5th Sunday of Lent – 29th March 2020 – John 11, 1-45
Martha, Exemplar in Confession of Faith
Jesus manifested and glorified his Father through his words and works, named in John’s gospel as ‘signs’. The seventh and greatest of the signs is the raising of Lazarus, which serves as a hinge between Jesus’ public ministry and his private ministry to the disciples, with exactly 10 chapters before and after. This final sign marks the beginning of the final week of Jesus’ life, because from that day on the religious leaders began plotting to put Jesus to death (11,53). The disciples, Thomas in particular, had feared that returning to Judea would lead to certain death for Jesus (11,8.16). However, Jesus’ return to bring Lazarus back to life foreshadows Jesus’ own death, resurrection and glorification in Jerusalem.
Martha’s confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God (11,27) serves as the theological center of the entire gospel. In chapter 1 we have a similar confession put in the lips of Nathanael, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel” (1,49). Towards the end, the purpose of the Gospel is expressed: “that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (20,31). This belief in Jesus as ‘Messiah and Son of God’ that is placed at the beginning, middle, and end of the gospel, bespeaks of the strategic positioning and theological emphasis. And at its centre, it is verbalized here by a woman, who brings back his dead brother to life.
Recalling Luke’s narrative of this family, he depicts Mary, who sits at Jesus’ feet and Martha, who is busy attending to the affairs of the house. Luke tells Mary has chosen the better part. Both Luke and John agree in presenting Martha as taking initiative and speaking frankly. However, it is John who highlights that bold and busy Martha becomes the exemplar. She musters up confession of faith in the midst of mourning: “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (11,27).
The initial words of both Martha and Mary are the same. Martha goes out to meet Jesus with complaint, expressing grief and anger in her words. Mary’s grief keeps her at home, until Jesus calls her directly. They both express confidence that Jesus could have saved their brother from death had he only come to Bethany sooner (11,21.32). This same confidence is expressed by the mourners as well (11,37). Yet, both express a different face of grief. Martha expresses a composed and confident trust in Jesus. Mary immediately falls at the feet of Jesus and weeps (11,32-33). Met by Jesus, both sisters weep, and Jesus joins them in their mourning.
Likewise, the response of Jesus to Martha and Mary is quite different. Responding to Martha, Jesus offers a statement of faith, an expression of his own identity as the source of resurrection and life. In response to Mary, who fell at his feet, Jesus expresses deep emotional involvement (11,33.35). The emotional reaction of Jesus suggests a mixture of deep grief and profound anger at the great enemy, death, and what death has done to his friends, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. The verbal response that Jesus offers Martha and the emotional response he offers Mary represent two necessary and complementary aspects of faith: the response of mind and the response of the heart. Each of them serves as consolation for Christians who struggle with their own grief over the death of loved ones. The scene depicts that Jesus is the source of life and resurrection and that he is deeply and emotionally involved in our pain. Martha reminds us that even in unanswered questions and unmet requests, we are not alone.
Jesus is weeping like Mary yet trusting like Martha. Martha expresses her practical nature, warning of the stench and the foulness of death after four days in the tomb (11,39). Jesus then renews his promise to her that she will see “the glory of God” (11,40). In grief Martha exercises her hopeful faith, because of which she could say, “But even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him” (11,22). Martha, who thinks in eschatological terms and looks to a resurrection at the end, emphasizes in her argument to do it “now”. Jesus brings her focus back to the present and back to his person. Yet she was not convinced, until Jesus demonstrated that there is no loss, no tragedy, beyond the reach of his infinite love and abundant life. Those who follow Jesus are not spared from suffering; but He joins with us. However, the presence of Jesus brings a quality of life that numbs the significant of death.
