Today in the Spirit: Lent 5A
The designation of Lent 5 Sunday as “Passion Sunday” in the BCP 2019 is a return to the same designation in the BCP 1928, where the two-week period from Lent 5 Sunday through Holy Saturday is also called “Passiontide.” The Collect and readings assigned in Lent 5A continue the trajectory of the penitential season, highlighting our need for divine grace to overcome sin. This week, there is also a particular emphasis on new life in Christ through the bodily resurrection from the dead.
The extended Gospel readings in John in Lent Year A finish with this week’s assignment of the narrative of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead from John 11:(1-17)18-44. Jesus has delayed coming to the sickbed of his friend Lazarus, arriving after he has died and been buried. At the tomb, Jesus prays: “‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.’When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “‘Lazarus, come out’” And he does!
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The assigned Old Testament reading from Ezekiel 37:1-14 alerts us in our worship of God’s power to raise the dead to new life. Ezekiel receives a vision in which YHWH commands him to speak life into a valley of dry human bones. He does, and after the bones are transformed into an army of living beings, we hear the meaning of the vision for the people of Israel languishing in exile: “‘Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel’”(13).
The assigned Psalm 130 speaks poignantly to the sinner’s desire to be saved and, some might say, to the dead’s desire to be resurrected. As we give voice to the words of this psalm after the OT reading, we can imagine ourselves as the bones in the valley crying out: “Out of the deep have I called unto you, O LORD; LORD, hear my voice” (1).
And yet, in the assigned New Testament reading in Romans 6:15-23, we find Paul responding to the countervailing tendency at work in the human heart to put off God and continue sinning: “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” And he concludes,
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:22–23
The collect appointed is another Lentenide petition to Almighty God to respond with “grace” to his people, unable to conquer their own “unruly wills and affections.” We will note in worship that the prayer is not for a change of behavior per se, but for stability of heart, that out of love for “what you command” and desire for “what you promise,” we might be led to behave according to a new vision of ourselves revealed through Christ.
The Collect
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
From Your Graves (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37:1–14
Ezekiel’s vision of “dry bones” coming to life, of course, makes a solid connection with the Gospel reading on Jesus raising Lazarus. The parallel is especially evident in the latter part of the reading, where YHWH interprets the vision, saying, “Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves” (12). The phrases “open your graves” and “raise you from your graves” are repeated in this section. It is as if to say to the exiles in Babylon who may feel their situation is bad already that, in their sin, they are not just dead but dead and buried. To be in the grave connotes to the ancient Jewish population not just the physical end of life, but being lost and forgotten communally.
Here again, we grasp a major theme in the church’s Lenten messaging: The good news is so good because the bad news is so bad. It is vitally important that we take the time to rest, as it were, in the paradox of mortal life without Christ, as like death in the grave. It is all too easy to skirt around and brush off the horrible depths to which we have sunk in sin, minimizing in our minds the salvation, even the excavation, Christ has accomplished for us in coming, rising, and dying. We settle too easily in the mode of thinking that Jesus is a welcome improvement and not the breath of life and release from the tomb he really is.
Today, Holy Spirit, breath of God, restore us daily as a people risen from “our graves,” that newly unearthed, we may join again with “everything that has breath” and “praise the LORD, O praise the LORD” (Ps. 150:6).
Let Your Ears Consider Well the Voice of My Supplications (Psalm 130)
1 Out of the deep have I called unto you, O LORD; *
Psalm 130, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
LORD, hear my voice.
2 O let your ears consider well *
the voice of my supplications.
3 If you, LORD, were to mark what is done amiss, *
O Lord, who could abide it?
4 For there is mercy with you; *
therefore you shall be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; *
in his word is my trust.
6 My soul waits for the LORD, *
more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, trust in the LORD, for with the Lord there is mercy, *
and with him is plenteous redemption;
8 And he shall redeem Israel *
from all their sins.
Or, “Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” (2, ESV). Some commentators believe this psalm was originally composed as a song of personal testimony and later became popular as a chant used by pilgrims for approaching the temple. This could be said of many of the psalms entitled “A Song of Ascent” (Pss. 120-132).
