Daily Gospel Reflection for March 22, 2026: Fifth Sunday of Lent

This is the shortest verse in the entire Bible, yet it says so much and contains so many layers of meaning. Most important, this verse shows us that Jesus is true Man; there’s nothing more uniquely human than tears. But what evokes Jesus’s tears? Why does He weep?

 

Jesus has experienced the death a beloved friend, Lazarus. The sisters Mary and Martha had first alerted Jesus with the message, “Master, the one you love is ill.” So now that Lazarus has died, part of Jesus’s grief is firsthand and personal. Jesus also must feel compassion for Lazarus’s sisters. This is a family Jesus seems to know well and probably has visited regularly. Jesus has just heard both sisters cry out to Him that, had He been present to heal their brother, he wouldn’t have died. This confession of faith in Jesus’s power must have touched Him, even as their regret at His absence would have pierced Him. Yet, everyone’s deep state of mourning and Martha’s reluctance to roll away the stone to Lazarus’s tomb also proves to Jesus that they don’t fully get who He is as the Resurrection and the Life. So Jesus weeps as He yearns for them to learn the hope that He alone can bring.

 

Our families are places of tears, and these tears flow for many reasons. We weep in grief and in joy. Tears stream from the tender connections we share and from the distance or frustration we can feel. We cry in gratitude for the blessings we enjoy and in yearning for the blessings we could experience if we were more open to them. And like the family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, amidst all these tears, our families find Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.