I am (slowly) re- reading through Dietrich von Hildebrand's Man and Woman. While I ride my exercise bike......Go figure!
Life is busy. It always is, I know, but now all our activities have started up, it is really, really getting busy. I almost cried in the car Sunday, on the way home from a meeting, as I mentally reviewed the coming week. I realized we were there - full-blown schedulitis! We only have one evening free each week. And like last year, ArtGuy and I will be doing the whole revolving door thing, where he comes home and I go out, or I go this way and he goes that, or we meet here and pass this kid to you and leave these with me and see you later baby!
We are fully in charge of our own schedule, and we can stop everything if we want (I swear! We can stop whenever we want!). We have reviewed our activities and our children's activities, and we are committed to these things for this year.
That aside.... We are busy. I am not a good "busy" person. I know women who are very high-energy. They go, go, go and then go some more. They do a million things all at once, and do them well. They thrive on it all. I wish I were like that. It would make my lifestyle much easier, or at least closer to what is in my head!
I am a low-energy parent. I need a daily dose of quiet, a daily shot of "alone" time - even if it is only ten minutes. Some days that does not happen.
Still - I am busy. My family is busy.
Back to von Hildebrand and the subject of love. Love. Glorious love. Love in its truest meaning and sense. Love is grounded in seeing in others the face of God, in hoping for and helping the beloved attain their highest ends, their best qualities. The value of love is not in what we are given, but what we give (although receiving love is a value, too).
Von Hildebrand makes the startling statement that "we should strive continually to be impressed with the greatness and seriousness of love and also with the realization that love is much deeper and more important than most professional activities." (most, not all).
He continues - "This should be noted especially in our day when work so often makes up the only serious side of life and when the quest for amusement and recreation stands in the way of everything else."
How often do we bend our mind to work, to what must be accomplished, to what will earn our bread and our place in this world? Not that work is bad. Work can be a real path to God and provide a real brotherhood with our fellow beings. Providing for our families is a good thing, too. But when this is the only, or most often only, time we dedicate our whole selves to a "serious" matter, we begin to disconnect from things of true importance.
All things in love. Serve others with love. I hear the words of Blessed Mother Teresa, of the Little Flower, of almost every great saint and holy person march through my mind with the regularity of a drum beat. Love, lovel, love.
Hildebrand follows this with: "But this is possible only if we rescue ourselves from the whirl of activity and the anticipation of the next moment's confusion which deprives us of any full awareness of the present. In other words, it can happen only if we provide a special place for contemplation in our lives."
Love, the true attainment of love, is not possible if we do not provide a "special place for contemplation in our lives", If we succumb to the "hurry-hurry" mentalilty, we lose.
Let's be real. I cannot think of one person who is NOT busy. The issue is not whether we are busy or not. The issue is do we make time for silence? Do we carve time out of our schedule for comteplation? Are we ever still and silent - on purpose?
Without this time for quietness, reflection, and yes, for awe, we lose a piece of who we are meant to be. Love - real love, becomes much harder to practice. I would even say that when we do little but hurry, and we do not take the time to "be", we cannot see others in their true value. Other people become more of a hindrance, a "something to be done next", and less of a person with whom I can interact and engage.
Showing posts with label theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theology. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Martha and Mary, but Mostly Mary
This is the second part examining the Gospel readings about Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42 (busy Martha and listening Mary) and John 11:1-45 (the death and resurrection of Lazarus). If you have not read part one - go back and read it! It'll all make more sense!
Last time I took the first half and looked at how Martha learned her lesson of choosing the better part. After being corrected by Jesus the first time for forgetting to choose love, Martha came out with a stunning statement of belief in Jesus as the Messiah, in spite of the fact that Jesus had not answered their plea to come until it was too late.
After Jesus had tested her new, strong faith, and she passed the test, Martha goes to get Mary.
"When (Martha) had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, 'The teacher is here and is asking for you." (John 11:28)
Now, we have to use our imaginations. We often do in scripture, because it rarely gives all the details. That is one of the beautiful things about the brevity of the Bible - we have to play the scenes out in our minds.
