A Call to Believe

Dear Friends,

The home of Jesus’ friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary was in Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem - close enough for the news about the raising of Lazarus to travel quickly to the high priests in the holy city. These religious officials quickly convoked the Sanhedrin and together, they decided that it was time. Jesus must die.

As he wept with Martha and Mary over the death of their brother, his friend, Lazarus, Jesus also stood at the opening of his own grave. His own did not want him.

Raising Lazarus from the dead set his own passion in motion. Soon, you and I will walk with him through the tomb into new life.

We get so absorbed in Jesus and Lazarus in this account that we fail to notice Martha and Mary. They must have consoled one another with a mantra, for each of them said separately to Jesus when they ran to meet him, overcome with grief: “Lord,” each said, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

That’s how Martha and Mary thought of Jesus – as a wonderworker. But Jesus called Martha to a deeper faith. He called her to believe that he was God. The giver of life. The one who would die on the cross and rise again.

“Do you believe this?” he asked Martha.

Earlier in John’s Gospel (Chapter 6), Peter made a profession of faith in Jesus. Now, closer to his entrance into Jerusalem, Martha made the same profession of faith.

Will we?

Closing in on Holy Week with its drama, awe, sadness and bleakness, will we make a profession of faith in Jesus? Will we say:

~Jesus, I believe in you. Help my unbelief.

~Jesus, your own death helps me make sense of the many deaths I know in life. Help my unbelief.

~Jesus, let me come with you into the garden, into your trials, into the way of your cross. Help my unbelief.

At the tomb of Lazarus, faith rose up in Martha. She believed and invited us to do the same. So come, with Martha and Mary and their raised-up brother, Lazarus. Let us go forth towards Holy Week.

~ Sister Joan Sobala