There were some Greeks among those who used to go up to worship at the festival. They went to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and said to him ‘Sir, we would like to see Jesus.’ 

Philip went and spoke to Andrew, then in turn Andrew and Philip spoke to Jesus. 

Jesus replied to them ‘It has arrived – the hour has come, when the Son of Man will be glorified

Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains a solitary seed. But if it dies it will bear a rich crop. 

The one who loves their life loses it. The one who hates their life in this world will keep it into eternal life. 

If someone serves me, they must follow me, and where I am my servant will be also. If anyone serves me my Father will honour them. ‘

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

On the next day, the great crowd which had come  to the festival heard that that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches from the palm trees and went out to him and they  began to cry out:

Hosanna!
Blessed is he, who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!

Then Jesus finding a young donkey, sat on it, as it is written:
Do not fear, Daughter Zion,
Behold your King is coming,
Seated on a colt of a donkey.

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but they remembered these things were written about him when Jesus was glorified and that they did these things to him. 

So the crowd, who had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. Because of this, the [other] crowd met him, because they had heard that he had done this sign. 

Then the Pharisees said to one another ‘See – you can get nothing done! Watch out,  the world has gone after him!’

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

Then six days before Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who Jesus had raised from the dead. So a dinner was held there, and Martha served, and Lazarus was one of the ones seated at the table with him. 

Then Mary brought a pound of expensive ointment made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet dry  with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the myrrh. 

Judas Iscariot (one the twelve) – who was going to betray him – said ‘Why wasn’t this myrrh sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this not because the poor were of a concern to him, but because he was a thief and held the common purse and he used to ‘lift’ what was put in it. 

Then Jesus said ‘Leave her alone. (She had been keeping it for the day of preparation for my burial). You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me . 

Then a large crowd [of Jerusalemites] knowing that he was there came,  not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests resolved to kill as well Lazarus because many of the Judeans were going off and believing  in  Jesus.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

So, many of the Judeans who had come to Mary and had seen the things that he had done believed in him. But some of them went off to the Pharisees and  told them what Jesus had done.  So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin together and said ‘ What shall we do given that this man does many signs?  If we let him do this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and destroy both our place and the people. 

 A certain one of them, Caiaphas, the chief priest for that year, said to them ‘You do not know anything.  You do not even realise that it is better for you that one man might die on behalf of the whole people,  than the whole nation perish.’

He did not say this from himself, but being the Chief Priest that year he prophesied  that Jesus was about to die on behalf of the nation, and not only on behalf of the nation but also that he might gather God’s scattered children into one. So from that day they resolved to kill him. 

Then Jesus no longer went about openly amongst the Judeans, but he went from there into the region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim. And there he stayed with the disciples. 

It was near the Jewish Passover and many went up to Jerusalem from the country for the Passover to cleanse themselves. Then they sought Jesus and said to one another, standing around in the Temple, ‘What do you think – that he will not come to the festival? The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if someone knew where he was they were to report it, so that they might arrest him.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

Then Jesus, angry in himself again, came to the tomb, which was a cave and a stone was laid across it

Jesus said:  ‘Take away the stone.‘

The sister of the dead man, Martha said ‘Lord, Already he smells, for he has been buried four days. 

Jesus said to her ‘Did I not say to you that if you believe you will see the glory of God? So they took the stone away. 

Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I had known you always hear me., but I speak for the benefit of the crowd who stand around  so that they might believe that  you sent me. 

And having said these things he cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come here – outside!’ 

The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped around with a facecloth. 

Jesus said to them ‘Untie him and let him go.’

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

And having said this, Martha went and, called Mary her sister aside: ‘The teacher is here and is calling for  you.’ When she heard this, she got up quickly and began to go to him. (Jesus had not yet come to the village. He was still in the place where Martha had met him. )

Then some of the Judeans who were with her in the house and  had been comforting her, seeing Mary quickly get up and leave, followed her – thinking that she was going to the tomb to cry there. 

When Mary came to the place where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet and said to him ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ 

When Jesus saw her crying and the Judeans who had come with her crying, he became angry in spirit and he himself was upset.

And he said ‘Where have you put him?’ They said to him ‘Sir, come and see.’ 

 Jesus began to weep. Then the Judeans said ‘See how he loved him.’

Some of them said ‘Could not this one who opened the eyes of the blind have done something so that this man did not die?’

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Then when Jesus had arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

(Bethany was near Jerusalem, under about fifteen stadia [less than two miles] so many of the Judeans had some to Mary and Martha to comfort them about their brother. )

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming , she went to meet him. Mary stayed in the house. 

Then Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.‘

Jesus said to her ‘Your brother will rise.’

Martha said to him ‘ I know that he will be raised at the resurrection on the last day.’

Jesus said to her ‘I am the resurrection and the life.

The one who believes in me, even if they die, will come to life.
And everyone who lives (the resurrection life)  and believes in me, shall never die.
Do you believe this? 

She said to him ‘Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who would come into the world. ‘

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Then after this delay, he said to his disciples ‘Let us go back to Judea.’

They said to him ‘Rabbi, just now the Judeans sought to stone you, and yet are you going there again?’

Jesus said ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If someone walks in the day they will not stumble because they see the light of this world. If someone walks in the night they stumble because the light is not in them. ‘

Having said these things, he said ‘Lazarus, our friend has fallen asleep. Let us go, so that I can wake him up.’

Then his disciples said to him ‘Lord, if he is sleeping, he will be safe.’

But Jesus had been speaking about his death, they were thinking that he spoke about natural sleeping. 

Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus has died. And I rejoice – for your sake -that I was not there, so that you might believe. But let us go to him.’ 

Then Thomas, (that’s ‘Twin’) said to his fellow disciples ‘Let us go too- so that we might die with him. ‘

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

Now there was a certain man, Lazarus from Bethany – the village of Mary and Martha  his sisters, who was ill. (It was Mary who anointed the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair; Lazarus, her brother, was ill.)

So the sisters sent to him saying ‘Lord, look –  the one you love is sick.’

But when Jesus heard this he said ‘This sickness will not lead  to death, but is to reveal the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’

Although Jesus really loved Martha, her sister and Lazarus, having heard that he was sick, he stayed in the place where he was for two days.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great