Lent
March 25, 2023
Scripture Reading: John 11:1-45
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘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. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ –John 11:17-27
Did you catch the twist of a phrase in the last sentence above? The one coming into the world is the person Martha speaks to. Martha was reared in the Jewish tradition; the one coming is referred to in the Hebrew Bible 41 times as the Messiah, translated in Greek as Christ. The one coming is to bring unification among the tribes of Israel plus universal peace and to announce what the world to come would be like. Martha acknowledged who Jesus really was. She also demonstrates her faith in him regarding her brother Lazarus. She was confident Jesus could have healed Lazarus. Her trust in Jesus and her faith said she would recognize as right whatever his actions would beknow that Lazarus was dead.
In the direst of situations, Martha’s faith remains. I must confess I get discouraged with the world today and wonder what more I can do to foster the love God commands us to share with all. Lent is a good time to rekindle our faith and renew our trust in the God of Love. William Wordsworth may have said it best; the irony of our despair in giving up on the God of Love is that we turn to the powerless pagan gods of the world.
The World Is Too Much With Us
BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
his Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we allow the world’s ills to encroach upon our trust in you. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.