The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Reverend Michael J. Moffitt
March 22, 2026
Do You Believe This?
Text: John 11:18–44
Today is the fifth and final Sunday in the season of Lent.
Last week we read the story of Jesus healing a man who was born blind. This was something that had never been done before. It pointed us to the truth that until Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior we will be blind in our sin. John 8:12,
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Today’s gospel reading from John 11 is another example of the of the power and authority that Jesus has but also that he depends on the Father for everything.
Today we’ll focus on the story of Lazurus being raised from the dead. The scene leading up to our passage begins with Jesus receiving word that Lazarus, his friend, has fallen ill. His sisters Mary and Martha sent word for him to come quickly. Jesus tells his disciples that this illness would not lead to death, so he decides to wait two more days before they head to Bethany.
Listen to John 11:14–15, Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
The scene now shifts to Bethany, near Jerusalem, as Jesus arrives and finds that Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. Burials normally took place on the day of the death, so he has been dead for four days. For Jews this probably signifies that Lazarus is clearly dead and beginning to decay.
Dr. Rod Whitaker in his commentary on the Gospel John writes,
A later Jewish text that cites an authority from the early third century A.D. says the mourners should continue to come to the tomb for three days because the dead person continues to be present. Mourning is at its height on the third day, presumably because it is the last time the dead person will be present there. Bar Kappara a Jewish scholar of the late 2nd and early 3rd century taught: Until three days after death the soul keeps on returning to the grave, thinking that it will go back into the body; but when it sees that the facial features have become disfigured, it departs and abandons the body. Thus, the reference to the fourth day may be quite significant for setting the scene for another dramatic miracle.
As Jesus approaches, Martha comes out to meet him. She says,
"Lord, . . . if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
It is difficult to know how to understand this statement. It seems possible that her first sentence is a rebuke of Jesus and in her second sentence a very defective view of Jesus: She regards Jesus as a mediator who is heard by God, but she does not understand that he is life itself. In that misunderstanding suggests a distance between Jesus and God through the repetition of the word God.
There is no doubt that her view of Jesus is defective. In this very conversation Jesus is revealing himself more perfectly to her, as he revealed himself to the Samaritan woman, despite her defective views.
But we should also see here a genuine, though defective, faith. Her initial statement need not imply a rebuke. It could simply be a lament, although her knowledge of Jesus is defective, she does believe Jesus could have healed Lazarus. And her belief that Jesus’ prayers are answered does pick up on the truth of Jesus’ dependence upon the Father, as will be illustrated later in this story. So there is more here than simple unbelief or defective belief.
Actually her statement in verse 22 is actually a profound statement of faith: But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
It might be that she believed Jesus even now could ask God to raise Lazarus, but her reaction when he actually does raise Lazarus indicates that is not something she was expecting.
She continues to believe in him even though Lazarus’ death seems to call into question the messenger’s report that Jesus had said, “This sickness will not end in death” (v. 4). Also, even though Jesus delayed coming to help, she continues to believe that Jesus is the agent of the gracious God despite the fact that this graciousness was not present to heal her brother. Her trust in God’s love for one that Christ clearly loved is not shaken by what seems like indifference or disregard.
In this way Martha is an example of powerful faith, which should encourage all believers who face situations in which God seems to be absent or uncaring. The hard parts of life are occasions for learning about God and drawing closer to him.
Jesus’ response “Your brother will rise again” comes across as a common consolation among those Jews who believed in the future resurrection. That is how Martha takes it, which is another case of misunderstanding. Not that her belief in the future resurrection is wrong, but Jesus is speaking of something more profound, the very foundation upon which the future resurrection itself rests. As almost always in John’s Gospel, the key to unlocking Jesus’ cryptic sayings is Jesus’ own identity.
Martha has expressed her faith in the future resurrection and her brother’s place in it. Jesus responds to this statement of faith by challenging her with a deeper revelation of himself:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
All of the “I am” sayings in John’s gospel have to do with Christ as the life-giver, as is clearly the case here where we see that he does not just give life but is life itself. As is made evident in some of the other “I am” sayings, he gives life by becoming our life. For example, John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” John 15:1 The main point is that Jesus’ own identity spans the gap between the already and the not yet. Life is the more basic term, and the life Jesus is talking about even encompasses the resurrection life of the world to come. This “already” and “not yet” was seen earlier in John’s gospel.
For example John 6:25–26, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hearthe voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
So we have in the raising of Lazarus a revelation of Jesus’ authority and his identity as life-giver because he is life itself. Jesus’ role goes far beyond our earthly existence.
The two terms Jesus uses, resurrection and life, are unpacked in the statements that follow. “I am the resurrection”, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” This statement addresses Martha directly in the situation she is experiencing with the death of her brother. Jesus’ claim is mind-boggling. He says it is faith in him that brings one back to life at the resurrection at the last day. He is the ground of eschatological hope or put more simply our future destiny.
But then he goes even further. “I am the life”: “Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” The life that comes through believing in Jesus is not interrupted by physical death. The topic is the nature of the life that the believer has, namely one that death cannot destroy or interrupt since the believer is in union with him who is the life. When we die in Christ we pass from life to life without missing a beat.
