion to proclaim a word of good news that we have been given the Spirit of Christ, who brings Christ to live in us and restore our relation with him (Justification by Grace). To have Christ in us entails a life of peace. Elaborate on the Pauline, Old Testament vision of peace above (Sanctification and Social Ethics). Other sermon possibilities might be to reflect on how the Spirit gives comfort in the face of death (Justification and Sanctification) or to explore the Trinity (the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Christ entailed by calling him the Spirit of Christ).
John 11:1-45
The story of the raising of Lazarus, another account unique to this, the last of the four gospels to be written. This was probably not written until late in the first century and so not by the disciple John; some speculate that one of his disciples was the author. Hints of that possibility are apparent in a document of the early church by Eusebius of Caesarea, who claimed that the gospel was written on the basis of the external facts and so is a “spiritual gospel” (not based on eyewitness accounts of the author) (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1, p. 261). If we can assume this spiritual character, then it makes sense that the narratives would have a deeper meaning, pointing to other realities. This seems evident in this lesson; the raising of Lazarus by Jesus points us to his own resurrection. The result of Jesus giving life in the story is a reference Jesus’ own death and resurrection (vv. 45-53).
The account begins with a report that Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Martha and Mary (who had anointed Jesus with perfume [Luke 10:38-42]), is ill. (This is not the Bethany across the Jordan River where John had baptized Jesus, but a town just east of Jerusalem.) Lazarus is their brother (vv. 1-2). One of the sisters sends Jesus a message, and receiving it he notes that the illness does not lead to death but is for God’s glory that the Son of God may be glorified through it (vv. 3-4). Consequently, though he loves the family, Jesus stays two days longer in his location (vv. 5-6). As elsewhere in this gospel, Jesus acts on his own time (2:3-4; 7:1-10). But Jesus then decides to return to Judea, even though the disciples warn him that the Jews are trying to stone him. (He is referred to as “rabbi.”) Jesus responds that those who walk in the day do not stumble, because they see the light of the world, but they who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them (vv. 7-10). This distinction between darkness [skotos, obscurity] and light [phos, radiance] is characteristic of John’s gospel.
Jesus then tells the disciples that Lazarus has fallen asleep, but he resolves to go to revive his friend. The disciples do not understand that this means Lazarus had died. Then Jesus tells them plainly (vv. 11-14). He expresses gladness that he was not present for the death, so now the disciples can believe. Thomas the Twin tells his fellow disciples that they should all go, to die with Jesus (vv. 15-16). Arriving in Bethany, Jesus finds that Lazarus has been in the tomb for days (v. 17). The city is only two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews have come to Martha and Mary to console them (vv. 18-19). When Martha hears Jesus is coming she goes to meet him while Mary stays home. She laments that had Jesus been present Lazarus would not have died, noting she is sure that God will give Jesus whatever he asks (vv. 20-22).
Jesus promises that Lazarus will rise again (v. 23). Martha responds that she knows that he will rise on the last day (v. 24). (This was a common Pharisaic teaching.) Jesus identifies himself as the resurrection [anastasis] and the life [zoe, motion or activity], so that those who believe in him will live though they die, and everyone who believes in him will never die. Jesus asks Martha if she believes this, and she confesses him to be Messiah, the Son of God (vv. 25-27). Martha returns home to report to Mary, who goes with others to meet Jesus before he comes to the village, telling him when they meet that had he been present Lazarus would not have died (vv. 28-32). Jesus is disturbed by the displays of grief, asks where the body has been laid, and weeps (vv. 33-35). Jews remark about Jesus’ love for Lazarus, but others claim he could have kept Lazarus from dying (vv. 36-37). Arriving at the tomb (a cave with a stone lying against it), Jesus has the stone removed. Martha reports there was a stench from the corpse (vv. 38-39). (Rolling a stone in front of a cave was a common burial practice in Jesus’ lifetime.) He responds that if she believes she would see the glory of God. The stone is removed and Jesus looks upward, thanking the Father for hearing him (vv. 40-41). He calls Lazarus to come out, and the dead man comes out with his hands bound and face wrapped in cloth. Jesus commands that he be unbound (vv. 43-44). (Such binding and wrapping of the corpse was a common burial practice.) Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and see what Jesus does, believe (v. 45).
Application: This is another text offering an opportunity to reflect on death and how Jesus overcomes death, foreshadowing the Easter-event to come (Sin, Justification by Grace, and Eschatology). A sermon could be developed on the light-darkness theme in John (see above), and how having Jesus in our lives overcomes the obscurities of daily life in sin (Justification and Sanctification). Another possible option is to focus on Jesus’ compassion, his weeping, which gives us a glimpse of God feeling our emotions.
