Transcript 'Io sono la risurrezione e la vita' (Gv 11,25)

Word
of
Life
April 2010
"I am the resurrection and the life“
(Jn 11,25)
Jesus said these words after the death of Lazarus of Bethany,
the Lazarus he raised to life four days after he’d died.
Lazarus
had two sisters,
Martha and Mary.
When Martha heard
that Jesus
was coming,
she immediately ran
to meet him and said,
‘Lord,
if you had been here,
my brother would not
have died.’
‘Your brother will rise again,’
Jesus answered.
She replied,
‘I know that
he will rise again
in the resurrection
on the last day.’
Then Jesus declared:
‘I am the resurrection
and the life.
Those who believe in me,
even though they die, will live,
and everyone who lives
and believes in me
will never die.’
"I am the resurrection and the life“
(Jn 11,25)
Jesus wants to make clear who he is for human beings.
He possesses the most precious thing anyone could want:
Life, the Life that will never die.
If you’ve read
John’s gospel,
you’ll have found
that Jesus also said:
‘Just as the Father
has life in himself,
so he has granted the Son
also to have life
in himself’.
And since Jesus has Life,
he can give it to others.
"I am the resurrection and the life“
(Jn 11,25)
Martha believed in the final resurrection:
‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’
But with his
wonderful affirmation,
‘I am the resurrection
and the life,’
Jesus tells her
that she
does not have
to wait
for the future
to hope
in the resurrection
of the dead.
Right now, in the present moment, for all those who believe in him,
he is already that divine, ineffable, eternal Life that will never die.
If Jesus is
in those who believe,
if he is in you,
you will not die.
This Life in the believer
has the same nature
as the risen Jesus
and is, therefore,
quite different
from the human condition
in which
we find ourselves.
And this extraordinary Life, which already exists in you,
will become fully manifest on the last day when,
with your whole being, you will take part
in the resurrection that is to come.
"I am the resurrection and the life“
(Jn 11,25)
With these words
Jesus is certainly
not denying that
physical death
exists. But that
does not imply
the loss of
true Life.
Death will remain
for you, as for
everyone, a
unique, intense,
perhaps feared
experience.
But it will no longer mean that existence is pointless, no longer be
absurd, the failure of life, your final end. Death, for you, will no
longer be really a death.
"I am the resurrection and the life“
(Jn 11,25)
And when was this
undying Life
born in you?
In your baptism.
There, even though,
as a human being
you were destined to die,
you received
immortal Life
from Christ.
In your baptism,
in fact, you received
the Holy Spirit
who is the One
who raised Jesus
from the dead.
The condition for receiving this sacrament was the faith
you professed, perhaps through your godparents.
On the occasion of the rising of Lazarus,
Jesus stated clearly to Martha: ‘Those who believe in me,
even though they die, will live … Do you believe this?’
‘Believing’, here,
is something
very serious,
very important.
It does not mean
simply accepting
the truths Jesus
has proclaimed;
it means adhering
to them with your
whole being.
To have this Life, therefore, you must say your ‘yes’ to Christ.
And this means adherence to his words, to his commands: living them.
Jesus reinforced this, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never see death’.
And the teachings of Christ are summed up in love.
So you cannot but be happy: in you there is Life!
"I am the resurrection and the life“
(Jn 11,25)
In this period of preparation to celebrate Easter,
let’s help one another make that decisive shift,
which we have always to renew, towards the death of our ego,
so that from now on Christ, the Risen One, may live in us.
"I am the resurrection and the life“
(Jn 11,25)
“Word of Life”, monthly publication of the Focolare Movement.
Original text by: Chiara Lubich, March 1999.
Graphic design by Anna Lollo in collaboration with Fr. Placido D’Omina (Sicily - Italy)
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