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• The reading from Ezekiel is part of a longer vision of the movement from death to new life.
• Ezekiel was preaching to the exiles in Babylon who were convinced that as a people, they were dead.
• Ezekiel understood that the power of life belonged to God alone.

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• In the second reading, Paul stresses that life in the Spirit is the true life that Jesus came to bring.
• The death of Jesus led to the gift of everlasting life for those who believe in him.
• The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in believers and will also bring their death-bound bodies to life.

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• The story of Lazarus is a drama that plays between two understandings of life and death.
• Jesus announces that he himself is the Resurrection. Lazarus, though raised, will die again. This is different from the Resurrection of Christ.
• Lazarus rises again to this present earthly life. This miracle is a sign of the greatest miracle of all, resurrection.