Some Gospel stories come to us with deep feelings since we remember hearing these stories at difficult moments in our lives. The raising of Lazarus is regularly proclaimed at funerals of those we love and its story tugs at our hearts. We see Jesus crying at the death of his beloved friend and can feel that Jesus understands us in our grief.
So many of us think of this story as the promise that we and all whom we love will be raised to new life after death. Yes, that is true. But there is a far deeper truth to this gospel story, a truth that challenges us to look not at some future date when this world will end but to this day, in this very moment.
While we hear the story from Jesus’ point of view, imagine listening to this tale from that of Martha and Mary. When they send word to Jesus that Lazarus, Jesus’ dear friend is very sick, Jesus delays going to them. From their perspective, we see a story about the absence of Jesus. Martha and Mary feel a good deal of anger about Jesus’ absence. Both of them confront Jesus with these same words: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
The gospel is telling us how we can deal with Jesus when he feels absent, especially when we are facing sickness and death. Even in her anger with Jesus, Martha tells him that she trusts in him: But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him. She then goes on and expresses the deepest level of faith we find in this gospel: Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.
Notice that she is not professing her faith in a future resurrection. She is telling Jesus that she believes in him in the present moment. She believes that he has come from God and is returning to God. She believes that Jesus will not abandon her. She believes that Jesus will bring her with him on that journey back to God which starts in the present moment. She hears Jesus, hears Jesus speaking in the depth of her heart, and she trusts Jesus.
Jesus reveals himself to Martha as Resurrection and Life. This is the Jesus whom she believes. She believes that Jesus will raise her beloved brother. She also believes that Jesus will be with her now, in this moment, with his presence even though she may not always feel that presence.
Each of us can enter into this Gospel story through Martha’s perspective. Every Sunday when we gather together, we profess our faith in the words of the Creed. When you profess your faith, it is more that affirming the articles of the creed. Martha shows you that faith in Jesus involves a living relationship with Jesus, a person to person connection, a spiritual presence of Jesus in our heart even if we only feel his absence. When Jesus speaks of himself as the life, he is talking about that relationship which you have with him, that intimate connection, that heart to heart union.
Another entry into this gospel story comes through Lazarus.
From the start of this story, we know Jesus loves Lazarus. Lazarus comes to us as a faithful disciple, but one who may have fallen away, living on the margin of faith, perhaps even who has died to that deep connection with Jesus. But in death he can hear the voice of Jesus. We are reminded of that other verse from John: the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Lazarus, and all of us, can count ourselves as those beloved sheep of Jesus who hear his voice. Jesus knows us, and we follow him.
Just after this story, Jesus is pictured at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus where he is their dinner guest. Jesus invites you this day to his banquet, to share in his life, to eat his body and drink his blood, to become one with Jesus.
You are invited to enter more intimately into your relationship with Jesus. If you are like Martha, a person of deep faith, may your heart hear Jesus inviting you to go yet deeper. If you are like Lazarus, a person whose faith is faltering, may your heart hear Jesus inviting you to eat with him, to become one with him. This invitation to deep intimacy with Jesus comes as the work of this week of Lent. Prepare your hearts for that intimacy with Jesus, with prayer, with sacred reading, with a silent presence. Next week we enter with Jesus into his greatest battle. He is preparing you for the contest. Be ready to enter with him into his passion that you may know the grace of his new life.