1. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (Jn 11:21, 32).

These words, which you heard read in today’s Gospel, are spoken first by Martha, then by Mary, the two sisters of Lazarus, and are addressed to Jesus of Nazareth, who was a friend to them and to their brother.

Today’s liturgy brings the theme of death to our attention. This is now the fifth Sunday of Lent, and the time of Christ’s Passion is drawing near. The time of death and resurrection. Today we look at this reality through the death and resurrection of Lazarus. In Christ’s messianic mission, this profound event serves as a preparation for Holy Week and Easter.

2. “. . . my brother would not have died”.

In these words resounds the voice of the human heart, the voice of a heart that loves and bears witness to what death is. We constantly hear talk of death and read news reports about the deaths of various people. There is a steady stream of information on this subject. There are even statistics on death. We know that death is a common and unceasing phenomenon. If around 145,000 people die every day across the globe, it can be said that people are dying at every moment. Death is a universal phenomenon and an ordinary occurrence. The universality and normality of this fact confirm the reality of death, the inevitability of death, but, at the same time, they in a sense obscure the truth about death, its penetrating eloquence.

The language of statistics is not enough here. The voice of the human heart is needed: the voice of a sister, as in today’s Gospel, the voice of a person who loves. The reality of death can be expressed in all its truth only through the language of love.

For love, in fact, resists death and desires life . . .

Neither of Lazarus’s two sisters says, ‘My brother is dead’, but says: ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’.

The truth about death can be expressed only from a perspective of life, from a desire for life: that is, from remaining in the loving communion of a person.

The truth about death is expressed in today’s liturgy in relation to the voice of the human heart.

3. At the same time, it is expressed in relation to the mission of Christ, the Redeemer of the world.

Jesus of Nazareth was a friend of Lazarus and his sisters. The death of his friend resonated in his own heart with a particular poignancy. When he arrived at Bethany, when he heard the weeping of the sisters and of others dear to the deceased, Jesus “was deeply moved and troubled”, and in this state of mind he asked: “Where have you laid him?” (Jn 11:33).

Jesus of Nazareth is at the same time the Christ, the one whom the Father sent into the world: he is the eternal witness to the Father’s love. He is the definitive Spokesperson for this love before mankind. In a certain sense, he is its Hostage in relation to each and every one. In him and through him, the Father’s eternal love is confirmed and fulfilled in human history; it is confirmed and fulfilled in an overflowing manner.

And love opposes death and desires life.

Since the time of Adam, human death has been opposed to love: it is opposed to the love of the Father, the God of life.

The root of death is sin, which too is opposed to the love of the Father. In human history, death is linked to sin and, like sin, is opposed to love.

4. Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem man’s sin; every sin rooted in man. For this reason, he confronted the reality of death; for death is indeed united with sin in human history: it is the fruit of sin. Jesus Christ became the Redeemer of mankind through his death on the cross, which was the sacrifice that atoned for every sin.

In this death of his, Jesus Christ confirmed the testimony of the Father’s love. The love that resists death and desires life was expressed in the resurrection of Christ, he who, to redeem the sins of the world, freely accepted death on the cross.

This event is called Easter: the Paschal Mystery. Every year we prepare for it through Lent, and today’s Sunday brings this mystery close to us, in which God’s love and power were revealed, for life has triumphed over death.

5. What took place in Bethany at the tomb of Lazarus was, as it were, the final proclamation of the Paschal Mystery.

Jesus of Nazareth stood by the tomb of his friend Lazarus and said: “Lazarus, come out!” (Jn 11:43). With these powerful words, Jesus raised him to life and brought him out of the tomb.

Before performing this miracle, Christ “raised his eyes and said: ‘Father, I thank you for hearing me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the sake of the people standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me’” (Jn 11:41–42).

At the tomb of Lazarus, a particular encounter took place between death and Christ’s redemptive mission. Christ was the witness to the Father’s eternal love, to that love which resists death and desires life. By raising Lazarus, he bore witness to this love. He also bore witness to God’s exclusive power over life and death.

At the same time, at the tomb of Lazarus, Christ was the prophet of his own mystery: of the Paschal Mystery, in which his redemptive death on the cross became the source of new life in the Resurrection.

8. The pilgrimage which you have undertaken today on account of the Jubilee introduces you, dear military personnel gathered here from different countries, to the mystery of redemption, through the liturgy of this Sunday in Lent, which invites us to pause, I would say, on the threshold of life and death, to adore the presence and love of God.

Here are the words of the prophet Ezekiel: “Thus says the Lord God: ‘You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your tombs, O my people’” (Ezek 37:12–13).

These words were fulfilled at the tomb of Lazarus in Bethany. They were definitively fulfilled at the tomb of Christ on Calvary. Today’s liturgy makes us aware of this.

In the resurrection of Lazarus, the power of God was manifested over the spirit and body of man.

In the resurrection of Christ, the Holy Spirit was given as the source of new life: divine life. This life is man’s eternal destiny. It is his vocation received from God. In this life, the eternal love of the Father is realised.

For love desires life and opposes death.

Dear brothers and sisters! Let us live this life! May sin not reign in us! Let us live this life, the price of which is redemption through Christ’s death on the cross!

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).

May the Holy Spirit dwell in you always through the grace of Christ’s redemption. Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, homily for the Jubilee of the Military, 8 April 1984]