“We follow One who stood and wept at the grave of Lazarus — not surely, because He was grieved that Mary and Martha wept, and sorrowed for their lack of faith (though some thus interpret) but because death, the punishment of sin, is even more horrible in his eyes than in ours.” ~ C. S. Lewis
When I was young, I used to think to myself, “If there were ever anyone that God might be afraid of, it just might be Martha!” After all, she was rather persistent, in almost a grating kind of way.
The stories of Martha that have come down to us both involve her ripping into Jesus. In one of the Gospels, we hear about her being angry because her sister was not helping her with the hospitality arrangements when Jesus visited their home.
She went straight to Jesus, practically demanding that He do something about it. His response was that Mary had chosen the better half and would not be deprived because of it.
In the today’s Gospel according to John, Martha confronted Jesus when He arrived because of the death of Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary. Mary was at home grieving; but, Martha was a woman on a mission and got up in the Lord’s face.
Jesus assured Martha that her brother would rise. She acknowledged that. She knew that her brother, Lazarus, would participate in the resurrection of the just.
That just was not enough for Martha, however. Her grief was palpable. She didn’t want to think about the resurrection of the just. She wanted her brother, Lazarus, back now.
Jesus, for His part, would give her what she wanted. He would go to the tomb and bring Lazarus back to life.
Lewis reminds us that death, to God, is so horrible and tragic that even He weeps at its reality. But He can save us from that reality. We are all going to participate in the resurrection of the just if we do all that we can to follow the Lord and avoid distancing ourselves from Him.
That is for the future, however. In the present, we want and need to be comforted in the here and now as well. We long for that comfort and plead for that comfort with the same kind of insistence and trust that Martha exuded.
The lesson in the Gospel is that God does hear us and that He does respond to our needs. We, like Martha, have to have the confidence to approach him.
FAITH ACTION: Be confident when you go to the Lord in prayer this day. He does hear us!