So, now we have to ask ourselves, where was Mary? Why did she not go to meet Jesus? Remember her in the story from Luke? Mary "sat beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak" (Luke 10:39). Mary, who knew how to drop everything to be with Jesus, did not even stir from the house when a friend announced his arrival.
Why?
Martha is like an adult convert. Her faith was kindled late, but when it came, it came with zeal and fire. Martha has a convert's heart. Mary has the faith of a cradle believer. She believed from the beginning with a quiet assurance. Mary's faith never questioned, doubted, or wavered.
So when the sisters sent the message to Jesus to come quickly, they knew he would come. Mary probably smiled gently in the face of the grief of those around her as her brother neared death, simply because she was completely sure Jesus would turn up to be with them, the friends he loved.
Especially if Jesus were the Messiah, the son of God. God promised. Mary would have turned to the scriptures for comfort through the illness of Lazarus.
"O Lord, to you I call; hasten to me;
hearken to my voice when I call upon you." (Psalm 141:1)
"I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of your angels I will sing your praise...
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
Though I walk amid distress, you preserve me."
(Psalm 138:1,3,7)
"The Lord will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life."
(Psalm 121:7)
"In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me."
(Psalm 120:1)
Mary knew these words, and took them to heart. If Jesus, the Messiah, the fulfillment of all the Jewish people had been waiting for for over 1,000 years, were near, he would come.
Only he didn't. He could have, but he didn't.
Mary was wounded in a deep, personal way. She trusted without fear, and Jesus not only did not come, he was silent. No note or messenger arrived.
That is the pain of Mary. She who left everything undone to be with her Lord encountered silence when she reached out to him in her need. For Mary, the grief was not so much about Lazarus (although she loved him, and this grief was present, too), but about the silence of God. Her wound is a lover's wound.
She felt betrayed, in a way. After all, look at her - she had believed long before Martha learned to worship. Mary was the example Jesus used in order to teach her sister a lesson, for goodness' sake! Mary, sister of Lazarus, believer in Jesus, found that her faith was unshakable - until it encountered silence.
So, you could say Martha was successful - it took her longer to "get" it, but when she did, she proclaimed her belief firmly. Mary represents failure - she believed from the start, but found her faith to be much more fragile than she ever thought possible. Mary was so upset by the silence of Jesus that she could not even stir from the house when he did arrive.
I say Mary is a failure, but only a failure like the rest us. Especially those who have believed a long, long time. We know those scriptures, we try our best to live our faith. We even trust in trying times. But sometimes something comes along that will knock our world upside-down. We reach for God, only to encounter that silence. That terrifying echo that makes us question if everything we have professed to believe is really a lie, after all.
All Christians must face this test at some point. To believe without seeing, hearing, knowing. To believe in the face of silence. Many of us fail that test. There is a terror to that (apparent) emptiness that reduces us to rubble in a way trials and tribulations often do not.
Mary faced this silence, and stumbled. Yet when Martha comes to her and tells her Jesus is asking for her, she goes.
"As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to meet him." John 11:29
Mary still longs for Jesus, in spite of her bruised heart. She goes to him, even though he is still not close to the house.
"When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, and said to him, 'Lord, if you had been there, my brother would not have died." John 11:32
I think this verse is quite telling, as well. As much as Mary longed to see Jesus, she was still hurt and angry over his silence. So much so that when she did reach him, she could not even look at him in the eyes.She fell to the ground in front of him, ashamed and overwhelmed by the anger, frustration, and abandonment her heart was full of.
Remember - upon meeting Jesus, Martha also said, "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died." (John 11:21). While the words of the sisters upon greeting their Lord are the same, one gets the feeling that they mean two different things. Martha was merely stating a fact, a fact that was by no means a hindrance to anything Jesus wished to do. The words of Mary, however, pour forth from her lips as she hits the ground. Mary's words are an admonishment to Jesus, an accusation. She is saying, "Where were you? I called, and you did not come." They are the words from the Song of Songs, "I opened my door to my lover - but my lover had departed, gone. I called to him but he did not answer me." (Song of Songs 5:6)
This more than anything touches Jesus. He sees the people who had followed Mary weeping, and he sees his faithful friend, Mary, crushed. He knows her faith has been shaken.
