Gospel Reflection - 5th Sunday of Lent, Year A

John 11:1-45 

The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?" (vs. 8)

So, Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go to die with Him." (vs. 16)

Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (vs. 21)

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." (vs. 32)

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. 37)

Martha, the dead man's sister, said to Him, "Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days." (vs. 39)

My Goodness! Don't they all sound like a bunch of Negative Nellys? Despite all the miracles Jesus had already performed by this point, they still doubted & questioned His actions. He had turned water into wine, cured the royal official's son & the sick man at the pool of Bethesda, multiplied the number of loaves & fish to feed thousands, walked on water, & healed a blind man's sight. Those are just the miracles mentioned in John's Gospel. We'll never know, on this side of Heaven, how many others there were. (See John 21:25)

I try to be a positive person most of the time, but sometimes it can be difficult when in the presence of others who tend to be more negative. It makes me wonder how Jesus dealt with all the negativity surrounding Him. Well, twice in this passage, John mentions that He became perturbed. The first was when He saw Mary & the two Jews with her weeping. Next was a moment later when He approached the tomb & some Jews were grumbling about how He couldn't save Lazarus, but healed the blind man. 

I've always thought the word "perturbed" was an angry or irritated term. If if were me, I'd be rolling my eyes in exasperation, frustrated that they just hadn't caught on to all the wonderful miracles so far. However, in this case, perturbed is more a reference to one being troubled or upset. Jesus was troubled by the doubts still lingering in the crowd...doubts that He truly was the Son of God & had the power to heal. Once the stone was rolled away, Jesus spoke this aloud - "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."

"Because of the crowd!" He didn't need to speak the words aloud or even raise Lazarus from the dead in front of the crowd. He chose to, so that witnesses to Lazarus' resurrection would come to believe in the Son of God. 

Lazarus had been buried in the tomb four days prior to Jesus' arrival. Four days! You can just imagine the stench Martha referred to when Jesus requested to take away the stone! In raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus not only displayed His power to heal, but also gave us, even today, a sign that we are never too far gone (physically, mentally, or spiritually) to be called back to Him. We only need the faith that Martha & Mary had to return to Him when we have strayed. As the saying goes, "If God seems too far away, who moved?" He will ALWAYS be there for us! How's that for a positive statement?!? 

How do you respond when confronted with negative attitudes of others?

Have you moved away from God? If so, prayerfully take a step back to Him, perhaps with a trip to the confessional.