Yes, eternal life awaits us, but it begins right here. ![]() Yet baptism is our entrance into a life beyond death, not only at the end of our lives, but right now. We are aware of death in the world around us and we know that one day we too will experience physical death. The community of baptized believers is by no means a group of death deniers. The Gospel writer invites us, like Martha, to recognize Jesus as the resurrection and the life, the promised Messiah, and through our own baptism, to enter into the new life that he has inaugurated in his own rising from the dead. Unlike Lazarus, who resumed his place in society, Jesus would be raised to a completely new and transformed life. By raising Lazarus from the tomb, Jesus prefigures his own resurrection from the dead. While the story we hear today is about coming to faith in Jesus, it is also about new life. Jesus invites Martha in plain and direct language to make an act of faith: “Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:26) She responds by offering one of the clearest confessions of faith recorded in any of the Gospels: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (Jn 11:27). He does not merely claim power over life but declares that he is the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live” (Jn 11:25). In this instance he proclaims to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus responds boldly with one of the seven “I AM” sayings of John’s Gospel-key texts in which he asserts identity with God. Yet Martha dares to push further, voicing confidence that God would grant whatever he might ask. Both sisters acknowledge, if somewhat reproachfully, Jesus’ special relationship with God. ![]() ![]() Each of them begins by saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (Jn 11:21, 32). Like others who meet Jesus in the Gospel of John, Mary and Martha are invited into a journey of faith. He joins them in weeping for his friend and shows love and compassion for the sisters in their sadness. When at last he meets them, however, he is fully present to the moment. Mary and Martha were deeply disappointed that Jesus had not arrived in time to prevent their brother Lazarus from dying. We too have known the pain of loss, and so their grief provides an opportunity for us to consider death and life in relation to faith in Christ. ![]() We can easily relate to Jesus, Martha, and Mary as they deal with the death of Lazarus in today’s Gospel reading. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Ukraine on both sides since the Russian invasion last year.Īnd, of course, we experience death personally in the loss of family members and friends. More than 50 thousand people have been confirmed dead because of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The World Health Organization estimates that since the beginning of the pandemic in 2019, nearly 7 million people have lost their lives to the coronavirus. John 11:(1-2) 3-7 (8-16) 17 (18-19) 20-27 (28-33a) 33b-45ĭeath is a powerful and persistent presence in our midst.Įvery day we hear of people losing their lives in natural disasters, mass shootings, and gang violence.
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