"When Jesus saw her weeping. he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, 'Where have you laid him?" (John 11:33)
Mary's crisis of faith did not cause Jesus to do anything differently. He had already tried to warn his disciples that Lazarus would be dead, but that he would raise him up, to the glory of God. He also hinted at it to Martha, by declaring himself to be the Resurrection and the Life. So, plans did not change. Yet the grief of Mary moved him deeply.
The sorrow of the people around him moved Jesus to tears. "And Jesus wept." (John 11:35)
We all know the end to this story. Lazarus is raised from the dead. He is reunited, for a time, with his sisters. They are allowed to recover from their grief, and to witness the power of Jesus in a profound, tangible way. But eventually, Lazarus will die again - maybe in a few days, maybe 30 years from that day. But die he will.
Mary also must reconcile herself to the fact that she, the quiet, steady believer, lost faith for a while, even if only a short while.
There is a popular thought in Christianity today that God wants us to always be happy. Always joyful- yes. Always happy? No. God never said that. Anyone who tells you that is lying, even if they mean it and are loving. We can never, ever separate the Cross from our lives. Nor can we stop those we love from encountering the Cross, themselves. Jesus did not spare his dear friends this experience. Jesus himself was not spared this suffering. How can we be? If we follow him, we will know the Cross. And sometimes the worst of it is the silence.
Not that God is really and truly gone. Just like with Martha and Mary, where Jesus knew what was happening to his friends, God is always aware of our joys and our pains. But he often has a much different plan than we do. We cannot see the fruit of it, just like Martha and Mary did not know that in the end, Lazarus would be returned to them, and they would get to witness a miracle, to boot!
The story of Mary and Martha is an insight to how faith can grow and be challenged. Martha and Mary are both challenged in their faith- at different times and in different ways. Both women both fail and triumph.
What a privilege to know these two dear friends of Jesus - Martha and Mary, women of faith.
Last time I took the first half and looked at how Martha learned her lesson of choosing the better part. After being corrected by Jesus the first time for forgetting to choose love, Martha came out with a stunning statement of belief in Jesus as the Messiah, in spite of the fact that Jesus had not answered their plea to come until it was too late.
After Jesus had tested her new, strong faith, and she passed the test, Martha goes to get Mary.
"When (Martha) had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, 'The teacher is here and is asking for you." (John 11:28)
Now, we have to use our imaginations. We often do in scripture, because it rarely gives all the details. That is one of the beautiful things about the brevity of the Bible - we have to play the scenes out in our minds.
So, now we have to ask ourselves, where was Mary? Why did she not go to meet Jesus? Remember her in the story from Luke? Mary "sat beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak" (Luke 10:39). Mary, who knew how to drop everything to be with Jesus, did not even stir from the house when a friend announced his arrival.
Why?
Martha is like an adult convert. Her faith was kindled late, but when it came, it came with zeal and fire. Martha has a convert's heart. Mary has the faith of a cradle believer. She believed from the beginning with a quiet assurance. Mary's faith never questioned, doubted, or wavered.
So when the sisters sent the message to Jesus to come quickly, they knew he would come. Mary probably smiled gently in the face of the grief of those around her as her brother neared death, simply because she was completely sure Jesus would turn up to be with them, the friends he loved.
Especially if Jesus were the Messiah, the son of God. God promised. Mary would have turned to the scriptures for comfort through the illness of Lazarus.
"O Lord, to you I call; hasten to me;
hearken to my voice when I call upon you." (Psalm 141:1)
"I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of your angels I will sing your praise...
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
Though I walk amid distress, you preserve me."
(Psalm 138:1,3,7)
"The Lord will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life."
(Psalm 121:7)
"In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me."
(Psalm 120:1)
Mary knew these words, and took them to heart. If Jesus, the Messiah, the fulfillment of all the Jewish people had been waiting for for over 1,000 years, were near, he would come.
Only he didn't. He could have, but he didn't.
Mary was wounded in a deep, personal way. She trusted without fear, and Jesus not only did not come, he was silent. No note or messenger arrived.
