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Commentary of the Word
To believe is to have life
Today, the Church honors Martha, Mary, and Lazarus for their hospitality and testimony to Christ. In 2020, Pope Francis approved the modification of the liturgical feast of St. Martha on July 29 to include her sister and brother, Mary and Lazarus, on the church’s universal calendar of feast days.
The Gospel recounts how Jesus comforted the family of three siblings—Martha, Mary, and Lazarus—following the death of one of them. His sisters, Martha and Mary, reported their brother’s illness to Jesus by simply saying, “The one you love is ill.” At a deeper level, this phrase applies to each of us.
Biblical scholars today explain that this family of three siblings represents the community of brothers and sisters whom Jesus loves. In this family of Bethany, there is no mention of a father, mother, spouses or children. It represents the Christian community where all are brothers and sisters, children of God the Father. The evangelist places great emphasis on the friendship between Jesus and these siblings. It symbolizes the deep bond between Jesus and every disciple: “I do not call you servants”— Jesus would tell later at the Last Supper—”but I have called you friends” (Jn 15:15).
Jesus does not come to the house of the siblings, Instead, he waits outside the village for thesisters to come out of the house, where everyone is crying. The Lord invites them to come out of their world of frustration and despair to the new world of faith, hope and happiness.
‘If you had been here, our brother would not have died’ is the complaint of the two sisters. Many individuals start to question the existence of God when they encounter death. They wonder why there is death if God is real. The reality is that those who have faith in Jesus are already in eternal life with the Lord. Physical life on this earth is a period of gestation and transition to the world of God.
The Feast of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary is the feast of the Christian community. These three siblings remind us to get out of our surroundings of hopelessness, fear, and weeping and to believe in the joy of the resurrection.