This morning, the music, the beauty which derives from the fullness of all things, and now the text turn this fifth Sunday of Lent into a kind of dress rehearsal for Easter Sunday, which is still two weeks hence. The lectionary story of the raising of Lazarus is intentionally placed on the last Sunday of Lent, so that we might anticipate what lies ahead and be given strength and hope for the next part of the journey.
Many people find the stories of the next two weeks jarring and even disconcerting.
For even as we celebrate the pageantry of Palm Sunday next week, before we can move to the joy of that first Easter morn, we must deal with the strange and difficult events of Holy Week. Throughout this entire month we have heard the stories of Jesus as told to us in the Gospel according to John. These are the tests and examinations for the yet unbaptized who seek to study and to enter into communion through baptism on Easter Sunday. Two weeks ago, we heard the story of the living water that Jesus gave to the woman at the well to drink. Last Sunday, we heard of the blind man who went from blindness to sight.