Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

Lectionary: 607

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."

Today we celebrate the second annual Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. The threesome represent a family who welcomed the Lord, making him a fourth member. I would not speculate on Pope Francis's reasons for establishing this new memorial, but people who work with symbols say that three is an unstable number; it wants a fourth for balance and completeness. 

Unfortunately, social psychology says, three more often resolves into two against one and one against two. An alliance is formed as two people agree on a topic and the third must disagree. If they're trying to be reasonable the alliance may shift around the room as they consider various opinions and experiment with different ideas. 

In my experience, three people meeting for lunch are most comfortable if two have a clearly established relationship -- like marriage -- and the third person is good with that. And it can be very uncomfortable if two ally against one spouse. There's trouble ahead. 

So this Memorial of three siblings -- two sisters and a brother -- is especially delightful as we imagine their friendship in and with the Lord. Two are rather familiar to us, as we have watched them interact with the Lord, and heard them speak to him. Lazarus is a silent brother. Except for his death, the grief of his sisters, and his resuscitation, we know nothing of him. His name, heard in Saint Luke's story of the rich banqueter and the poor wretch, seems more coincidental than significant; lots of people share the same name. A good preacher could make something of it but I'll leave it at that. 

Pope Francis's memorial also settles the question around Mary of Bethany. She is not the woman of Magdala who was delivered of seven demons and discovered Jesus's empty tomb. Nor is she the woman who anointed Jesus's feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. (And we should not speculate upon the nature of that woman's sin.) Mary of Bethany is the silent sister who welcomed the Lord, sat at his feet, and listened to him while Martha noisily prepared a meal for Jesus and his gang. 

Finally, this memorial reminds us that every family has its troubles and a history of sorrows. This trio of Bethany is not a Facebook family, all happy days and cutesy smiles. Their image glows more with the blessed favor of Jesus's friendship than with their personal excellence. They can fume and quarrel and have some misgivings about Jesus's reliability as a friend -- both sisters said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died! -- and still be beautiful in his sight. 

We do well to remember this family as we consider our own families. The science of genealogy has recently been boosted by genome research, and people are discovering connections they never knew they had. Many are surprised to discover relatives who disappeared or died suspiciously; and assorted, other skeletons in more than a few closets. There might be divorce, abortion, disappearances, and unresolved feuds. 

But if Jesus's ancestors can include some seedy characters why shouldn't yours or mine?

It's all blessed by God's incarnate presence among us, and we look forward to that Great Day when, by God's grace, all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.