"Martha's Story"
John 11:1-45
My name is Martha. My
sister Mary and I live in the village of Bethany, which is about two miles from
Jerusalem. Our brother Lazarus lives
here too. Lazarus-- oh, there’s so much
to tell. I’m trying to sort things out… trying
to comprehend all that has been happening. It’s a long story. Where to begin?
As you may know,
one of our dearest friends is Jesus, an itinerant preacher and teacher from
Nazareth. Whenever he is in the area, we are honored to welcome him into our home,
to give him and his close disciples a place to rest and have a good meal.
Some months
ago, Jesus had been going around in Galilee.
He was purposely staying away from Judea, because some of our religious
authorities had been plotting against him--looking for an opportunity to kill him. When it was almost time for the festival of
Booths, Jesus went secretly to Jerusalem.
Some of our
religious leaders were looking for Jesus at the festival and asking people
where he was. I heard that there was a lot of whispering going on in the crowds
about him, and there was controversy about who Jesus is and about his teachings.
On the Sabbath,
Jesus healed a man who had been born blind, by putting mud on the man’s
eyes. When the man washed the mud out of
his eyes, he could see!
Our religious leaders were divided
because of the things Jesus was doing and teaching.
Later,
during winter, at the time of the festival of the Dedication, Jesus was walking
in the temple. Some religious leaders gathered around him and demanded he tell
them plainly: “Are you the Messiah-- or not?
They didn’t
like his answer. They picked up stones, preparing to stone him. They accused
him of blasphemy, saying that he was claiming to be God. They tried again to arrest
him, but he escaped.
Jesus went
across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing people earlier,
and he stayed there. We heard that many
of the people who were there believed in him.
Jesus had
been across the Jordan for a time when my brother became very ill. We were very worried, so we sent a message to
Jesus, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
If you’ve ever had a loved one who was
gravely ill, you can understand our fear and desperation when we saw Lazarus
getting worse. We had faith in Jesus’
power to heal, and we hoped that he would come back and heal Lazarus,
But he didn’t come. And then Lazarus died. Our friends and neighbors gathered to mourn
with us. We prepared his body for burial, and we placed him in the tomb.
Our hearts ached with grief-- the
grief of losing Lazarus and also the grief that our beloved friend didn’t come. Jesus
stayed across the Jordan two days after he got our message about Lazarus being
ill. Two days!
Later, a
disciple told us that Jesus waited in order to glorify God. I don’t understand that.
When Jesus
told the disciples that he was ready to come to Bethany, they didn’t want him
to come because of the danger. But by
that time Jesus was determined.
By the time
Jesus got here, Lazarus had died! The mourners had been with us, and he had
already been in the tomb four days.
When I
heard that Jesus was coming, I went and met him, while Mary stayed at home with
our guests. I let him know how full of grief
and anger and disappointment I was. I
said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you
whatever you ask.”
Jesus said,
“Your brother will rise again.”
I answered,
“Yes, Jesus. I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day.”
But then Jesus
said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though
they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do
you believe this?”
I began to
understand that Jesus meant something more, something more immediate-- not just
an end-times promise, but something that makes a difference here and now.[1]
I said to Jesus,
“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming
into the world.”
Then I went
back and called Mary. I took her aside
and told her that the Teacher had arrived and was asking for her. She went to
him quickly. The mourners followed her,
because they thought she was going to the tomb, to weep there. When Mary got to where Jesus was, she knelt at
his feet and said, as I had, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not
have died.”
Jesus was
deeply moved when he saw Mary and the others weeping. He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus began
to weep, and some people said, “See how Jesus loved him!” But some of them said, “He opened the eyes of
a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept this man from dying?”
When Jesus came
to the tomb, he said, “Take away the stone.”
We weren’t expecting
that. Lazarus was dead. I have to say that I had given up hope by this
time. Our Jewish faith teaches us that the soul leaves a
person’s body on the third day after death.[2]
I said, “Lord,
he has been dead in the tomb for four days.
Already there is a stench!”
But Jesus asked me, “Did I not tell you
that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
So, they
rolled away the stone. Jesus said a prayer. Then he cried out with a loud voice:
“Lazarus, come out!”
What a sight
that was! Lazarus came stumbling out of
the tomb, with his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and his face
wrapped in a cloth.
Then Jesus
said to us, “Take off the grave clothes.
Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the
people who were with us that day believed in Jesus. But the chief priests and
the Pharisees were afraid that if he kept getting more followers, the Romans
would come and destroy our temple and our nation. They called a meeting of the council, and they
decided that Jesus must be put to death.
Because of
this, Jesus could no longer walk about freely, and he and his close disciples
went to the town of Ephraim, near the wilderness. That’s where he was until he came to Bethany.
Of course,
we prepared a dinner for him that night. I was serving, as usual, and Lazarus was
seated at the table with Jesus and the guests.
What Mary did next I can’t really explain. She brought out a clay jar of pure nard,
which is a very costly perfume. She
loosened her hair in a room full of men, which is something we never do. She anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with
her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Would I have
done what Mary did? I don’t think so. I tend to be the sensible, practical sister. I’m not as demonstrative as Mary. She’s more spontaneous and free…and very intense.
Yet in her way Mary acted out the
great love and gratitude we have for Jesus for everything he is and does--and
especially for restoring our brother to life. When she dropped to her knees and
poured the ointment on Jesus’ feet, she was anointing him for his burial.
It was an extravagant
act of love. I think she was doing
something more than any of us can fully understand.
Mary’s perfume covered the stench of death
on Lazarus, and it still lingers in our house… and in Mary’s hair.
Passover is near, and Jesus has told
us that his “hour” is near.
I keep
thinking about everything that has happened these past days. There’s so much I don’t understand. When Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb when
he had been dead and buried-- what does this sign mean? When
Lazarus came out of the tomb, with the grave cloths on, what did Jesus mean
when he told us all to “unbind him and let him go”?
What does it mean-- what Jesus said:
“I am the resurrection and the life?” I
have so many questions.
Our religious leaders are plotting to arrest
and kill Jesus. I’ve heard that they’re also plotting to kill
my brother, because people see him as proof that Jesus is the Messiah.
Passover is coming soon. I feel like something very important and life-changing
is about to happen. There is a sense of expectation
in the city. People are so excited since
they learned Jesus is here for the Passover.
It is hard for me to feel faithful
or hopeful right now. Yet I know that I have
been changed by what I have seen and heard. So--for now--I will cling to Jesus’ promise,
even though I don’t understand it completely: “I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who
lives and believes in me will never die.”
Thanks be to God!
Re. Fran Hayes,
Pastor
Littlefield
Presbyterian Church
Dearborn,
Michigan
April 2, 2017
[1]
David Lose, “Heartache, Miracle, Invitation.” http://www.davidlose.net/
[2]
Karoline Lewis, Commentary on John 11:1-45 https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=42
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