July 29
Saints Martha, Mary,
and Lazarus
Gospel: John 11:19-27
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Today's
Gospel: John 11:19-27 (Raising of Lazarus)
"...many
of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their
brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while
Mary sat in the house. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my
brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from
God, God will give you.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'
Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the
last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and
believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes,
Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into
the world.'"
Reflection:
The
Church gives us Martha, Mary, and Lazarus together on one feast day now. That's
fitting. You rarely find one without the other two in the Gospels. A household
of siblings, and Jesus loved all three of them, that’s powerful. Jesus had a
real home to walk into, real friends who argued with Him, wept in front of Him,
and still trusted Him completely.
Martha
ran out to meet Jesus before He even reached the house. Grief didn't make her
quiet. It made her honest. "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would
not have died." That's not a complaint. That's faith speaking through
pain. She still believed. She just wanted Him closer.
Mary
stayed home, sitting with her sorrow until Jesus called for her. Two sisters,
two different ways of carrying the same grief, and Jesus met each of them
exactly where they were. He didn't rush either one. He let them grieve, and
then He gave them something no comfort in this world can give: Himself. "I
am the resurrection and the life."
We
live in a world that would rather forget Jesus ever asked that question.
Believers are still being killed for saying yes to Him. That's the world Martha
and Mary lived in too, in its own way, and it's the world Lazarus was called
back into. None of them had it easy. None of them backed down.
If
you're afraid because loving Jesus makes you a target, get on your knees and
pray harder, not less. Death is not the end of the story for a Christian. It's
the beginning of the part that never ends. Say yes to Jesus boldly, without
editing yourself for anyone. He didn't die for us halfway.
Suffering
like this is never wasted. God doesn't send it to make us miserable. He sends
it because it does something in us that comfort never could. Every tear, every
hard prayer, every sleepless night offered up for someone else's soul, none of
it disappears. It becomes part of how He works in the world. And somewhere in
the middle of that pain, if you let Him in, you find joy sitting right next to
it, right inside of it. That's what Martha and Mary knew standing at that tomb.
That's what we're asked to know too.
Martha
believed before she saw the stone rolled away. Do you?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely given. Freely shared.
