Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday 29th
Message from Fr Paul for Thursday, 29th July 2021
Today we remember a family, two sisters and a brother, who were friends of Jesus, Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, who lived at Bethany, a village not far from Jerusalem. John’s Gospel contains the well-known account of the resurrection of Lazarus, a section of which is used as the Gospel reading for today, (Jn 11: 19-27). We also meet Martha and Mary in Luke’s Gospel, (Lk 10: 38-42), where the characters and priorities of the two sisters are contrasted and have led to such phrases as active and contemplative life. Martha was keen to do things for Jesus and his disciples, whereas Mary prefered to sit at his feet and listen to his teaching. It’s quite clear that Jesus loved them dearly and must have visited them frequently. They are patron saints of hospitality and friendship, especially of monastic guest masters and mistresses. For a long time, there was confusion about the true identity of the various Marys found in the Gospels, which led to the conflating of Mary of Bethany, Mary of Magdala and other Marys.
Our Gospel account sees Jesus arrive at the family home as a result of the death of Lazarus. “Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come, she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house.” By now Lazarus had been dead four days and lay in the grave. Someone has to welcome Jesus and it’s Martha who goes out to meet him, while Mary remains indoors. There follows the conversation between Martha and Jesus, which will be repeated later with Mary. Their behaviour and reactions are different, but they are united in the same faith. “Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’” Martha begins by almost chastising Jesus for not being present when Lazarus died, nevertheless she is confident that whatever Jesus asks the Father in prayer will be granted. Jesus reassures her that Lazarus will rise from the dead. Martha professes her faith in the resurrection on the last day, the end of time. She cannot imagine what Jesus is going to say and do. This is one of the key “I AM” sentences in John, where Jesus declares himself to be God incarnate, the source of life and its restorer. “Jesus said:
‘I am the resurrection and the life.
If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,
and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’
‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’” Jesus himself is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in him will never die. Martha proclaims her faith in Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah. Both she and Mary will see Lazarus rise from the tomb, not simply on the last day, but here and now.
Today’s feast gives us so much to think about and reflect on. What do I believe about life and death? Do I share the faith of Martha and Mary in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the Resurrection and the Life? I wonder what Lazarus made of it all.
