Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
(John 11:25)
With Martha, I answer, “Yes,” my Jesus. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, sent into this world to redeem us. Martha has not yet witnessed the raising of her dead brother, but she acknowledges that whatever you ask will be granted. How much she has learned since that day when she boldly demanded that you order her sister to help her. She had directed to you, her guest, the resentment she felt toward Mary. (Do we not still blame you when others do not live up to our expectations?) But now, she realizes the magnitude of your power and your mission. In the midst of her grief, she sees resurrection, not just for her brother, but for us all. She seems to know what is going to happen, even though she will protest that the body is already decaying. She fluctuates between faith and the practical nature that so characterizes her:
“Yes, this is the Christ, and he can do anything, even though he was not here to prevent the death of Lazarus. But what can he do now? It is too late. What? He wants them to open the tomb? No, Lord, the smell of decomposition will be overpowering. Yet the Christ is more powerful than death. I believe and yet I am afraid. I will trust.”
Martha has learned and grown, as must we all. She shows us the balance between work and prayer; indeed that work is prayer once we embrace it. It is the resistance to labor that wearies us more than the labor itself.
Please help me today, Lord, to work prayerfully and to put my prayer into action.