That is the pain of Mary. She who left everything undone to be with her Lord encountered silence when she reached out to him in her need. For Mary, the grief was not so much about Lazarus (although she loved him, and this grief was present, too), but about the silence of God. Her wound is a lover's wound.
She felt betrayed, in a way. After all, look at her - she had believed long before Martha learned to worship. Mary was the example Jesus used in order to teach her sister a lesson, for goodness' sake! Mary, sister of Lazarus, believer in Jesus, found that her faith was unshakable - until it encountered silence.
So, you could say Martha was successful - it took her longer to "get" it, but when she did, she proclaimed her belief firmly. Mary represents failure - she believed from the start, but found her faith to be much more fragile than she ever thought possible. Mary was so upset by the silence of Jesus that she could not even stir from the house when he did arrive.
I say Mary is a failure, but only a failure like the rest us. Especially those who have believed a long, long time. We know those scriptures, we try our best to live our faith. We even trust in trying times. But sometimes something comes along that will knock our world upside-down. We reach for God, only to encounter that silence. That terrifying echo that makes us question if everything we have professed to believe is really a lie, after all.
All Christians must face this test at some point. To believe without seeing, hearing, knowing. To believe in the face of silence. Many of us fail that test. There is a terror to that (apparent) emptiness that reduces us to rubble in a way trials and tribulations often do not.
Mary faced this silence, and stumbled. Yet when Martha comes to her and tells her Jesus is asking for her, she goes.
"As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to meet him." John 11:29
Mary still longs for Jesus, in spite of her bruised heart. She goes to him, even though he is still not close to the house.
"When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, and said to him, 'Lord, if you had been there, my brother would not have died." John 11:32
I think this verse is quite telling, as well. As much as Mary longed to see Jesus, she was still hurt and angry over his silence. So much so that when she did reach him, she could not even look at him in the eyes.She fell to the ground in front of him, ashamed and overwhelmed by the anger, frustration, and abandonment her heart was full of.
Remember - upon meeting Jesus, Martha also said, "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died." (John 11:21). While the words of the sisters upon greeting their Lord are the same, one gets the feeling that they mean two different things. Martha was merely stating a fact, a fact that was by no means a hindrance to anything Jesus wished to do. The words of Mary, however, pour forth from her lips as she hits the ground. Mary's words are an admonishment to Jesus, an accusation. She is saying, "Where were you? I called, and you did not come." They are the words from the Song of Songs, "I opened my door to my lover - but my lover had departed, gone. I called to him but he did not answer me." (Song of Songs 5:6)
This more than anything touches Jesus. He sees the people who had followed Mary weeping, and he sees his faithful friend, Mary, crushed. He knows her faith has been shaken.
"When Jesus saw her weeping. he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, 'Where have you laid him?" (John 11:33)
Mary's crisis of faith did not cause Jesus to do anything differently. He had already tried to warn his disciples that Lazarus would be dead, but that he would raise him up, to the glory of God. He also hinted at it to Martha, by declaring himself to be the Resurrection and the Life. So, plans did not change. Yet the grief of Mary moved him deeply.
The sorrow of the people around him moved Jesus to tears. "And Jesus wept." (John 11:35)
We all know the end to this story. Lazarus is raised from the dead. He is reunited, for a time, with his sisters. They are allowed to recover from their grief, and to witness the power of Jesus in a profound, tangible way. But eventually, Lazarus will die again - maybe in a few days, maybe 30 years from that day. But die he will.
Mary also must reconcile herself to the fact that she, the quiet, steady believer, lost faith for a while, even if only a short while.
There is a popular thought in Christianity today that God wants us to always be happy. Always joyful- yes. Always happy? No. God never said that. Anyone who tells you that is lying, even if they mean it and are loving. We can never, ever separate the Cross from our lives. Nor can we stop those we love from encountering the Cross, themselves. Jesus did not spare his dear friends this experience. Jesus himself was not spared this suffering. How can we be? If we follow him, we will know the Cross. And sometimes the worst of it is the silence.
Not that God is really and truly gone. Just like with Martha and Mary, where Jesus knew what was happening to his friends, God is always aware of our joys and our pains. But he often has a much different plan than we do. We cannot see the fruit of it, just like Martha and Mary did not know that in the end, Lazarus would be returned to them, and they would get to witness a miracle, to boot!
