5th Sunday of Lent – A
March 22, 2026 8:30am
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
Resurrection on the Last Day
Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, has died.
His sister, Martha, says to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus replies: “Your brother will rise.”
And Martha responds with a sentence that is significant. She says: “I know he will rise in the resurrection, on the last day.”
Some Jews, in the centuries right before the birth of Christ, had come to believe in a resurrection. They believed that this would happen on the last day, at the end of time.
So, Martha is asserting this belief. And her statement is significant because it sets up Jesus for declaring something dramatically new.
“I am the resurrection…”
Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Notice that Jesus says: “I am” – not I will be “the resurrection.” This means that resurrection is a present reality, and not only something in the future.
And also notice that Jesus says: “I am.” This is dramatic because it means that resurrection is in some way not just a belief for the future, but it is a person in the present.
So, resurrection happens now through a relationship with Jesus in the present. This is why Jesus says: “Whoever believe in me, even if they die, will live.”
Jesus invites us to believe in him and then to live out of this relationship so as to live in resurrected life right now. The idea is that Jesus calls Lazarus and us out of the tombs we are in right now.
Our Tombs
For example, Jesus gently calls us out of our tomb of grief and loss.
He knows what it is like to be abandoned and to feel the loss of those closest to him. He walks with us in that experience and assures us that he is always with us.
He offers himself as our companion especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. He calls us, as we are able to do it, to come out of the tomb of grief and back into the current of life that God must still want for us.
Jesus calls us out of the tomb of anxiety and worry.
He paints that touching and powerful image: “Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they?
“Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your lifespan?” He calls us out of the tomb of worry and anxiety and into a trusting relationship with God.
Then Jesus calls us out of the tomb of guilt and shame.
We may be burdened with guilt for something we have done or crippled in shame about who we are. Remember the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman that we heard here just two weeks ago.
She had a sordid past and felt guilty and ashamed. And yet Jesus takes her where she is and she emerges with a renewed sense of worth and dignity.
One last example: Jesus may be calling us out of the tomb of self-absorption.
Self-absorption means that I am thinking only about myself and my concerns. I may not even be able to relate to the world or viewpoint or feelings of others.
Jesus calls us out of this tomb of self-absorption by teaching us the balance of loving others as we love ourselves. He brings us to the awareness that our true happiness is connected with the well-being of others.
“Do you believe?”
So, the real issue today is the question that Jesus asks Martha: “Do you believe this?”
“Do you believe that I am the resurrection – that “I am the resurrection”? If we do, then he can raise us up and help us out of the tombs we are in right now.
