SAINTS MARTHA, MARY AND LAZARUS
Among Jesus’ closest friends, at whose home he delighted in being a guest were the two Bethany sisters, Martha and Mary, and their brother Lazarus. Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb of the command of the one who humiliated death. John says, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (11:5) - it was with them that he spent the last few days before the Passion. The Church today honours Martha, Mary and Lazarus
Martha, presumably the eldest, was ever “busy about much serving”, anxious as ever about her guest’s comfort. She has thus become the prototype of the activist Christian who seeks cooperation even in terms of hospitality, that oldest of Christian virtues, while Mary has come to be regarded as the symbol of the contemplative life. Yet, Martha was obviously also a woman of deep faith with unbounded trust in the Lord’s divine power— “If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask of him” (Jn 11:21-22).
It was to Martha that Jesus declared: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”—words uttered at every Christian burial. Her counter-declaration, however, is a classic example of a thriving faith: “Yes Lord! I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world” (Jn 11:25-27).
Reflection: “The essential is certainly that, in the world as it is, the Lord’s disciples should be channels of God’s salvific action, by being ceaselessly purified, enlightened and comforted by frequently approaching the God of tenderness and pity” (Pope Saint John Paul II).
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