Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
It’s a familiar scene: family and friends gather to grieve the loss of a loved one. A loved one who bravely battled a long illness. A young person lost in the blink of an eye in an accident. An aging mother who slowly slipped away to dementia, her body also slipping away. We don’t know how Lazarus died. And that’s ok because, in some ways, it doesn’t matter how our loved ones die. We are left with the same reality of death.
Our grief often finds itself in the question bravely asked by Martha today, “Why, God?” Where were you, Jesus?” Martha steps out in bold faith, “If you had been here, this wouldn’t have happened.” She knows the power of Jesus. That only adds to the mystery of this moment.
With compassion and tenderness, Jesus engages her. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel, until he leaves with a blessing, Martha wrestles with this mystery, refusing to let Jesus off the hook. This is a woman of deep faith, willing to engage Jesus in the most difficult moments.
Jesus reveals, “I am the resurrection and the life.” It is as if he is saying, “I am present not only now to you, but also to Lazarus. In fact, I was present all along. I was present at his death and am present now and will be forever.” Then he asks, “Do you believe?”
Martha’s response as a result of the hard work of inviting Jesus into her grief and questions is, “Yes, I have come to believe you are the Christ.” You are the one who was and is and is to come. You are present with me always. You are present with Lazarus even now. Martha, the first person in John’s gospel to recognize and proclaim Jesus definitively as Christ, knows this true because he is present not only in the joys of life, but also in the mystery of our grief. And Christ transforms our grief and invites us to new life when we engage him in most difficult moments. It may take time, but Christ is with us on the journey to new life.
Today, may we be willing to engage mystery and ask the most difficult questions of Jesus. And there, may we say with Martha, “You are the Christ! who is always with us, inviting us into new life.”
—Kelly Adamson