Vatican City, Apr 10, 2011 / 09:48 am
The resurrection of Lazarus showed Christ’s victory over physical death, but Jesus' crucifixion defeated the “spiritual death” of sin, said Pope Benedict XVI at the Sunday Angelus.
Death, the Pope said, is like "a wall" that impedes man from seeing what lies beyond. "Our heart pushes out beyond this wall, and even if we cannot know what it hides, we still think about it, we imagine it, expressing ... our desire for eternity."
Christ, in his resurrection, destroyed this "wall of death," the Pope told those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Sunday's Gospel reading from St. John recounted Jesus’ words to Martha in the moments before he raised her brother Lazarus from the dead.
Pope Benedict explained that Jesus proposed a complete "novelty" when he proclaimed himself "the resurrection and the life" and said "whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live."