Martha has confessed her faith in the resurrection and now Jesus has revealed himself to be the source of resurrection and life itself. He asks her, “Do you believe this?” She, like the former blind man, is given the opportunity to make a confession of faith. She responds,
“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
She does not repeat the wording that Jesus used, but she combines two of the most common titles used for Jesus in this Gospel. It would seem that she does not really grasp what Jesus is saying, nor understand the full implications of what he has told her.
So her use of more common titles may be a sign that she has not understood him. But her faith is still genuine and solid, for it is in Jesus himself. She is not grasping all that he is saying about himself, but she is sticking with him and confessing as much as she knows, which is what faith is all about.
As the events of the raising of Lazarus unfold Jesus will instruct her in what he has just claimed, thus bringing her step by step in her knowledge of who he is and what he is offering so she may respond in faith.
This is a very good way to understand the process of sanctification, or becoming set apart, holy. The process doesn’t depend on the power of the faith but that it leads to a deeper communion with Jesus, the giver of life.
This example of patient progress in our Lord’s dealing with Martha should be a great encouragement to those of us who are not always quick on the uptake when it comes to God’s revelation of himself to us.
After Martha made her confession of faith Jesus apparently sent her to call her sister Mary, since she tells Mary, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
This designation of Jesus as teacher is interesting after the more exalted terms of Martha’s confession. But it is appropriate since he had just given her a teaching.
Mary runs to Jesus as had Martha showing that they had a great attachment to Jesus, which reciprocated his love for them. In coming to Jesus in the midst of suffering the sisters provide a model for all believers.
John tells us that Martha gives her message secretly and that Mary and Jesus meet apart from the crowd so it would seem Jesus desires privacy, perhaps, because he is a marked man in this region.
But his cover is blown when those who were mourning with Mary follow her, thinking she was going to wail at the tomb. So all the mourners in the house gather at the tomb, providing witnesses to what is about to happen and therefore giving them the opportunity to believe others as well through their testimony.
When Mary reaches Jesus, she falls at his feet and said, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” This is exactly what her sister had said (v. 21). Perhaps the sisters had been sharing this thought with one another. I’m assuming that after sending a messenger to inform Jesus of their brother’s illness they were certain that he would come. This tells us a lot about the relationship that Lazarus and his sisters had with Jesus. Whether her statement is rebuke or lament is unclear, as in the case of Martha. It could have elements of both, though the fact that she is wailing suggests lamentation is her main response.
Mary does not add an expression of faith as Martha, though falling at Jesus’ feet may suggest a similar attitude.
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. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
I can understand that Jesus was moved because of Mary weeping over her brother’s death, but I wonder if he was troubled because there were likely professional mourners there weeping and wailing on cue.
I never really understood such a tradition, and it would trouble me. The word used for troubled in the Greek indicates being agitated or disturbed, lack of calmness. When they arrive at the tomb Jesus wept.
Those watching assumed that he was mourning over the death of his friend, but I don’t think so. There would be no reason to do so anyway, at least on his part. Jesus knows what he’s about to do.
I believe that Jesus was responding to the genuine sorrow he observed. The grief caused by death is one facet of death’s evil that caused his anger. He is angry at death and saddened at grief. In both cases the reason is the same, namely, his love for his friends.
In a gospel where life is a major theme death is seen as the enemy. Jesus came to defeat sin and the resulting death, but what he was about to do would reveal his power over them both.
Jesus orders the mourners to take the stone away from the entrance of the tomb. Martha’s objection that there would be a stench due to decomposition cast light on the greatness of this sign. Jesus is raising someone who should already have begun to decay. There is no indication in the story that Lazarus comes out bearing marks of decay.
Here we should see, as we saw with the giving of sight to the blind man, a revelation of Jesus’ power and authority as the agent of creation. He doesn’t just bring the person back to life by reuniting soul and body, he also restores the body itself. Listen to John 11:41–42,
So they took away the stone. And Jesuslifted up his eyes and said, “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.”
He vocalizes his prayer for the sake of the crowd. In other words, it is not enough for people to be impressed with Jesus. They must believe in him as the one sent from God. It is precisely because Jesus is sent from God and does as God directs him that he is heard by God.
The Father as the sender is primary. Jesus is not a wonderworker who is able to get God to do what he wants him to do. He is the obedient Son sent by the Father to do the Father’s will. The Father’s will and the Son’s petition coincide exactly. Later Jesus will say that his followers are to share in this same relationship through their union with him, and thereby they will also be heard by the Father.
Finally, Jesus gives yet another command, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.“ This is a cry of victory. The grave has been defeated and liberty achieved. It is only a partial sign of the coming victory of Jesus’ resurrection, since Lazarus will need to die again and enter the grave until the final resurrection. But it is a great sign of the life that is stronger than death, which those who believe in Jesus share. And it is a graphic sign of Jesus’ own power and authority.
As we continue to the end of our Lenten journey are you looking forward to Holy Week and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ because He is your Savior and you have new life in him? If that’s not happening in you I invite you to come to Jesus by faith and repentance of sin that you might have the joy of victory over sin and death. I would love to talk with you about this most important question.
Let’s pray.
©2026 The Rev. Michael J. Moffitt
