Deep Trust and Feeling
Martha and Mary of Bethany: they appear important in the Gospels. In two places there are striking stories featuring Jesus with Mary and Martha. These two women and their brother Lazarus are close to Jesus. The bond and affection come through as the stories unfold. Perhaps the exchange more readily recalled is from chapter ten of Luke. In this event, Jesus is a guest in the sisters’ home in Bethany. Martha served, tending to the tasks of showing hospitality to their guest, Jesus. Mary sat at his feet, listening to what he was saying. Martha complained, but Jesus defended Mary’s quiet choice of action.
The other record of interaction among these friends, in chapter eleven of John, tells of Jesus’s visit to them just after the death of Lazarus. The sisters had written to Jesus, telling him, “Lord, the one whom you love is ill.” They were speaking of Lazarus. John records: “…though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” It is clear, Jesus loved these three. The disciples warn that it would be dangerous to go back to Judea, but Jesus knows to make that trip so they head toward the Judean village of Bethany. Lazarus died in the meantime. When Jesus and the disciples arrive, the first to speak to him is Martha. Here is that section:
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” (John 11:20-27)
This is an extraordinary exchange of words between Martha and Jesus. It emphasizes what Jesus can do, and who Jesus is. Martha conveys that she trusts that Jesus is capable of healing even the gravely ill and that anything he asks of the Father, will be granted. We sense her deep trust in Jesus. When he reveals that he is “the resurrection and the life.” She believes this, she attests that Jesus is the anointed Son of God so long expected through the centuries of messianic expectation. Martha’s encounter here with her Lord centers on the conceptual matters of belief.
Next, Jesus speaks with Mary, the sister of Martha. What she has identically in common with Martha’s interchange is her declaration, that if Jesus had been there, her brother would not have died. After that, the interaction centers on the deep love of these relationships. Mary is weeping over her brother's death, and perhaps in gratitude that Jesus is now present. Jesus is deeply moved at the moment and asks to be led to where Lazarus’s body is. Here is the passage.
When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. (John 11:32-36)
Jesus, deeply moved, begins to weep. The powerful event of the raising of Lazarus is rooted in the deep belief, personified in Martha, and the profound emotion of love personified in Mary. Together, they point to the paired elements within each of us. We give ourselves to trust in Jesus for who he is, the life-giving Son of God. We give ourselves as well to the enveloping, penetrating love Christ has for us and we have for him. All of this is the foundation of the powerful sign shown in Lazarus, and the indescribable life he promises to all of us through his resurrection. The Lord of life makes us alive in him now and to eternity. Deep trust and feeling fill us all, as we allow it.
