Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 29, 2022
Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”
When Jesus asks Martha whether she believes he is God’s Son, she doesn’t hesitate when she responds, “Yes, Lord.” But then her following words caught my attention: “I have come to believe.”
We don’t know much about Martha’s faith journey or how she came to believe in Jesus’ divinity. Maybe she felt instantly sure of it after hearing him preach. But I’d like to think that her road to certainty was similar to many of our paths—winding, evolving, and sometimes halting—with moments of great sureness and others of nagging doubt.
My own moments of distrust and disregard tend not to come in times of great sorrow but when I’m ambling through an unremarkable period of my life. I often think that if God were God and Jesus had died for our sins, I would feel instantly lost when I wasn’t paying attention to them.
But that isn’t always true. Only after enough time relegating God to the back of my mind do I start to feel disquieted. Something in me draws me back to praying. Once again, taking the time to look for God in my daily life, I feel consoled.
I’m comforted now by imagining that perhaps Martha endured similar cycles of questioning before becoming confident in who Jesus is. Her story reminds us that faith can grow over time, strengthening and solidifying into a foundational force in our lives.
It is not always an easy journey. But God’s grace helps us to endure the twists and turns with fortitude until we, too, can answer immediately: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ.”
Prayer
The sting of death is as sharp as it is crushing. We weep with Martha and Mary at the death of our loved ones, upon hearing of the horrors of war and of senseless violence. Through our tears we also profess with Martha, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” Jesus, fill us with the hope that allowed Martha to make this powerful statement of faith. In you is our life and we believe in you, so that even if we die, we will live. Amen.
Saint of the Day
The Gospel of John tells us that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (11:5)—these three siblings were close friends of Jesus and he relied on them for support.
They lived in Bethany, a small town two miles outside of Jerusalem. When Jesus began preaching throughout Judea, he would stop at their house for rest during his travels. Scripture mentions Jesus stopping at their house in three different accounts.
Martha was the oldest of these three siblings and appears to have been in charge of the household. She is the main character in the famous story of Jesus’ visit when Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, listening to him teach, while Martha works away in the kitchen. Martha gets exasperated that she’s the only one attending to the household work and complains to Jesus.
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me,” Martha says. He comforts her and encourages patience, saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Lk 10:38-42).
Later, we see how well Martha learned this lesson from Jesus—that the only important thing is to cling to the Lord. When her brother, Lazarus, died, she placed her trust in Jesus.
When Jesus arrived at Lazarus’ tomb, he told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (John 11).
Martha is depicted in these stained glass windows inside the Basilica, where she holds a cooking pot and offers hospitality to Jesus. She is the patron saint of cooks and kitchen staff, and her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Martha, patron saint of cooks, and the hospitable friend of Jesus who was busy about many things, pray for us!