The best is yet to come

Sunday 22 March 2026

Ezekiel 37:12-14 Psalm 130(129)

Romans 8:8-11 John 11:1-45

“Lazarus, come out!” he cries in a loud voice.
“Unbind him, and let him go,” he commands.
breathe upon us with the power of your Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ, and serve you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

 Lectio Divina:*

Meditatio:  “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:16)

 Commentary:

We stand before the sealed tomb with the two sisters of Lazarus, their much‑loved brother now dead and laid to rest. Jesus himself is “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved,” and he weeps for his friend. It is a moment of suspense. What will happen next – and where do I stand in this story?

“Take away the stone,” says Jesus.

“Lazarus, come out!” he cries in a loud voice.

“Unbind him, and let him go,” he commands.

The raising of Lazarus—Eleazar, “God has helped” – is the seventh and final “sign” in the Gospel of John. As we approach Easter, this sign draws us toward the victory of life over death. Belief in the resurrection is a cornerstone of Christian faith, yet it is not merely agreement with an idea. It is a living relationship with the One who is risen and present. Without that relationship, the story becomes only an inspiring tale rather than a source of new life.

Belief in an afterlife was still developing within Judaism of the first century. Even in Jesus’ time, different groups disputed it. In this sense the world of the Gospel is not unlike our own, where faith in life beyond death is often treated as a relic of the past.

Today’s long Lenten reading from John is unique among the Gospels, as are many of the extended discourses and several of the signs found only in the Fourth Gospel. Its uniqueness does not mean “it didn’t happen.” We simply do not know the precise historical details. What we do know is that the story conveys the truth of Jesus’ love and power to bring people into new life—not only in a spiritual or symbolic sense, but in ways that touch the concrete realities of this world. This can unsettle a post‑Enlightenment mind that expects empirical transcripts. The evangelist himself reminds us at the end of the Gospel that not everything was written down, and that what was written was chosen so that we might believe.

For this reason we read Scripture “on our knees”—with openness, humility, and trust in the wisdom of the disciples who went before us. Meeting the Word of God is always a living encounter. The essential question is not simply what was said, but what happens to us when we hear it: the movement from death to life.

We enter the tomb with Jesus and discover life where we least expect it. In our daily Lenten practices, seeds of Easter are already being sown. The best is yet to come. Believe it.

 Oratio

Collect of the Word for this Sunday (Church of Ireland)

Life-giving God, your Son came into the world to free us all from sin and death:

breathe upon us with the power of your Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ, and serve you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Footnotes

*  These readings are taken from the Sunday lectionary used in most Roman Catholic churches. The source is BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages (using the New Revised Standard Version - anglicised catholic edition). Psalms in this Blog are numbered according to the Hebrew (Masoretic) text with the Greek Septuagint/Vulgate numbering in parentheses when a difference arises.