By Deacon Daniel Rider
Spring is slow in coming this year. Warm days followed by snowstorms. We are still waiting for spring to arrive. Mary Ann was blessed to have Art. sixty years of marriage, and was blessed with four children. Mary Ann and Art did their best to live out their marriage vows. For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, ’til death do us part. Yet something just doesn’t seem right. Most men expect to die first. They won’t be the one left behind. After Mary Ann’s accident Art became the caregiver, taking care of Mary Ann through all her needs. Letting her know he would be there no matter what. But now it’s over. It seems so final.
When I was in college, in one class we were asked to come up with a definition of God. The one we came with was, “God is the one who has the last word.” In our readings from Psalm 23 and from Revelation we see a vision of the future. God’s vision for us. Even though I walk through that dark valley where no hope lives, you are with me, leading to a better place, into the heavenly banquet. A place where there is no more mourning, or pain, or tears, or death. This is Jesus promise, from the one who has the last word. A word greater than Satan or the world, or death.
From the cross it looked like Satan and the world had won, but three days later God had the last word. We need to see death through God’s eyes. Mary Ann felt she was ready for the end of her life because she knew the answer to the question we hear Jesus asking Martha in our Gospel reading for today. Jesus 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?”
All of us, sooner or later, will be confronted with this question. All of us will face the reality of death, whether our own or that of someone close to us. Death has a way of confronting our faith by revealing our fears, our doubts, our attachments to this world, and our ultimate powerlessness. Yet, Jesus wants us to face death, in all its mystery , and allow the Holy Spirit to remove its sting. The challenge that death presents to us is whether we will trust in Jesus and his promise of resurrection.
In today’s Gospel we find Martha and Mary struggling with this question as they deal with the death of their brother. We find them find them feeling grief and hopelessness, and they ask the same questions all of us do. “Why” and “If only” We know these doubts and feelings. How often have we said, “Lord, where were you when we needed you?” Yet the Gospel shows us that Jesus is with us in those times of need. The Jesus we see in this Gospel is one who cares, who feels pain and sorrow at the death of his friend. Jesus is troubled. The incarnate Son of God weeps. In Him we see God, not distant and removed from our pain and doubts, but a God who is with us in our sadness and grief. Jesus is the man of sorrows, who knows our pain, and bears it to the point of his own tears.
But Jesus does more than feel our pain; he is there to show us that there is something more. There is hope. Hope in the resurrection and new life. Jesus came to Martha and Mary to bring them hope. Resurrection is God’s future coming to us in our present lives to bring hope to us today. When we are hopeless and surrounded by death, when our future looks dark, God comes to us in Jesus, bringing life and hope out of death. It was Jesus bringing hope that caused Martha, even before Jesus showed his power through Lazarus, to make her confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of God, the One who is coming into the world.” It is Martha’s conversion of heart and confession of faith that all of us are called to. That even in the most difficult circumstances of life we can know that Jesus is there to bring life out of death and hope from despair.
As we go through life Jesus wants to be right there with us, speaking words of comfort and bringing the Gospel of life and hope to us in a new and powerful way. And the greatest gift he wants to give us can be stated in one sentence. “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” These ten words about Jesus are filled with hope and promise for us because we have been baptized into Jesus’ own death and resurrection. Because Jesus died for all of us, we can be free from sin, both now and when we face judgment. When Jesus rose, he overcame death not just for himself but for everyone.
There can be no spring without the cold of winter, no sunrise without the darkness of night. The pain and suffering of Good Friday must precede the triumph of Easter. Martha experienced this in the death of her brother, as she passed through the dark valley of doubt and grief. That dark valley where no hope lives. And she experienced the hope and promise of Jesus bringing life out of that darkness as she came to see him as the Son of God, the One who is coming into the world.
We are waiting for the arrival of spring, but for Mary Ann, Easter came a little early this year.
Parishable Items 
Leave a comment