5th Sunday of Lent, Year A – Homily (2026)
5th Sunday of Lent, Year A
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Romans 8:8-11
John 11:1-45
March 22, 2026
The way we see death changes the way we see life.
Through the prophet Ezekiel our Lord promised a day when He will open our graves and have us rise from them, a day when He will restore us to what was meant to be. He will put his Spirit within us so that we might have life.
We die in our sins. Jesus gives us life.
Jesus made many people’s earthly lives better by healing them.
When He learned that his friend Lazarus whom He loved was ill, one would think Jesus would immediately go and heal him. He did not. In fact, we are told that Jesus did not go because He loved them.
By the time Jesus departs, Lazarus had died. He tells his disciples that it is good that He had not gone before Lazarus died so they might believe. Jesus sees a broader picture. He does not see just one man who is ill. Jesus sees something greater in the way He sees life.
By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. There is no question he is dead.
Greeting Jesus, Martha makes a statement of great faith, “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.”
Mary echoes Martha’s statement faith as she fell at Jesus’ feet.
Martha professes faith in the resurrection on the last day.
Jesus says, “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.”
Does this make any sense to you? Everyone dies! Our bodies grow old. How can Jesus say we will never die if we believe in him?
We must consider what death and life mean to us.
Jesus is looking beyond the death of our physical bodies. Jesus is speaking of eternal life. They did not understand. Jesus became “perturbed and deeply troubled” to the point of weeping.
They knew Jesus had done great miracles like the healing of the man born blind. They believed that if Jesus had come sooner, He could have done something so Lazarus would not have died.
They are right. Jesus could have healed Lazarus and kept him from death but He doesn’t.
Why?
Because Jesus understands that He has something greater to accomplish here. What could be greater than healing a dying man of illness?
Jesus calls Lazarus out from the tomb…
Wow!
Jesus tells them to untie Lazarus from the burial clothes to let him go. Many saw this and began to “believe in him.”
Jesus has power even over death!!!
What is death?
What is life?
Those who knew Lazarus had died were thinking in terms of physical death. They thought of life in terms of this world. Jesus thinks of something greater.
Jesus sees the death that matters as sin. When we commit mortal sins, our iniquities break our relationship with God. That’s why we call it mortal sin. Our sin takes over us. We are tied up by our sins.
Do not be afraid! Even when we die in our sins there is hope. God gives us a chance to turn back to him. We can not save ourselves but Jesus can. He does. He dies on the Cross for us.
God could reject us for our sins.
He does not.
God our Father sends his only begotten Son Jesus to die for us so that we might have life with im. Jesus does not come to condemn us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (see John 3:16-17).
If you think your sins are too great to be forgiven, you are wrong.
You can trust in our Lord. You can trust in his words found in Scripture. Jesus willingly laid down his life as his supreme act of love for us (see John 15:13).
Jesus loves you. He gives all of us who sin an opportunity for redemption and new life. We just need to confess our sins and repent.
Then Jesus will give us new life and say to us what He said to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more” (John 8:11).