Christ the Cornerstone

Lazarus’ story shows God’s love and life-giving power

“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” (Jn 11:21-22).

Life is God’s greatest gift. Nothing is more precious or important than life itself for the obvious reason that if we were not alive, we would have nothing, know nothing and be nothing. And yet, we take this amazing and essential gift for granted!

When we recite the Nicene Creed, we profess our faith in the God who created all things visible and invisible. Everything that exists—whether spiritual or material—has been created from nothing by the triune God who is the Divine Life-Giver, the source, ground and goal of everything.

We believe that all human life is sacred from the moment of conception until the time of death. But our faith also tells us that human life transcends death, which is a new beginning, not the end of life.

Because Jesus has overcome sin and death and ransomed us all from death’s captivity, we can be confident that our lives will continue beyond death to an existence that is unlike anything that we can imagine. We believe in the resurrection of the dead—God’s ultimate gift.

Tomorrow, July 29, is the memorial of saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus. The amazing story of Jesus’ friend Lazarus, which is referenced in tomorrow’s Gospel reading (Jn 11:19-27), gives us a foretaste of God’s life-giving power. There was no doubt about Lazarus’ death. He was in the tomb for three days, and his body was already beginning to decay. His sister Martha assumed that there was nothing Jesus could do to save him. “But even now,” she said, “I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (Jn 11:22). Martha trusts that the Giver of Life will honor Jesus’ wishes, and this is the reason for her hope.

Jesus tells Martha matter-of-factly: “Your brother will rise” (Jn 11:23). But Martha is ambivalent. She replies, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day” (Jn 11:24). But it’s clear that she has no confidence that Lazarus can be restored to her now. Jesus tells her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:25-26) Martha replies, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (Jn 11:27).

This is the faith that we profess: Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, whose self-sacrificing love is stronger than death itself. At his command, the powers of death must give way to the all-powerful gift of life. Martha overcomes her ambivalence and affirms her faith in Jesus. And, as we know, Jesus then raises Lazarus from the dead—to the utter amazement of all.

Lazarus receives from God the gift of life in an extraordinary way. Not only will he rise again “in the resurrection on the last day,” but he has his earthly life extended as a sign to all who believe in God’s life-giving power.

“No one has ever seen God,” St. John reminds us in the July 29 first reading (1 Jn 4:12). “Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1 Jn 4:12). The life-giving power of God comes to us through love. If we love one another, Divine Life is in us. We know this because “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16).

Jesus said to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” So, they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. 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.” And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go” (Jn 11:40-44).

Death cannot separate us from the life-giving power of God’s love. That’s what the miracle of Lazarus’s resurrection is meant to teach us. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. If we believe in him, then the gift of life can never be taken away from us. If we trust in him, as Martha did in spite of her doubts, Jesus will never disappoint us. †