Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year A (John 11:1-45)

In the context of the early church’s use of John 11:1-45 (the raising of Lazarus) as part of the immediate preparation of “the elect” for baptism, this particular passage shifts in focus from a miracle story to a teaching about the meaning of baptism. As such, it imparts some important lessons.
1. Baptism is the result of the initiative of Jesus and not the individual coming to the sacrament. In Jesus, God calls Lazarus from death to life.

2. Baptism must always be seen in the context of a larger community of faith, and not simply as a matter between an individual and Jesus. In the gospel passage, Martha and Mary are very much a part of the story.

3. The new life of grace begun in Baptism, while not the fullness of life to be experienced in the resurrection of the body, is a foretaste of that fullness. Baptism brings about a real change in the person being baptized.

4. The death and resurrection experienced by the baptized makes the physical death that must inevitably come to each of us less fearful.

5. The celebration of baptism is a witness to the world of God’s power at work in Jesus Christ.