Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 29, 2020
John 11: 1-45
The Death of Lazarus
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
An excerpt from a letter by Mark Adams and Miriam Maldinado Escobar serving in Mexico
Elsa Santillan Garcia
A Mother
A Spouse
A Daughter
A Sister
A Friend
Created in the Divine Image
Beloved by God
PRESENTE!
Silvestre walked into the Migrant Resource Center (MRC) in Agua Prieta with two backpacks. One was his. The other was Elsa’s, his wife who had died during the night in the desert about 30 miles west of us. Silvestre was returned by the Border Patrol and found refuge at the MRC while we worked with the Mexican consulate to repatriate Elsa’s remains to their community in Mexico.
Several days after Silvestre had been returned, Laura Stump, the MRC’s U.S. coordinator, shared with him about the Healing Our Borders Prayer Vigil that we hold every Tuesday and asked him if he’d like us to make a cross for Elsa. Laura recounts their encounter in her article, “Two Backpacks”:
“‘Silvestre, we hold this weekly vigil in Douglas,’ I explained to him, gently handing him the cross. ‘We remember and honor all those who’ve died around here in the desert. If it’s alright with you, I would like to make a cross for Elsa.’
“He looked at me, eyes brimming with tears, and watched my hands as I pulled a marker out of the drawer.
“‘Gracias,’ he said emphatically, placing his hand on my hand, looking into my eyes with conviction, ‘gracias.’
“He grasped the marker and carefully etched her name in all capital letters. We added her birthday. Her death day. The words, ‘Mother, Sister, Daughter, Wife, Friend.’ I wrapped her carefully in my arms and carried her out of the center.
“I crossed through the port of entry on foot, handing over my passport without saying a single word or being asked a single question, all the while clutching her to my chest.
“We crossed to the U.S. in less than 30 seconds — a journey she died making.”
Shirley Jewell, 92-year-old founding member of Frontera de Cristo, heard of the decision, she said, “Well, I guess they’ll just have to put me in jail too.” She went on to share how when faced with human need here in the borderlands, she never asked for anyone’s immigration papers. She just tried to share God’s love the best she could.
Shirley has been embodying FDC’s guiding principles to provide humanitarian assistance in the borderlands throughout her life:
• All persons are created in the Divine Image and deserve to be treated with respect.
• We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves.
• We are called to provide food for the hungry, water for the thirsty and welcome to the stranger.
• We are called to follow the example of the Good Samaritan.
• We do not have the right nor the authority to determine immigration status and will be guided by our biblical principles.
And so we gather every Tuesday to honor the memory of Elsa and the 313 persons whose bodies have been recovered in Cochise County — each with a cross — to remind us that when we did not welcome Elsa, we did not welcome Jesus; to lament our nation’s cruel policy and our complicity in systems of oppression; to pray for our nations for a better way and for an end to death in the desert; and to commit ourselves to work for a more just, more peace-filled and more loving world.
Mark Adams and Miriam Maldonado are mission co-workers with the Presbyterian Border Ministry in Agua Prieta, Mexico, where Mark has served since 1998. In his role as U.S. coordinator of the binational ministry Frontera de Cristo, Mark partners with Rev. Angel Valencia of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico in coordinating the six ministry areas of Frontera de Cristo: church development, health, family counseling, the New Hope Community Center, mission education, and the Just Trade Center.
Miriam connects people and organizations across borders and serves as a liaison of Frontera de Cristo with the Center for Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation and Recuperation (CRREDA in Spanish), DouglaPrieta Trabaja, and the Lirio de los Valles Presbyterian Church. She works with DouglaPrieta to help the community, schools, rehabilitation centers and families of the church grow their own food, increasing their nutrition possibilities and connection with God’s creation and one another.
Both Miriam and Mark have been instrumental in the development of Healing Our Borders/Sanando Nuestras Fronteras, an ecumenical group in which Frontera de Cristo is active.
Fonte: Presbyterian Mission - PCUSA. Disponível em: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/
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