In the Lazarus story, the women take center stage. Let’s look at Martha today, and then we’ll look at Mary later on. Setting the scene: Bethany is close to Jerusalem, so a big crowd has gathered to mourn with Mary and Martha over the death of their brother, which happened four days prior.

Martha and Jesus
Martha goes to meet Jesus outside of the village. Jesus doesn’t go to her, but instead asks her to walk to Him. I wonder what that walk must have been like for Martha. She is disappointed that God didn’t come through the way she wanted Him to. I imagine that stings for her in a deeper way since these are people who have shown love to Jesus since the day they met, and people who know what He is capable of. They know His heart is to cease suffering and pain, and they’ve watched Him perform miracles, they know He can heal and wants to heal.

She gets there and says: “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”

That sounds like a distant relative of the backhanded compliment. She acknowledges what He was capable of doing but chose not to do, but it has not caused her faith to cease, and her understanding of who Jesus is allows her to find hope amongst deep loss and sadness. Of course, we find comfort in knowing that what Jesus asked for was for Lazarus to be rise from the dead.

When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”

“Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” (John 11:17-27 NLT)

Some Background Information
Here’s what we know about Martha: In the book of Luke, Jesus comes to a dinner with her and Mary, and she spends their time together cooking and working, while her sister Mary sits at Jesus' feet. "Doesn't it seem unfair that Mary sits while I cook?" she asks. Jesus tells her that she's focused on all of the details, but that there is only one thing worth being concerned about, something that Mary understands; something lasting that won't be taken away.

Martha spent that day doing and performing and trying to please everyone, rather than stopping and living in the moment, just being in Jesus’ presence. Sounds like someone who tries their whole life not to sin, but never talks to their Creator the way a child would talk to a parent. The Von Trapp God. Martha reminds me of someone who is ignoring the wonder and excitement of life, as well as the deep sorrow and grief that comes with it. She reminds me of someone who hasn't really given much thought as to how huge this man she calls Messiah is. I know people like that (sometimes I am people like that). They (we) don't question, don't think, don't read beyond the surface of the page. She's not the psalmist, questioning and yelling and crying and praising. What I've seen in my life is that if I let that numbness set in, as a defense maybe, it makes its way into every area of my life, until I reach a point where I either blow up or deflate.

On the flipside, Martha still believes Jesus is the Son of God. I think it takes great strength and fortitude to not toss your faith aside when it comes to a loved one dying, especially if you’ve relied on God and believed God and served God faithfully. Martha is someone whose own faith challenges mine.

The Martha Side of Healing
Jesus speaks something on two levels - metaphorical and literal - her brother would rise again - and Martha hears or understands only the metaphorical, future part of it (that certainly still happens today). Then Jesus responds to her in that Jesus-y way (where He answers a question she didn’t ask, or responds to a statement she didn’t make). I wonder what his purpose was with this statement. Was it to give Martha a chance to remind herself who He claimed to be? Was it to make sure that His eternal messages weren’t tossed aside given the hugeness of the miracle He would perform that day? Was He teaching Martha?

When it comes to healing and relying on Jesus, there is a Martha side of me and a Mary side of me (which I’ll go into next). The Martha side of me keeps pleasing, keeps ignoring, keeps moving. I need a Jesus who will ask me to walk to Him, a Jesus who will give me opportunities to think about what I believe. I need a Jesus who recognizes that what I’m doing, I do out of a desire to serve and love Him, even if there are more ideal ways for me to experience His love.

He meets us where we’re at. He knows what we need, even when it doesn’t seem like what we need. And when I see only eternal messages where there are also messages for here and now, it’s good for my soul to know that the here and now doesn’t need me to grasp the here and now in order for it to happen.

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