We must note here, not only the singer’s sincere contrition, but also his high level of maturity in expressing sorrow for what he has done, as if this saint has been in this place before, familiar with his grievous sinful condition yet supremely confident of the Lord’s “plenteous redemption” (7, that Heb. word Ḥesed again) to forgive and restore. See how he believes that no sinner could ever “abide” (3, or “stand,” ESV) in the presence of the Lord, and yet he does stand guard in repentance and “waits for the LORD, more than watchmen for the morning” (6).
Surely, beloved, we need to “be attentive” to the psalmist just as he pleads with the Lord to be attentive to him, that we ourselves might be equally expectant of God’s love in response to our humble confessions. His deep penitence does not send him, as it often does us, into a tailspin of paralyzing self-doubt or fear or rebellion, but to anticipate, even if it tarries, the merciful reply of the Lord. He waits “for the morning” (6), for the sun. Jesus Christ is our sun in the morning: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness: (1 John 1:8-9).
Today, in the Spirit, reciting this psalm in our worship makes us eager and vigilant for the mercy of God, which we believe must come in response to our sincere pleas for forgiveness.
What Then (Romans 6:15-23)
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:15–23
Have you ever been walking through the woods and seen what seemed to be clear paths through the trees that others have used before? Paul uses the tactic of posing and answering questions throughout Romans (3:1, 3:9, 4:1, 4:9, 6:1, 6:15, 7:7, 9:30, 11:1, 11:11) to articulate paths of logic that the revelation of Christ might lead us to see. In this text, the question, “Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace?” (15), has the ring of a temptation we hear the evil one whispering in our ears: “Why not just go ahead and sin? It’s always forgiven through Christ.”
This is a path which, like those we find in the woods, leads nowhere, says Paul. Having established earlier (6:1-14) that we do not sin because it is against our nature as Christians (“our old self was crucified with [Christ]”), he now puts forward the argument that it is also against our best interest: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (22).
It is a dual benefit: “sanctification” (the action of God declaring that we are at once and over time holy through Christ), and “eternal life” (the gift of God decreeing that we are no longer under the penalty of death, but from conversion onward alive to God). What a gift indeed! The “fruit” of living in obedience is infinitely sweeter than that which comes from living in sin.
Today, Holy Spirit, help us by your wisdom to refrain from taking paths of wrong thinking leading nowhere, and by your power to put aside the longing to treasure sin in our hearts.
Light of this World (John 11:(1-17) 18-44)
1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days]. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” 28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Though there certainly could have been more, Jesus is reported in the Gospels to have raised three people from the dead during his years of active ministry: the widow’s son at Nain (Lk. 7:11-17); Jairus’ daughter (Lk. 8:40-56); and Lazarus in Bethany (this reading). The latter stands out in part because it is at the end of our Lord’s ministry before he enters Jerusalem, and the expectation level is high for the appearance of a messiah. But this resuscitation is also unique because it is from the grave. Lazarus has been in the tomb long enough to create a stench in the air. But even from the closed tomb, Jesus is able to call forth renewed life (recalling the language from the Ezekiel reading and the psalm).
This narrative anticipates the power of God through Jesus to give new life to the long dead, preparing NT readers for the accounts of people rising from the tombs in Matthew at the moment of Jesus’s death and the mass rising of all the dead at the time of final judgement in Revelation.
What is the devotional application, brothers and sisters? There is no tomb too deep that the Lord cannot find it or too old that he will have forgotten it. There is no final resting place so far distant on the land or in the sea or in the stars that it can be concealed from Jesus, who is looking for the dead to rise. To those of us who believe, still breathing the air but always marching forward toward death, we realize that no grave can ever be outside the range of our Lord’s final call to “come out!”
The word of the Lord in Hosea reads, “I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?” (13:14).
Death has no permanent home for the believer in Jesus Christ. Today, in the Spirit, we hear the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from inside the tomb and take comfort.
Today in the Spirit
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