I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. Today we honor the memory of St. Martha, the sister to Lazarus and Mary, and a disciple of Jesus. The three siblings appear to have been very close to Jesus (when Lazarus was taken ill, the sisters sent word to Jesus to inform him that “his friend” was ill [cf. John 11: 3]), and it has been suggested that Jesus frequented their home, using it as a stop-over during his journeys to and from Jerusalem. From the little information that the Gospel accounts afford us, it appears that, of the two sisters, Martha was the outgoing one (and perhaps the elder sister). In the popular Gospel passage in which Mary sits at the feet of Jesus listening to him, we see Martha ensuring that her guests are given refreshments and fully attended to (cf. Luke 10: 38-42). And in the Gospel reading we have just read, we see that it is Martha who gets up in order to go meet (and welcome) Jesus who was coming to console with them.
As a disciple of Jesus, Martha obviously believed that Jesus was the Messiah. As a close friend, Martha also had deep faith IN Jesus. When Jesus finally made his way to Martha’s home after Lazarus’ death, she let Jesus know that had he come sooner, his brother might not have died. But she also added: “But even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Whereas Martha’s demeanor might have portrayed her as angry at Jesus (and understandably so – she was human), the statement she made was that of a person of faith. Martha had witnessed Jesus’ mighty deeds and was aware of what Jesus had the ability to do. This is precisely the reason why they sent for Jesus when their brother was taken ill. She believed that Jesus had the power to heal his brother.
The illness and subsequent death of Lazarus affords us a glimpse of Martha that should not be overlooked. Saints are always thought to be ‘super-human beings’ who have transcended human emotions. Martha was not super-human. Even after being around Jesus as his disciple and friend, she remained human. Her brother’s death caused her much grief and she let Jesus know this. Jesus saw Martha’s pain and felt the grief in her voice as she spoke to him. And I believe that this contributed to Jesus bringing her brother back to life.
Sometimes we forget to come to the Lord in our humanity in order to express what and how we feel. Sometimes we feel like “sugar-coating” our words before letting Jesus hear them. In such attempts at “decency,” we tend to forget what it is that we wanted to tell the Lord. Martha reminds us to approach the Lord as we are, and tell him what is in our hearts, even if we are angry at him. The Lord will still listen to us and come to our aid.