Thus says the Lord God: O my people, I will put my spirit in you that you may live. I have promised it, and I will do it. On this Fifth Sunday of Lent, as we get closer to the celebration of the paschal mysteries, the Church is inviting us to reflect on the new life that God has afforded us in Jesus Christ. This new life which is made present to the world in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of the desire that God has had for creation ever since Adam and Eve led creation in rebelling against God. For even though justice would have dictated that creation face the consequences of its acts of rebellion (death [cf. Romans 6:23]), God did not see it that way. Rather than allow creation to fade into oblivion, God decided to give creation a second chance by renewing it. It was a decision that was motivated not only by God’s love for creation but also because God cannot allow the self to act contrary to God’s nature: Creator and giver of life. 
In the First Reading, we see the Lord God promising to restore the life of a people whose rebellious deeds had led them to languish in exile. Speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises to open up their graves of captivity in order to bring them back to their own land. It will be a new beginning for the people since the Lord God will give them a new life: a life of a re-established relationship with God, a life of a new knowledge of the Lord and the covenant. Moreover, the re-settled community will be a new creation because the spirit of the Lord will be living in them. For us who are called by the name of Jesus Christ, God’s promise of raising people from their graves is fully realized in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. 
The account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead which is the content of today’s Gospel Reading sums up the life-giving mission of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God’s promise of raising people from their graves in order to give them life. Jesus Christ took a creaturely nature and dwelt among creatures in order to concretize God’s promise of raising his sons and daughters from their tombs. The sisters of Lazarus, as disciples and good friends of Jesus, were aware of Jesus’ identity and mission. They reached out to Jesus when their brother was sick because they knew that Jesus is a restorer of life. Martha confronted Jesus ( Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died) because she knew that Jesus has the power to give life. And when Jesus saw that she was overwhelmed with grief, he reminded her that he is the resurrection and the life. 
The death and subsequent raising from the dead of Lazarus was an opportunity for Jesus to bring to fulfillment the promises of God. Just like it had been with the healing of the blind man (Last Sunday’s Gospel Reading), the sickness and death of Lazarus was “allowed” to take place so that the continuing creative work of God might be revealed in Jesus Christ (cf. John 9:3). As the Jews rightly remarked, the death of Lazarus opened their eyes into seeing how much God (through Jesus) loves his sons and daughters. Like the other signs that Jesus performed, the raising of Lazarus from the dead was a sign that Lord was renewing creation by breathing his spirit of life into them.