March 17, 2013 - Year A Scrutinies

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Fifth Sunday of Lent – Year A Scrutinies 
Lectionary: 34

Reading 1EZ 37:12-14

Thus says the Lord GOD:
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.

God reveals the resurrection.  Heretofore, most Jews had thought that their salvation and  their inheritance was in this life.  They had no idea that God's promises extended to the next.

Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

The Land to which God is making reference is not on this earth.  But in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Responsorial PsalmPS 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

R. (7) With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

God is gracious and forgiving.  From the midst of this world, I call to you my God.  Listen to my plea.

If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

If God will not forgive our sins, who can be saved?  But you, my God are merciful and we glorify your name.

I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the LORD.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

I have faith in you my God. I have faith in your word.  More than guards who wait for daylight, the nation of Israel hopes in you O God.

For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Because God is gracious and He saves His people.  He will bring Israel back to Him forgiving their sins.

Reading 2ROM 8:8-11

Brothers and sisters:
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Brethren, the world can not please God.  For the world satisfies only the lusts of the flesh.  Therefore forsake the flesh and the world and come to the Spirit of God.

Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Whoever does not live according to the righteousness of the Spirit, is not in Christ.  For the Spirit of God is love.

If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.

Therefore, if you dwell in the Spirit, you will be raised from the dead by the Spirit in the same way that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. 

GospelJN 11:1-45

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany,
the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

Lazarus of Bethany, a dear friend of Jesus Christ and the brother of Mary and Martha, had taken ill.

Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil
and dried his feet with her hair;
it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.

Mary was the one who had anointed Jesus with perfumed oil.  The one from whom seven demons had been expelled:

Luke 7:37-38
King James Version (KJV)
37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,  38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 

So the sisters sent word to him saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
When Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

So, the sisters called for Jesus to come and save their brother.  When Jesus heard, He told His disciples, "this illness will not end in death.  But this has happened so that you may have occasion to praise God."

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.

So Jesus, although He loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, remained where He was for two days.

Then after this he said to his disciples,
“Let us go back to Judea.”
The disciples said to him,
“Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you,
and you want to go back there?”

Then Jesus said, "Let's go back to Judea."  But the disciples were afraid because the Jews had just tried to kill Jesus, so they objected, "But the Jews are trying to kill you!"

Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If one walks during the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world.
But if one walks at night, he stumbles,
because the light is not in him.” 

He said to them, "while we are in this life, we must do the righteous works of God."

He said this, and then told them,
“Our friend Lazarus is asleep,
but I am going to awaken him.”

He also said, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going to wake him."

So the disciples said to him,
“Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.”

They thought He meant that Lazarus was simply resting.  So they said, "If he's sleeping, then there's no problem.  He'll recover on his own."

But Jesus was talking about his death,
while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep.
So then Jesus said to them clearly,
“Lazarus has died.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
Let us go to him.”

But Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.  And now you will see the marvels of God that your faith may be complete."

So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples,
“Let us also go to die with him.”

St. Thomas, the Apostle, ever the doubter said, "Let's go and die with Him then."

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother.

When they arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days.  Since Bethany was close to Jerusalem, many Jews were present to console the sisters.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.

When Martha heard that Jesus was there, she went to meet Him.  But Mary did not.

Martha said to Jesus,
“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.”

Martha's faith, in my opinion, is huge.  Martha says, "If you had been here, my brother would still be alive.  But even now, I know that you can save him."

Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus said, "Lazarus will rise."  And Martha said, "On the last day."

Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

And Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and life.  Whoever believes in me will live even when they die. Do you believe me?"
Martha replied, "Yes, Lord.  I know that you are the Son of God."

When she had said this,
she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying,
“The teacher is here and is asking for you.”
As soon as she heard this,
she rose quickly and went to him.

Then Martha went to her sister, in secret, and told her to come and meet Jesus.

For Jesus had not yet come into the village,
but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her
saw Mary get up quickly and go out,
they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

 When Mary got up, all in the house followed her, thinking she was going to pray.

When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him,
she fell at his feet and said to him,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.”

Mary fell at Jesus' feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would be alive."

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping,
he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”

Jesus asked, "where is his body laid?"

They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”

And the Jews led him there.  On the way, Jesus was crying.  And the Jews admired the fact that He loved Lazarus so much. But some wondered why He hadn't saved Lazarus.

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”

When Jesus arrived at the tomb, which was a cave, He ordered the stone covering the door be removed.  But Martha said, "Lord, there will be a stench."

Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?”

Jesus reminded her to have faith.

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.”

Then Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and prayed that the Father give the people a sign so that they might believe.  And He asked that God raise Lazarus from the dead.  Then He called out to Lazarus that he would come out.  And Lazarus did.  Still tied up in the burial cloth.  Jesus then turned to the Jews and ordered them to untie him.

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

And many of the Jews who had been with Mary began to believe in Jesus on that day. 

The alternate reading is merely a subset of the primary reading.  So, I'll just post it without comment.

OrJN 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33B-45

The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
When Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
“Let us go back to Judea.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“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.”
Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”
He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”
So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“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.”
Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.