Friday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 29, 2022

John 11, 19-27

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died]. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. 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 he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.”Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

Formerly, on July 29 the Feast of St. Martha alone was celebrated, with her sister Mary, then identified as St. Mary Magdalene, and her brother Lazarus having their own feast days.  On January 26, 2021, Pope Francis decreed that the three saints should share the same feast day, July 29.

Lazarus, Martha, and Mary must have been close in age since they appear to live together in one house, meaning that that they were not married.  This also indicates that they were fairly young at the time when Lazarus died (the first time).  No parents are mentioned and the fact that in Luke 10, 38 and John 12, 1-2 Martha is said to be serving, or supervising the cooking and serving, tells us that no parents were then living.  Also, Luke 10, 38 refers to the house where she “received” Jesus as “her house”.  This raises the possibility that Martha had been widowed and so the house had become “hers”.  If this is true, then the dinner given our Lord by this family during the week of his Passion and Death could have taken place in her house, not in that of Lazarus, where she would not have needed to serve because he had his own staff.  

In the Gospel Reading for this feast, Lazarus, whom the Lord loved, has died and been buried.  His tomb is not underground, but in the side of a rocky hill, as is clear from his appearance after the Lord brings him back to life.  This manner of burial tells us that he had been a man of some wealth, further evidenced by the feast he prepared for Jesus and his Apostles afterwards.  Mary and Martha had sent for the Lord during the time when Lazarus suffered his sickness, but he had delayed his coming.  The grief felt by the two sisters for the loss of their brother was thus exacerbated by this seeming scorn for their friendship.  This is revealed in the verse, “When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home.”  Mary refused to come out of the house.  “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.”  Martha shows tremendous faith here.  First, in the Lord’s ability to heal people from deadly diseases, and then that even that the Lord had the power to raise him up again.  Her statement of faith also amounts to a prayer.  “Your brother will rise.”  Jesus assures her not just of her brother’s resurrection, but of his salvation: he will rise into heaven.  “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.”  Martha confirms her belief in the general resurrection and her brother’s part in it, but she does not withdraw her request or lose hope that the Lord will grant what she is asking.  

“I am the resurrection and the life.”  This brings to mind how the Lord later would say to his Apostles, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14, 6).  We say and believe that Jesus is God, but it is important for us to think about what that means, to the extent that we can.  He does not merely possess power, he is power.  He does not only possess life, he is life.  He not only loves, he is love.  Here, the Lord Jesus says that he himself, standing before the grieving Martha, is the resurrection, he is himself our rising from the dead.  When we rise at the end of the world, we rise in him who is the resurrection.  “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”  The Lord says, “even if he dies”, mentioning almost casually the thing people fear the most.  For the Lord and those who believe in him, death is not a termination but a liberation.  “Do you believe this?”  The Lord Jesus knows that she does.  He asks her so that she might continue to show her faith and stand by her prayer to him.  “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”  This great public profession of faith is matched in his Public Life only by Peter’s.  It is a good profession for us to make to the Lord in our prayers, for we look forward to his coming again into the world.

Many legends later tell us of the lives after Pentecost of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.  One, told in the popular medieval book, The Golden Legend, holds that during the persecution by the Jewish leaders, they were captured and set adrift in a rudderless boat that sailed, miraculously, to France.  In this account, Lazarus became a local bishop, Mary became a penitent, and Martha served the poor.  

We give God thanks for these good people who opened their home to the Lord, listened to his words, and became such fervent believers.  Through their intercession, may we so open our hearts to him.