I find the readings for the Mass of the 5th Sunday of Lent (Year A) to be among the most exhilarating set of liturgical readings in the canon, with its recurring promises of resurrection culminating in the Gospel story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the tomb. I reflected quite a bit on them over the weekend of the 5th Sunday. During the following week, I came across what I’d guess is by now a well-traveled “sermon jam” drawn from recordings of Ravi Zacharias, which asks what should perhaps be considered, for Christians, the fundamental question that arises from the fact of Lazarus having arisen:
This is the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship him fearlessly; holy and righteous all the days of our lives. (Luke 1:73-75)