The story of Mary and Martha is an insight to how faith can grow and be challenged. Martha and Mary are both challenged in their faith- at different times and in different ways. Both women both fail and triumph.
What a privilege to know these two dear friends of Jesus - Martha and Mary, women of faith.
Martha and Mary, but Mostly Martha
This Sunday's gospel reading is the Martha and Mary one. You know the one I mean. Sitting Mary = good and Busy Martha = bad.
Martha runs around, getting the food and drinks ready, making sure everything is organized, while Mary drops what she has and sits to listen to Jesus. Martha, understandably, is frustrated, and asks Jesus to make Mary help. Instead, Jesus tells Martha, "There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." (Luke 10:38-42)
I like the way Lisa Reno explains it in MagnifiKid: "Martha forgot that her work needed to be done with love, and so she felt bitter and sad. Hard work can be a beautiful way of loving, but work without love becomes a burden." There is a mighty lesson for parents in those sentences!
For the most part, when this reading is the Gospel reading, one can expect the usually homily or sermon on finding time to listen to Jesus, to carve time out of the busyness of the world in order to rest in prayer, the most important work.
And Martha? Martha always gets a bad rap. Too busy, too naggy, too angry, too frenzied.
But I think you cannot understand Mary and Martha, especially Martha, without the rest of their story. You see, this story from Luke is only the first half of what they have to teach us. The second part comes in the tale of Lazarus (Lazarus the dead guy, not Lazarus the beggar guy).
"Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha...So the sisters sent word to (Jesus), saying, 'Master the one you love is ill'." (John 11:1,3)
Mary and Martha felt confident that as soon as Jesus received word about Lazarus, he would hurry there. Why not? They were all good friends, and Jesus was clearly someone very mighty and holy. So, they did what every good Christian is taught to do - they called on God for help and trusted completely in His answer.
"Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was." (John 11:5-6)
Huh? Jesus loved them - okay, got that. So because he loved them, he did not hurry to them, but decided to wait two days? How does that make any sense? You know Martha and Mary were expecting to see Jesus any day. As Lazarus grew more and more ill, and the people around them began to mourn and try to prepare them for their brother's death, Martha and Mary remained calm and serene. They knew Jesus was coming....right away. They trusted completely. They had no idea he was waiting.
Lazarus died. Yes, died. With no Jesus in sight. Not even a note to say he heard about it, he is coming, he loves them - nothing. Martha and Mary believed until Lazarus's last breath that Jesus would show up. And he didn't.
Jesus finally decided to go, even though it required that he go back into an area where he was a hunted man. The disciples thought he was crazy, and tried to dissuade him. Jesus told them he was going, and then said to them "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to waken him."
I love this part. Sometimes, the exchanges between Jesus and the disciples sound like a situation comedy. So Jesus told them Lazarus was dead, but he didn't come right out and say it. He used flowery language, saying Lazarus was "asleep". And the disciples, bless their hearts, replied in confusion. Hey, if he is just asleep, that must mean he is getting better!
"But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, "Lazarus has died." (John 11:13-14)
So off to Bethany they finally went, to discover that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Not four days since Lazarus died, but four days since he had been placed in the tomb. Jesus was really, really late.
There was a crowd of people with the sisters, staying to comfort them. Someone there spotted Jesus and the gang coming and ran to tell the sisters. And one of them came out to meet Jesus.
Now, back to our first story. Remember what happened - Martha was too busy to sit at the feet of Jesus, while Mary dropped everything she had to spend time with him. So who went out to meet him, after their brother died?
Martha. Martha came out, leaving guests and death rituals behind. Martha could not even see Jesus at her window yet. All she had to hear was that someone spotted him up the road, and this time it is Martha who left everything and everyone to go and seek Jesus.
"When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary sat at home." (John 11:20)
Martha wasted no words. "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." (John 11:21-22)
Who's got faith now, huh? Jesus tests it just a little. "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 everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11:23-27a)
Martha here replies with such a strong statement of faith. "She said to him, 'Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.'" (John 11:27b)
Very few people in the New Testament ever make this statement, and almost no women. Yet these words - this declaration of Jesus as the Messiah - were given to Martha to speak, not Mary. Martha had taken the words of Jesus to heart - the better portion was now hers.
