5th Sunday of Lent

 The raising of Lazarus helps to establish the context for the last week of Jesus' life. When he hears of the death of Lazarus Jesus is found to be in hiding after the Jewish authorities attempted to arrest him. He had traveled to where John the Baptist had been baptizing and remained there (Jn 10: 40) Since Bethany is so close to Jerusalem Jesus is taking a big risk that he may be caught and imprisoned. This shows how important Mary, Martha and Lazarus were to him as friends and the crowd notes: " 'See how he loved him!' " (Jn 11: 36)  The impact of the raising of Lazarus is a threat to the authorities who say: " 'What are we to do? This man is performing signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.' " (Jn 11: 48) Still facing hostility, Jesus subsequently retreats from Jerusalem to Ephraim (Jn 11: 54) but he returns to Bethany six days prior to Passover (Jn 12: 1). The importance of the family in Bethany to Jesus is reinforced by Mary anointing Jesus' feet with costly perfume (Jn 12: 2-7) A crowd of people come out to Bethany attracted by Jesus and the miracle. This, in turn, causes the authorities to plot the death of Jesus and even to consider killing Lazarus (Jn 12: 9-10). The next day the crowd of people who were in Jerusalem for the Passover week come out to Bethany and welcome Jesus as Messiah. Both crowds, that in Bethany and those from Jerusalem, are drawn by the raising of Lazarus as a sign of Jesus' messianic credentials (Jn 12: 17-18). The Pharisees complain: " 'You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone over to him!' " (Jn 12: 19) Jesus goes on to cleanse the Temple and declare himself as taking its place as the mediator between the Jewish people and God. Thus, in addition to the synoptic gospels,  we can see how tense the situation was for Jesus due to his raising of Lazarus. We can better admire his courage in entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday putting himself on collision course with the Roman and Jewish authorities. This we will enact liturgically next Sunday as we recall the events of that fateful week leading to the passion, death and resurrection of the Jesus. He is the One who we encounter in the holy Eucharist  every time we come to Mass.