Today's Gospel

Questions for Lazarus

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is as radical today as it was 2,000 years ago and as relevant today as ever before. Today's reading is from the Gospel of John, chapter 11:19-27. Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. While Mary sat in the house, Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." And Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this"? She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, He who is coming into the world." It's a great reading. What jumps out at you today?

It's impossible not to recognize Martha's astounding faith, astounding faith, and not just the faith of someone who just believes and doesn't try to grow in their faith because what's clear is that she understands the theology, she understands the scriptures, she understands the teaching. Jesus says to her, "Your brother will rise again." And Martha says to him, "I know that. You know, I know that from the scriptures. I know that from what I've learned. You rise again on the last day."

And so her faith is, it's incredible, but it's informed. And we have someone here who's clearly been studying her faith, been trying to grow in her spirituality. But what jumps out at you? Is there a word? Is there a phrase? Is there an idea? Lazarus is dead. The thing I often wonder, we're trying to challenge ourselves to look at these readings from new perspectives. Jesus went and he raised Lazarus from the dead. I always wondered, did Lazarus want to come back?

We don't know what it's like on the other side of that, right? But did he want to come back? And then having come back, what was that like to live your life? What was it like for Lazarus to live the rest of his life knowing what it's like on the other side? It's always fascinated me. That's what I'd like to ask Lazarus if I could ask Lazarus anything. But Martha's faith, powerful. And so maybe that's a lesson for us today, just to ask God to increase our faith, just to over and over again, Lord, increase my faith. Lord, increase my faith. Lord, increase my faith.

When you have a couple of moments in the line at the grocery store or sitting waiting to see the doctor or sitting at the stoplight, just, "Lord, increase my faith, Lord." Just beg God to increase your faith. Have an amazing day. Remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.