Water. Light. And now life. It’s the progress of salvation and holiness. It’s how we’re to walk in Christ, if we’ll but see it and follow, if Lent has means to us what it should.

The story is of Lazarus raised from the dead. The message of the miracle is simple: what happened to Lazarus will happen to the believer. You and I will be raised from the dead too if we believe in Christ, if the words of Jesus and his wonders have had their proper effect. The Samaritan woman taught us to drink the living water of Christ, to satisfy the hunger of the will in Jesus. The blind man, blind no longer, taught us to humble ourselves in faith and then to receive the enlightenment of our minds. Here we see the final effect of this interior spiritual conversion: resurrection from the dead, an entirely new life.

Thus, how do we experience what Lazarus did, and that’s new life? This story undoubtedly can seem unreal, hard to follow, much less see how it could mean anything for our lives. But maybe that’s because we need to seek Christ’s water more, his light more too? Maybe that’s what the Church is trying to teach us with these successive stories from John in this ancient season of Lent. She’s trying to show us the way of conversion and sanctification. She’s trying to show us how to experience resurrection.

Which should make us reassess our spiritual lives. Why do you feel spiritually dead? Is it because (as the atheists foolishly say) none of it is true? Or, is it that you need to engage the spiritual struggle more seriously, less distractedly, more humbly, more completely? Maybe it’s the case we should all aspire to be like Lazarus, close enough to Jesus we can’t help but rise from the dead. But how close to Jesus are you? It’s a haunting spiritual question. But precisely one you should ask.