+ Today we celebrate the feast of St. Martha who was sister both to Mary and Lazarus. We recently heard in a gospel passage how Mary "chose the better part" when Jesus came to visit their home – "better part" being her close attentiveness to Jesus at his feet. But, this does not preclude Martha's attentiveness to him in a similar way "from the kitchen" – where she was preparing a wonderful meal for them to eat together. What woman in the kitchen does not know exactly what is going on in the rest of the house?
But today, we remember Martha for another reason as well – a distinction that Mary did not share in. It is Martha, we hear in the gospel passage who proclaims her belief in "resurrection from the dead" for those who die in faith, at which time Jesus uses the opportunity to proclaim that he, himself, is the resurrection and the life – and that whoever lives and believes in him will never die. This is one of the central statements that Jesus made – all at the prompting of Saint Martha, at the occasion of the death of her brother Lazarus.
Jesus raised her brother Lazarus from the dead as a sign of what he said about being the resurrection and the life; to show his true power over death. For a short while anyway the family was reunited until they all died their natural deaths again! And now they, like all of us – wait for the general resurrection when we will rise from our graves and receive our just deserts from God – if we have been good and faithful to the end: life with God on high; if we have not, a place reserved for us as well, where God is not.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.
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