On the evening Pope Francis was elected in 2013 I was with an Argentinian Dominican who already knew Jorge Bergoglio as archbishop of Buenos Aires. 'There will be surprises', this Dominican brother immediately said to us, and so it has proved. One of the innovations of Pope Francis is today's celebration. Up to two years ago it was the feast of Saint Martha alone. The fact that it came exactly a week after the feast of Saint Mary Magdalen seemed to canonise the tradition that Mary Magdalen and Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha, were one and the same person: last week Mary, this week her sister Martha. But it is no longer as simple as that, because today we now celebrate the three friends of Jesus at Bethany, Martha, her sister Mary, and their brother Lazarus. Mary Magdalene has her own celebration - also given a 'promotion' by Pope Francis who raised it to the status of a feast.
Martha was the friend of Jesus who often received him into the home she shared with Lazarus and Mary. She is remembered as a practical woman who, in Luke's gospel, is 'corrected' by Jesus when she complains that Mary is leaving all the work to her. 'Mary has chosen the better part', Jesus says, meaning that Mary being fed spiritually by Jesus is somehow better than Martha feeding Jesus with physical food.
At least that is the traditional interpretation and so Martha came to represent the active life with Mary representing the contemplative life. The only departure from this tradition that I am aware of is Meister Eckhart who interprets Jesus' comment to Martha as meaning 'Mary has chosen what is, for her and for now, the better part'. Eckhart has no doubt that Martha was further advanced in the following of Christ, as could be seen from her compassion, her thoughtfulness, and her eagerness to serve Jesus. Christian maturity is ecstatic in this way, going out from oneself to give rather than to receive, to attend to others before thinking of oneself. Eckhart's interpretation seems to follow the teaching of Thomas Aquinas that the most perfect form of life is the one in which one not only contemplates but shares with others the fruits of one's contemplation.
So much for the picture of Martha that emerges from the famous incident in Luke, chapter 10. The other gospel reading that may be chosen today is from the gospel of John, chapter 11. We see that it is the same Martha who approaches Jesus as he arrives at their house when Lazarus had already died. 'If you had been here', she says to Jesus, 'my brother would not have died'. She is forthright, even blunt, once again practical and uncomplicated in her complaint.
But now we learn more about her relationship with Jesus and we see how mature things are between them. 'I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask', Martha says. 'Your brother will rise again', Jesus replies. 'I know', she says, perhaps with a touch of sarcasm, 'in the resurrection, on the last day'. The pattern in John's gospel is well known: from a misunderstanding on the part of a listener Jesus carries him or her to a deeper level of understanding, and in doing so reveals something extraordinary about himself. These revelations, generated in experiences of transcendentally fruitful conversation, more often than not begin with the words 'I am'. And so it is here: 'I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me even though they die will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die'. Jesus asks Martha if she believes it and it brings from her a comparable transcendentally fruitful profession of faith: 'Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world'.
This woman, whose personality is already familiar from Luke's gospel, shows us that practical concern and compassionate action are no obstacle to the most profound spiritual realisations. On the contrary, it seems. And she gives us an extraordinary lesson in what it means to pray. Prayer, we learn from Martha, is simply a conversation with Jesus, a conversation that is 'transcendentally fruitful'. Obviously these are my words, trying to catch something of the rich experience to which she bears witness. To pray means to come before the Lord with our needs and complaints, to hold nothing back in conversing with him, to open our hearts and minds and lives to his correcting and healing words, and to be carried through our present level of understanding to see more of the divine mystery that is coming into the world, to be brought further into the light of the truth about Jesus Christ who is, as we learn through Martha's questioning, 'the resurrection and the life'.
Jesus' encounter with Martha in John 11 reveals his divine nature. His encounter with Mary, her sister, which follows immediately, reveals his human nature, as he weeps with her for his friend who has died. But the greatness of Martha can be overlooked, the lesson she gives us in how to be with Jesus, how to talk with him, how to allow him to correct us and to lead us ever further into the mystery of his Person. In honouring Martha we honour a practical, valiant, wise and compassionate woman.
Much of what is to be said about Mary of Bethany has been said in contrasting her with her sister Martha (Luke 10 and John 11). But after the raising of Lazarus Jesus visited his friends again, just before the Passover, and on that occasion Mary anointed his feet with precious ointment and wiped them with her hair (John 12:1-8). It is a gospel passage read on the Monday of Holy Week and you will find a homily on it here.
The death of Lazarus and the mourning it occasioned brought Jesus to tears, one of only two places in the gospels where we read of Jesus weeping (John 11:35 for Lazarus, Luke 19:41 for Jerusalem). There are many places where the affection of Jesus is recorded, his compassion in the face of suffering and death, as well as his love for the man who asked him about goodness (Mark 10:21). But only in relation to the Holy City, and in relation to his friend Lazarus, are we told that Jesus actually wept.
There is another Lazarus mentioned in the New Testament, the poor man in the parable Jesus tells in Luke 16, but this seems to be merely a coincidence of names. Lazarus of Bethany becomes so associated with the scandal of what Jesus is doing that, ironically, his (restored) life is also in danger. We are told that people were coming to believe in Jesus on account of what he had done for Lazarus (John 12:9-11). So it is always in friendship: we are asked to share the experiences of our friends, and sometimes to be associated with them in the negative feelings they arouse in others.
Clearly there is much to be said on this new memory of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus. At the heart of it is friendship, a treasure appreciated also by Jesus, who came to share our human experiences, including the great gift of friendship, so that he might make it possible for us to share in that friendship which is the life of God.
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