Today we celebrate the fifth Sunday of Lent. It’s hard to believe that five weeks have gone by since we received ashes on our foreheads. If you have been faithful in your Lenten observance, perhaps Lent is passing too slowly. If you have not been faithful in your Lenten observance, well, time is running out.

Today’s Gospel reminds us about death, a topic that may make us uneasy. In civil society, at this time of the year, we are reminded about taxes - a topic that can also make us very uneasy. So, we come to church faced with death and taxes.

For some of you, tax time can bring joy because a refund is on its way, sometimes two refunds: federal and state. For others, paying more is on the horizon. Likewise, some of us look at death, not perhaps with joy, but at least as a moment of faith, but then others see death as so very final, so destructive, so dreaded.

Well, frankly I cannot help you with the tax issue, but perhaps a few words about death as seen in today’s Gospel might give us some reassurance.

As starters, listen again to some of the phrases found in today’s Scripture passages:
Ezechiel: “I will put my spirit in you that you may live.”

Paul: “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.”

Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life; everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

All three passages speak eloquently about death not as the end, but death as a stepping stone.

The Gospel poses a definite conundrum. Jesus hears about Lazarus’ imminent death, but he waits a few days before going to the family. We immediately ask “Why.” Frankly, we do not know. We can speculate all we want, and theologians have done that for centuries. Ultimately, every possible answer proves to be unsatisfactory.

But isn’t that the same question that occurs whenever there is a death, even often when the death is expected? Why did she have to die? Why did he have to die now? What kind of God would permit death to such an innocent person? Why does God do those things?

Those “whys” cannot and probably should not be answered. We never know the why, and even if we did, we might not like the answer.

When confronted by Martha, Jesus does not hesitate to speak those famous words: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

Then, so to speak, to prove his statement, he raises Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was given a new lease on life. Did Lazarus eventually die? Of course, he did. But, that’s not the issue.

The true issue is who is Jesus and what does he promise? The Gospel clearly portrays Jesus as a man (he wept, he cared, he listened), and Jesus is God because he can command life itself.

Jesus cannot do anything about the inevitability and reality of taxes, but he can work marvels with the inevitability and reality of death. For the believer, life on earth is terminal, but death is a stepping stone to eternal life.

The stark, ultimate question is simple: do you want death or do you want eternal life as promised by Jesus?