The next part concerning Mary is also very, very interesting. Look for it next time!
Martha runs around, getting the food and drinks ready, making sure everything is organized, while Mary drops what she has and sits to listen to Jesus. Martha, understandably, is frustrated, and asks Jesus to make Mary help. Instead, Jesus tells Martha, "There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." (Luke 10:38-42)
I like the way Lisa Reno explains it in MagnifiKid: "Martha forgot that her work needed to be done with love, and so she felt bitter and sad. Hard work can be a beautiful way of loving, but work without love becomes a burden." There is a mighty lesson for parents in those sentences!
For the most part, when this reading is the Gospel reading, one can expect the usually homily or sermon on finding time to listen to Jesus, to carve time out of the busyness of the world in order to rest in prayer, the most important work.
And Martha? Martha always gets a bad rap. Too busy, too naggy, too angry, too frenzied.
But I think you cannot understand Mary and Martha, especially Martha, without the rest of their story. You see, this story from Luke is only the first half of what they have to teach us. The second part comes in the tale of Lazarus (Lazarus the dead guy, not Lazarus the beggar guy).
"Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha...So the sisters sent word to (Jesus), saying, 'Master the one you love is ill'." (John 11:1,3)
Mary and Martha felt confident that as soon as Jesus received word about Lazarus, he would hurry there. Why not? They were all good friends, and Jesus was clearly someone very mighty and holy. So, they did what every good Christian is taught to do - they called on God for help and trusted completely in His answer.
"Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was." (John 11:5-6)
Huh? Jesus loved them - okay, got that. So because he loved them, he did not hurry to them, but decided to wait two days? How does that make any sense? You know Martha and Mary were expecting to see Jesus any day. As Lazarus grew more and more ill, and the people around them began to mourn and try to prepare them for their brother's death, Martha and Mary remained calm and serene. They knew Jesus was coming....right away. They trusted completely. They had no idea he was waiting.
Lazarus died. Yes, died. With no Jesus in sight. Not even a note to say he heard about it, he is coming, he loves them - nothing. Martha and Mary believed until Lazarus's last breath that Jesus would show up. And he didn't.
Jesus finally decided to go, even though it required that he go back into an area where he was a hunted man. The disciples thought he was crazy, and tried to dissuade him. Jesus told them he was going, and then said to them "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to waken him."
I love this part. Sometimes, the exchanges between Jesus and the disciples sound like a situation comedy. So Jesus told them Lazarus was dead, but he didn't come right out and say it. He used flowery language, saying Lazarus was "asleep". And the disciples, bless their hearts, replied in confusion. Hey, if he is just asleep, that must mean he is getting better!
"But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, "Lazarus has died." (John 11:13-14)
So off to Bethany they finally went, to discover that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Not four days since Lazarus died, but four days since he had been placed in the tomb. Jesus was really, really late.
There was a crowd of people with the sisters, staying to comfort them. Someone there spotted Jesus and the gang coming and ran to tell the sisters. And one of them came out to meet Jesus.
Now, back to our first story. Remember what happened - Martha was too busy to sit at the feet of Jesus, while Mary dropped everything she had to spend time with him. So who went out to meet him, after their brother died?
Martha. Martha came out, leaving guests and death rituals behind. Martha could not even see Jesus at her window yet. All she had to hear was that someone spotted him up the road, and this time it is Martha who left everything and everyone to go and seek Jesus.
"When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary sat at home." (John 11:20)
Martha wasted no words. "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." (John 11:21-22)
Who's got faith now, huh? Jesus tests it just a little. "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 everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11:23-27a)
Martha here replies with such a strong statement of faith. "She said to him, 'Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.'" (John 11:27b)
Very few people in the New Testament ever make this statement, and almost no women. Yet these words - this declaration of Jesus as the Messiah - were given to Martha to speak, not Mary. Martha had taken the words of Jesus to heart - the better portion was now hers.
The next part concerning Mary is also very, very interesting. Look for it next time!
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